Before taking a month off, Saturday Night Live managed to surprise us with a few hilarious episodes. In hindsight, these were mostly host driven affairs: Louis C.K., Martin Short, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt killed it. With Jennifer Lawrence winning a Golden Globe a few days prior, I guess my expectations were way too high for SNL to deliver. 

If Jennifer Lawrence is the "hot" Hollywood star du jour these days, SNL failed to give us something laugh at. It almost feels like she was milking a Golden Globe hangover, excluded from the show's overall writing process. The Cold Open, which didn't feature JL at all, was the best part of the show, followed by a sketch where Lawrence plays a waitress who hurls mean-spirited insults at Bobby Moynihan. All I'm trying to say is this: The topical humor could have been a lot better. Manti Te'o could have been its own sketch, with JL playing the part of his fake dead girlfriend. Lance Armstrong could have been its own sketch, too—who doesn't love an Oprah joke? Meanwhile, there's been a lot... and I mean a lot... of national conversation about gun control since the last SNL episode aired in the aftermath of the Newton shooting, so why not go for a comedy nutshot against the NRA's silly, bullshit talking points? Why was Bobby Moynihan in pretty much every sketch? Where the hell were the other cast members?

Come on, SNL. You're better than this.

Cold Open: Lance Armstrong, Manti Te'o, and Jodie Foster on Piers Morgan

What a wild, wacky start to 2013, huh? In the past week alone, Lance Armstrong, Manti Te'o, and Jodie Foster have given SNL's writing staff a lot to skewer. Jason Sudeikis does a "meh" job as Lance Armstrong and Kate McKinnon nails a borderline insane Jodie Foster. I laughed hard at Bobby Moynihan's dumb jock, mouth-breathing impression of Manti Te'o.

Jennifer Lawerence's Monolouge

Ahhhh, this wasn't all that great, unless you happen to be really into Hollywood award show season smack talk. As charismatic as she is, Lawerence's joke delivery sorta sucks. Even with the Golden Globes only being a week ago, these jokes already feel dusty. 

Girlfriend Talk Show

I sorta hate this sketch, but whatever. Jennifer Lawerence makes a good guest-spot antagonist this week. Am I the only person who thinks Lawrence might be a bridge-and-tunnel punk-rock version of Melissa Joan Heart? Somewhere MLH is stewing that she never went into movies. Anyway, about the sketch: Fat, ugly weird-girl jokes. "I might dump my boyfriend because I'm thinking about being bi. Everyone in New York is bi because they're in such a rush. They're like 'I'm a hurry, let's do this. Whatever. I actually heard someone say that in New York once. I've been there two or three times."

Post-Hunger Games Press Conference

Since I'm not at 15-year old girl, I didn't understand this sketch at all. Bill Hader's beard, however, is bitchin'.

Hobbit Jokes

At this point, I can count the number of times I've laughed on one hand. Seriously, SNL, you're killing me. This episode is dreadful. When the writers joke "I fell asleep for 45 minutes and when I woke up, the dwarves were assembling an Ikea dresser," I'm pretty sure they're refering to the SNL episode at hand.

Jennifer Lawerence, Rude Diner Waitress

Jennifer Lawrence, maximum sass. One of the better sketches of the night, but only because Lawerence is good at being mean. At this point, all I can think about is how much JL is like Melissa Joan Heart, except she skipped a few steps by not having to do TV shows like "Clarissa Explains It All" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch."

Weekend Update

Anthony Crispino with the low-hanging fruit of the night. You hear this thing?

Top Dog Chef

SNL has done parodies of Top Chef before. When Christopher Walken did it a few years ago, it was brilliant and hilarious. Trying to imagine "Top Chef" for dogs, however, just played sucked. In terms of production value, it was the best sketch of the night (dog costumes!) But the jokes.... Well, they were butt-sniffing awful. 

The Morning Show

I miss Andy Samberg.

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