'SNL' Fans Want Tina Fey To Reprise Role as Sarah Palin After Alaska Defeat

Comedy fans are calling for Tina Fey to return to Saturday Night Live and reprise her Sarah Palin impersonation after the Republican lost her bid to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives.

The state's former governor was defeated by Democrat Mary Peltola in the special election for Alaska's single House seat.

After the result was revealed on Wednesday, Palin, who was the GOP's vice presidential candidate in 2008, said she was "disappointed" and blamed Alaska's "crazy" ranked-choice voting system for her loss.

Back when Palin was John McCain's running mate, Fey delivered a headline-grabbing impression of the Republican in the opening skit of the NBC sketch show.

Fey's exclamation "I can see Russia from my house!" became a catchphrase—and was sometimes misattributed to Palin.

The comedian's performances alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton boosted SNL's viewing figures at a time when its ratings had been flagging.

Now fans want Fey to make a comeback as Palin.

One tweeted: "Lorne Michaels is currently leaving a voicemail on Tina Fey's phone... "PLEEEEEEASE are you available this Saturday????"

Another posted: "hope SNL gets Tina Fey back to play Palin for a cold open about her loss."

A third wrote: "SNL, please have Tina Fey do Sarah Palin finding out she lost her election. Please!"

Some believe Fey's impersonation even influenced the 2008 election, as public approval of Palin dipped after the SNL sketches.

Among young Republicans and independents who watched the show, 45.4 percent said Palin's nomination as vice president had made them less inclined to vote for McCain.

In 2012, a group of political scientists published research into the "Fey effect."

Natasha Walth, Jody Baumgardner and Jonathan Morris wrote: "This theory highlights the idea that the media draw 'attention to some aspects of political life at the expense of others.' Citizens, who are overloaded with information, tend to come to judgment by activating familiar concepts — often those that the media have highlighted.

"Unlike negative political ads, political humor seems to be fairly popular, which could increase receptiveness to the message. And, because political humor is a form of negative priming, it should also be associated with more negative perceptions of its targets, particularly targets that are new to the national political scene."

Peltola defeated Palin in the election and will become the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, the first woman to represent Alaska in the House and the first Democrat to represent the state in 50 years.

The Democratic gain follows another unexpected special election win for the party in upstate New York, with Pat Ryan defeating the GOP's Marc Molinaro in a swing district. The results are denting Republican hopes that they will regain control of the House in November's midterms, which appeared almost certain earlier this year.

Republican Don Young, who died in March, had held the Alaska seat since 1973. Although the GOP had been heavily favored to win the House seat in November, some experts have said the special election results indicate that the outcome is anything but certain.

After her victory was announced, Peltola tweeted that "the broad coalition we're building has the real chance of building the momentum we need to win in November."

Newsweek has reached out to Tina Fey's representatives for comment.