At TED2006, and again at our TED screening of “An Inconvenient Truth,” we witnessed the reinvention of Al Gore as global warming warrior and … stand-up comic? The former VP, not known previously for his stage presence, was surprisingly hilarious in both his rehearsed bits and off-the-cuff comments (to say nothing of the Melissa Etheridge lip-syncing). And after this weekend’s appearance on Saturday Night Live (still a hot topic, three days later), the transition seems complete.

If you missed Gore’s TV comedy debut, playing the president he might have been, you can watch online and see what all the fuss is about … Gore, who has generally set aside partisan politics to build consensus on global warming, let it rip in this satirical state of the union from the presidency-that-wasn’t. (“In 2000 when you overwhelmingly made the decision to elect me as your 43rd president, I knew the road ahead would be difficult… We are facing perhaps the worst gas crisis in history. We have way too much gasoline. Gas is down to $0.19 a gallon and the oil companies are hurting. I know that I am partly to blame by insisting that cars run on trash.”)

We’re guessing this won’t help defray rumors of a second presidential run …