At the end of dress rehearsal, Michaels disappears to huddle in his ninth-floor office with senior staff and discuss the show's final rundown. Then the rest of the writers and cast wander in to find out the fates of their sketches. All eyes immediately turn to a bulletin board in the corner of the office on which is displayed the night's lineup. ''BBQ OR'' makes it, but many sketches do not, including a bit in which Amy Adams and Jason Sudeikis, playing a hotel employee and guest, respectively, discuss the best time and place for Sudeikis' character to masturbate. At the end of the meeting Michaels addresses his troops: ''This is the third show and the first two were really good, and I think we're gonna find this one, too.''
While there are no presidential candidates milling about, Poehler scores big yuks playing ''fierce'' Project Runway winner Christian Siriano in a sketch that also allows Amy Adams to show off her Heidi Klum impersonation. ''BBQ OR'' gets a good reception from the audience, while the cold opener — a fake Clinton campaign ad depicting Obama as an incompetent president who beseeches the former First Lady to help him subdue Iran and fix the White House heating system — also plays well with the crowd.
Not that there's much time to celebrate. Already, the March 15 host — Superbad star Jonah Hill — is over by one of the studio exits kibitzing with Samberg. (Other upcoming hosts this season include returnees Shia LaBeouf and Steve Carell, who will front the show in May.) As for future political cameos, Marci Klein, whose responsibilities include booking guests, isn't confirming anything at this point — and may not have any idea herself. (No one knew Hillary Clinton was appearing until the Thursday before the show.) ''We're always talking to everybody,'' says Klein. ''We've been in contact with Obama's people this week. Anyone can come on as long as it's funny.'' That includes Sen. John McCain, whom the show plans to reach out to, and who was surprisingly funny when he hosted in 2002. And as far as prostitution-scandal-plagued New York governor Eliot Spitzer, ''I'm not going to lie, this is an absolute gift,'' says Meyers. ''I really can't thank Spitzer enough. It is our fourth show in a row — we have hit the wall. And then this comes along. I'm sure we'll do something about it, [but] I don't think he will be on. My guess would be that he will be too busy doing other things.''
But what about the cast? There have been rumors the current season will be Poehler's last. ''Amy is a genius,'' says Michaels. ''I have her number, so I'm gonna just stay after her.'' Poehler herself declines to comment on the subject, but she will offer one news update when asked whom Saturday Night Live is really endorsing in the presidential election: ''All this stuff is, for me,'' she jokes, ''just building a case for Nader.''
More Saturday Night Live:
See what happened behind the scenes at this week's EW photo shoot with Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Kenan Thompson, and other cast members of SNL
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