The season premiere of Saturday Night Live that you likely fell asleep halfway through — seriously, that locker-room sketch where Michael Phelps danced is probably still going — isn’t necessarily the one that Lorne Michaels had envisioned. According to Tom Shales, Barack Obama had been scheduled to appear but canceled Friday night because he didn’t think it was appropriate to do the show in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Chuck Norris was supposed to be on too, but he also canceled because of the hurricane, presumably because he was busy reversing its spin or something. But it could have been worse! Tina Fey, who, to no one’s surprise, nailed her Sarah Palin impression, almost had to cancel — but for a completely awesome reason: She was filming Oprah’s 30 Rock cameo! And, of course, Oprah reschedules for no one.

Fey-as-Palin Wins the Early Vote On 'SNL' [WP]