John McCain appears on 'Saturday Night Live'

John McCain (as himself) and Tina Fey (as Sarah Palin) mocked Barack Obama's infomercial in the opening segment of "Saturday Night Live."

"Obama purchased airtime on three major networks," McCain said. "We, however, can only afford QVC."

The Republican presidential candidate was self-deprecating about his underdog standing in the polls and Obama's financial spending advantage.

"I'm a true maverick -- a Republican without money," McCain said.

Fey's Palin joked about "goin' rogue" and having political aspirations beyond Election Day.

"We got a buncha' these 'Palin in 2012' T-shirts," she said. "I'm either runnin' in four years or I'm gonna be a white Oprah so, you know, I'm good either way."

Here's the first clip:

A video from the Weekend Update segment, where the Arizona senator talks about his last-minute strategies to win the election, is after the jump, along with the "SNL" ratings.

Absent from either clip was any sharp criticisms of Obama. McCain had a line about the Democrat flaking on the proposed town hall debates, but that was about all. Most of the material had McCain playing off his own image.

Previous SNL political videos and ratings.

Obama's reaction: McCain was funny on SNL

Also: Here's THR's Paul Gough with the ratings:

The last "Saturday Night Live" before Tuesday's election -- and featuring a joint appearance by John McCain and Tina Fey as running mate Sarah Palin  -- didn't disappoint in the ratings.

"SNL" averaged a 9.0 household rating/20 share in the metered markets, according to preliminary data released Sunday by Nielsen Media Research. Final data will be out later this week but it was a continued strong performance by the late-night sketch show, which was guest hosted by Ben Affleck.

Saturday night's show was only upstaged in the ratings this year -- and since 1997 -- by the Oct. 18 "SNL" where McCain's running mate, Palin, made an actual appearance. That show, which averaged a 10.7 rating/24 share and eventually more than 13 million viewers, was the highest-rated "SNL" since 1994.

As it was, this episode was the second-highest rated episode in more than a decade, since the Christmas-themed "SNL" of Dec. 20, 1997.