Free Republic

Phil Donahue was more than a trailblazing talk show host, he was also a mainstay of Saturday Night Live. Donahue was one of the few non-political celebrities to be impersonated by three different SNL cast members. The first was Joe Piscopo, who embodied the host during a sketch that aired on Oct. 2, 1982. In the scene, Donahue negotiates peace in the Middle East between Israel’s Menachem Begin (played by Tim Kazurinsky) and Palestine’s Yasser Arafat (played by Gary Kroeger). Though topical, the sketch only generated minor laughs. Still, it established a formula for Donahue as a character, and his...

Alec Baldwin, whose dying mediocre career was saved by his terrible impersonation of me on SNL, now says playing me was agony. Alec, it was agony for those who were forced to watch. Bring back Darrell Hammond, funnier and a far greater talent!

Tina Fey gave her fans what they were hoping for all week. Fey returned to Saturday Night Live to once again play former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on the heels of the political commentator's endorsement of Donald Trump. Fey appeared as Palin in the cold open alongside the GOP presidential candidate, played by fellow SNL veteran Darrell Hammond.

As the new season of Saturday Night Live gets under way on Oct. 4, Darrell Hammond-the show's chief political impersonator, once Bill Clinton and, at this year's Emmy Awards, the squinty-eyed Donald Rumsfeld-can't wait to contort himself into the likeness of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. "I'm sitting there with writers, saying, 'Please give me this assignment so I can do this.' I hope I can get into Dean, because he's so bloody-he's so himself," he said. "What's so interesting about Dean is he appears to be an impassioned man and says, 'Damn the theatrics of the whole thing, I've...