SNL -- 9/13/08 -- Michael Phelps and Lil' Wayne

Tina Fey makes a perfect Sarah Palin, and the joke about global warming being about God hugging us closer was classic. Tina has the accent down cold, and Amy Poehler's slow burn was excellent. Let's hope that Lorne can convince Tina to continue with this.

Monologue -- Michael Phelps -- 3

Michael Phelps looks a bit like a monkey. Hey, there's William Shatner, sweating like a crazy man. Why doesn't he host again. He was damned funny before. I hope that the minimal humor found here isn't a sign of things to come. Disappointing.

Quiz Bowl - 1

Kristen Wiig can be funny, but when she does her "crazy lady" persona, she wears me out. The premise of the sketch, public schools vs. home school kids on a quiz show, could have been funny. This was not. It seems to be an excuse for Kristen Wiig to act like an idiot. Disappointing.

Jar Glove -- 7

Silly premise, having a hard to open jar turn into a homicide, but it made me laugh. Would have been better with Billy Mays.

Swim Coach inspires team -- 2

Didn't they do this with Peyton Manning? Are the writers starting next week and not this? Dreadful.

Stacia and Craig -- 1

Again, haven't we seen this before? Recurring characters should be funny, not annoying. This skit is almost note for note the one done last year. Jesus, did they just pull an old script for this week?

Lil' Wayne -- Got Money

Was this lipsynced? I like it.

Weekend Update -- 5

The jokes were mostly flat, but the reliance on recurring characters that weren't funny before during this episode does not bode well.

Charles Barkley Show -- 1

The first appearance of Darrell Hammond, doing a passable Bela Karoli. Charles Barkley...... now that would be a funny sports host. Was there a point to this? No laughs. The only interesting thing was speculating how Michael Phelps got this far as an athlete without braces.

T-Mobile Commercial -- 7

The first real laughs of the night, including laughs from Michael Phelps.

Digital Short -- Space Olympics Video -- 3

It's another repeat, at least in spirit.. Andy Samberg doing a dumb song. This will probably be a viral hit, even though it blows.

UNO's Waiter -- 1

Terrible. Worst sketch of the night, and that's saying something.

Lil Wayne -- 1

Oh God was that painful to watch. Do people actually pay to see rap concerts?

Michael Phelps Diet -- 7

You could see the premise coming from a mile away, but it was still funny. Amy using her baby bulge to show the results of the diet were funny, as was the cameo by Jared. Hell, why not make Jared the host?

OVERALL -- 2

The Sarah Palin/Hillary Clinton sketch was the only truly funny one of the night, and that was at the beginning. The episode seems to reflect a lazy return to work for the SNL cast. With all of the potential for political humor, the show seems hell bent on trying to not exploit any of it. 3 seconds of the Daily Show was funnier than any of this. Sorry Michael Phelps, you didn't even qualify tonight.