Actress Tina Fey returned to "Saturday Night Live" during this weekend's season premiere to deliver a highly anticipated and accurate impersonation of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

The former SNL star and creator of "30 Rock," in which she stars alongside Alec Baldwin, was part of the opening skit together with a pregnant Amy Poehler, who obviously reprised her role as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, in their heated exchange of lines.

"Tonight we are crossing party lines to address the now very ugly role that sexism is playing in the campaign," Fey, playing Palin, said. "An issue which I am frankly surprised to hear people suddenly care about," Poehler's Clinton interjected.

Their conversation hinted at Palin's lack of substance in comparison with Clinton. When the Poehler's Clinton mentioned diplomacy and foreign policy, Fey's Palin chirped, "And I can see Russia from my house!"

When Poehler said she disagreed with the Bush Doctrine, Fey's Palin acknowledged, "I don't know what that means" — a reference to Palin's apparent confusion on the subject in her first major interview earlier this week on ABC.

Dressed in a red suit and wearing Palin's trademark glasses, Fey took aim at Palin's views on climate changes, teasing that global warming "is just God hugging us closer."

Before wrapping up the sketch by inviting the media "to grow a pair. And if you can't, I will lend you mine," Poehler broke down and complained about Palin's ease of success and her "Tina Fey glasses."

The late-night NBC show was guest hosted by eight-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, who played a multitude of characters on the show, including a spastic teenager and himself as a guest on a talk host hosted by Charles Barkley (played by Keenan Thompson). William Shatner appeared during Phelps' opening monologue to mock the Olympian's myriad of endorsement opportunities. Phelps' mom Debbie made a brief cameo after being portrayed by Poehler.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama had planned to make an appearance but pulled out late Friday as then-Hurricane Ike approached the Texas Gulf Coast.