With three days to go before the long awaited elections and polls offering a not very refreshing anticipation of the results for the Republican Party, John McCain interrupted his campaign trail in order to show up for NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” a late-night program which has represented a vital political show throughout the presidential campaign season.

Following his Democratic opponent’s half-hour campaign advertisement earlier this week, which has drawn more than 33 million viewers, the Republican presidential candidate made an appearance on last night’s show and, along with his faux running mate, impersonated by the wonderful Tina Fey, whose impressions of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have significantly boosted audiences for “Saturday Night Live,” he made fun of his own campaign, its financial issues, as well as his political maverick status.

John McCain, who is trailing man-of-the-moment Barack Obama in the majority of the polls, made a cameo appearance when the show kicked off, as well as during “Saturday Night Live’s” “Weekend Update” fake newscast, in which he explained that he would adopt a fresh campaign tactic in the last days of his campaign. He dubbed the strategy “the reverse maverick” and explained that it comprised of doing “whatever anybody tells me.” And if the approach proved to be useless, “I’d go to the double maverick. I’d just go totally berserk and freak everybody out,” the Arizona senator bantered.

When the show began, John McCain said, referring to Barack Obama’s purchase of prime time on several important networks, that his campaign could only meet the expense of airtime on QVC, hawking objects such as a complete set of pork knives, commemorative plates and “Joe” action figures that can stand for Joe the Plumber, Joe Sixpack or Joe Biden, Tina Fey’s “personal favorite.”

“If you pull this cord, he talks for 45 minutes,” the “30 Rock” creator joked, making allusion to the Democratic vice presidential candidate.

John McCain’s spouse, Cindy McCain, made a brief appearance on yesterday’s “Saturday Night Live” as well, so as to promote “McCain Fine-Gold” jewelry, a more or less subtle reference to the campaign finance law the Republican presidential contender authored with the help of Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold.

Filling the shoes of Sarah Palin, Tina Fey kept touching the refined fabric of her black suit, efficiently reminding viewers of the $150,000 in clothing the Republican National Committee acquired for the Alaska governor and the members of her family. In addition, the fake Sarah Palin delivered a T-shirt-printed message saying “Palin 2012,” explaining that she would not go back to Alaska following the election. “I’m either running in four years or I’m going to be a white Oprah,” she said.

John McCain’s running mate herself appeared on “Saturday Night Live” some two weeks ago and helped the show reach its highest audience in 14 years.

John McCain, 72, who is regularly impersonated by Darrell Hammond on “SNL,” made his last appearance on the show in May, when he joked about his own age, saying that voters should look for a very old president. Furthermore, the Republican presidential candidate was the host of the NBC program approximately six years ago, when he poked fun at Barbra Streisand’s political views by singing an entertaining mix of her songs.