Former Saturday Night Live alumni Chevy Chase, criticized the performance of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the show's October 18, 2008 episode. Palin appeared in both the opening sketch (along with Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and Lorne Michaels) and in the "Weekend Update" segment as well.

"Quite frankly, it's a big mistake to let her go on. What was brilliant about Lorne (Michaels) was that he had nothing written for Sarah and that apparently she cannot improvise herself out of a paper bag!"— Chevy Chase on Sarah Palin's performanceMSNBC: Chase Palin was a 'big mistake' (October 20, 2008)