'SNL' hosting gig a test for Lohan

Fresh off an upbeat "Today" show interview and a very nearly giddy "Late Night" appearance Thursday with Jimmy Fallon, Lindsay Lohan was set to wrap her tour of 30 Rock Saturday night with her fourth hosting gig on "Saturday Night Live."

With nothing to promote other than a self-proclaimed desire to clean up her life and career, this was also easily the most important of the four -- a comeback performance to prove she still has the chops and talent to get people talking about something other than her next court appearance.

"People can say things all they want, but I think I still need to go through the process of proving myself with 'SNL,' " she told Matt Lauer last week.

Hints of the tone of last night, most via the network's own promos, suggested that Lohan was set to poke fun at her own image -- probably inescapable given how ingrained that image has become in pop culture.

"People are probably wondering what I've been up to," she joked in one promotional spot with cast member Kenan Thompson. "If only magazines and websites could have documented my personal life more closely."

Indeed, the intensity of that interest far outweighs any actual contributions Lohan has made professionally. Her last genuine hit was seven years ago, with "Mean Girls," unless you care to count the not exactly critically embraced "Herbie Fully Loaded" in 2005.

In fact, that was the substance of a joke Miley Cyrus made in her impression of Lohan during a hosting stint last March. In a skit with Bill Hader, who played Charlie Sheen, Cyrus said, "My new movie 'Herbie' opened 68 months ago and the Los Angeles Court House just gave me my own parking spot. Winning! Duh!"

SEE PHOTOSThe many looks of Lindsay Lohan

Lohan was reportedly so upset by the impersonation that she called show executive producer Lorne Michaels to complain. There were certainly no ill feelings this past week.

"I was calling Lorne -- I kept asking him -- not harassing him, but I wasn't giving up, saying 'Can I host? Can I host?' " she told Fallon. "He was in L.A. and you know Lorne, he's very straight to the point. He was like 'What about March 3?' I'm like, 'I'm free!' "