In a moving and somewhat confusing ceremony at an amusement park in Fairbanks Sunday afternoon, actress and noted comedy writer Tina Fey stepped from her post as Alaska's Governor.

For a piece of Kaufmanesque performance art, it was a fantastic, history-making run, but after three years of producing and starring in a prime time sit-com, raising a small child, and running a state, the time had come, says Fey, to call an end to the fun. Also, with the release of the new Sasha Baron Cohen movie, Fey believed that some of her staffers in Juno were beginning to catch on to the subtle clues.

In her farewell address as Fey's infamous Sarah Palin character, the Emmy-winning comedian gave it everything she had, serving up ironic pathos by the ladle-ful:

"I may be the one who winked and smirked my way through one of the worst general election campaigns in US history and demonstrated to one and all that I have no grasp whatsoever on the issues of the day," she said of the press, "but you, the people who reported on those gaffes, you are the stupid ones. *wink*"

Of course, now that the secret is out many will claim that they knew that Palin was a joke all along, but in truth only a handful of people very close to Fey knew the truth.

And it was not an easy secret to keep, especially when Fey's doubly ironic impression of her own character became a national sensation all its own, culminating on that special night when, with the help of green screen technology, Fey and Palin even appeared to share the screen.

Looking back, though, it's surprising that we all didn't figure it out the very same day that Republican presidential nominee John McCain, Fey's old friend from her days as head writer at SNL, chose the Palin character as a goof when the GOP nixed his plans to form a cross-party ticket with Democrat Joe Leiberman.

He had intended it as a practical joke on the media to ramp up his poll numbers and buy him time for the selection of a suitable VP nominee, but once it became clear that the only people left in his shrinking base of support loved this spunky dullard, real or imaginary, with every fiber of their corpulent beings, McCain realized that there was no going back.

Some have criticized Fey for putting an entire state and perhaps an entire country at risk for the sake of her comedy, but Fey insists that the relatively harmless outcome justifies it all. No harm, no foul.

"That's why I chose Alaska for this bit," said Fey as herself. "It may be big, but it's got about one and a half people per square mile and it's super-easy to govern. Hell, it's so easy that I ran the place- while pretending to be somebody else."

As for the legions fans devoted to her Palin character, of her fictitious political policies and her imaginary values, they will no doubt be disappointed to discover that it was all a joke- and that they were the butt of that joke. By way of apology, Fey pleaded with these earnest, patriotic people to find it in their hearts to forgive her and to please watch 30 Rock Thursdays on NBC.