Katie Couric’s interviews with the Vice Presidential candidate last week … and Sarah Palin’s performances in them … were highly controversial. Yet in the midst of the drama of the financial crisis, they played somewhat under the general news cycle radar.  However, last night’s Saturday Night Live brought the Couric-Palin interviews front and center through a skit starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler that was devastating in its breathtaking evisceration of the Vice Presidential candidate’s answers to Couric’s questions.

Below you’ll find videos of both the real Katic Couric - Sarah Palin interviews in which the correspondant asks Palin to explain why Alaska’s proximity to Russia gave her foriegn policy credibility and the Saturday Night Live skit (complete with an embedded ad thanks to NBC Universal’s use of revenue-generating HULU versus You Tube…sorry).  

Here are our questions: Was Palin’s performance with Couric Vice Presidential?  Was Couric fair in her questioning? Was SNL’s portrayal fair?  And as a comedy show, does SNL have a mandate to be "fair" anyway?  And, no matter what side you come down on l’affair Palin, how talented is Tina Fey?

Original Couric-Palin Interviews (click on-screen text prompt at end of first interview to go to second interview, which includes at the end a Kissinger video on direct negotiation with Iran):