Despite being absent for two years launching her highly successful NBC comedy, 30 Rock, Tina Fey returned to her old Saturday Night Live stomping grounds to kick off the new season with a sharp satire of GOP VP candidate and current Alaska governor Sarah Palin, along with fellow SNL alum Amy Poehler as deposed Dem presidential hopeful and current NY Senator Hillary Rodham.

The pairing recalls the best moments of the first half of the this decade, when Fey and Poehler ruled SNL and the Weekend Update segment, and the opening sketch was as much a tribute to their on-screen comic chemistry as it was to Palin and Clinton.

The political season always strengthens SNL’s specialty of political satire and while it’s uncertain if and how often Fey may be available to return to SNL to reprise her Palin impersonation, especially if the GOP ticket takes the White House, what is certain is there wasn’t a funnier, sharper and more enjoyable sketch in the entire SNL season debut. It’s a pairing that is sure to be more in demand than a bunch of unlocked cell phones, especially iPhones.

Hopefully, it’s a sign of a coming resurgence for the thirty-year-old-plus sketch comedy standby.