Review: Saturday Night Live - 38.6 - Louis C.K.

Hosted by standup comedian Louis CK, this week's edition of Saturday Night Live was a big step up in quality over previous outings this season. Deeply honored by the opportunity to host, the standup comedian and television star took his duties seriously and that shone through both in his performance and in the writing. The merciful decision to have CK do a standup routine was a welcome refrain from the usual repetitive monologue bits, in that it was actually funny. As a FEMA agent, CK played a great straight-man in the Fox & Friends parody, and displayed his deadpan skills in the hotel checkout sketch with Bobby Moynihan that was also pretty funny. Even in the weaker sketches, such as the Australian Screen Legends and the Nordic fantasy skit, he elevated the material with his delivery and interaction with the SNL players.

Arguably, the highlight of the show was the delightfully absurd Lincoln/Louie mashup, presented as a parody of FX's Louie. Starring, edited by, written by, and created by Abraham Lincoln, the show takes a look at some of President Lincoln's more private moments, like arguing with his wife about theater tickets. In between are segments from Lincoln's hilarious standup routines, discussing his "historically insane" wife, how difficult it was to be civil to slaveowners, and the eventuality of his murder. I've never even seen one minute of Louie, and this was still one of the funniest things on SNL in a long time.

The cold open contained the requisite topical humor, lampooning the overly animated sign language interpreter at New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's press conference, Bloomberg's flat delivery in Spanish, and the message from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (played by the multipurpose Moynihan) to residents who refused to evacuate. The other noteworthy sketch was the Fox & Friends parody, satirizing the contrarian response of Fox News to President Obama's handling of Hurricane Sandy. As long as the writing is strong enough, this sketch is never not funny, and Jason Sudeikis as Donald Trump was a nice addition.

With plenty of storm-related material from which to mine, Weekend Update was an improvement over recent editions and featured the return of That Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started A Conversation With At A Party, a character created by new cast member Cecily Strong. Her nonsensical rambling about current events and occasional preoccupation with her cell phone is quite accurate and amusing. Also visiting Seth Meyers at the Update desk, Jason Sudeikis' Mitt Romney still feels "off" and doesn't seem quite right. It might be the nasally inflection that he uses, but it's not working. Fortunately, we probably won't have to worry about it after Tuesday.

For the first time in recent memory, none of the sketches this week were eye-rollingly stupid or embarrassingly bad. There was no toilet humor, nor any pointless musical numbers. Men didn't have to dress up as women or french-kiss each other for cheap laughs. The final sketch—about the last man and woman left in a bar at closing time—featured more tongue between CK and Kate McKinnon than I usually care for on television, but it was painfully true and added to the joke.

Overall, this was an excellent edition of SNL led by an involved host and a cast of veterans and newcomers that is really starting to gel together. So far, this season has started off above average with some great hosts and a solid cast. Next week, Anne Hathaway makes her third hosting appearance and should continue that trend, judging by her past performances on the show.

FINAL GRADE: B+