Tina Fey wins big for Palin impersonation

While the failed Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin (right) licks her wounds in Alaska, the career of her arch impersonator, Tina Fey (left), continues on an upward trajectory. The American comedienne has just been voted the Associated Press Entertainer of the Year, a prestigious honour chosen by newspaper editors and broadcast producers.

While the judges cited her performance in the 2008 film Baby Mama and her critically lauded NBC sitcom 30 Rock,, it was 38-year-old Fey's impression of Governor Palin on the US comedy show Saturday Night Live that clinched it. Her appearances during the US presidential election helped drive Saturday Night Live to record ratings and eventually drew an appearance from Palin herself

"From the winks to the nods to the accent, she nailed it," said one of the judges, Marc Bona. "And she did so at a time when it seemed the whole country was tuned in - both to the presidential race as well as Saturday Night Live."

In an interview earlier this year, Fey recalled how she decided to impersonate Palin while watching early TV coverage of the Alaskan governor, who came to be known as the "pitbull with lipstick" during the campaign. "That was the first time I thought, `Well, I kinda do look like her. I'd better really listen to how this lady talks.'"

2008 has proved a boon year for Fey. In addition to the AP award, she is also up for a Golden Globe (for best performance by an actress in a TV series, comedy or musical), as well as a Screen Actors Guild award. And, as reported here, she is said to have received a $6m advance from publisher Little, Brown for a book of comic essays.