‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings: Martin Short defeats Jamie Foxx, best since Louis C.K.

Everyone loves a little bit of “Saturday Night Live” mixed in the holidays, and with good reason: the show’s celebration of Christmas with Martin Short (which also included a touching tribute to the Newtown tragedy) last night was among the best of the season, as it mixed serious subjects with comedy, celebrity cameos, and three great performances from Sir Paul McCartney.

Overall, the greatness of the show was somewhat reflected in the ratings. The program posted a solid 2.8 rating for the night as a whole, which is up 8% from the show hosted last week by Jamie Foxx and with musical guest Ne-Yo. This is the best overall rating for “SNL” since the Louis C.K. show back in November, which is widely regarded by many as the best thing the show has done prior to this special.

Hopefully, the strength of this program will carry over well to what is expected to be an exciting broadcast on January 19. Jennifer Lawrence of “The Hunger Games” will be jumping on board for the first time as host, and she will be joined by a musical guest in the Lumineers who are currently tearing up the charts with their infectious track “Ho Hey.” Let’s just hope that Lawrence is able to get Liam Hemsworth or one of her other stars to stop by and add to the fun. (You can already guess that there will be a “Hunger Games” spoof at some point during the 90 minutes.)

Do you think that this week’s “SNL” was worthy of the higher ratings, or should it have received a lump of coal in its stocking instead? Be sure to share your thoughts below, and you can also read our full review of the show up over at the link here.

Photo: NBC