“Saturday Night Live” has had its share of ups and downs. For every Eddie Murphy, there’s always a Jimmy Fallon – laughing his way through every skit to keep the show grounded.

Unfortunately for the current cast, the show has been teetering on awful since Will Ferrell left.

Entering its 33rd season last Saturday, the current cast and crew of “SNL” are hoping to be a little more “Chevy Chase” and less “Horatio Sanz.”

With that said, the season opener – featuring host LeBron James and musical guest Kanye West – was a step in the right direction. It may not have been comedy gold from start to finish, but you could tell there was hard work put into the production.

For example, the show scored big about 10 minutes in with the fake commercial for “Angry Dog” brand dog food; it may not be as nutritious as other brands, but “Angry Dog” has something special. With a smiling picture of Michael Vick plastered across the front of the bag, the dog food promised the strongest synthetic testosterone and seven psychoactive drugs so “your dog can be a killer,” too.

It was nice to see “SNL” jump back into what it does best – make fun of current events. Over the past few years, it seems like the show has fallen into the trap of reoccurring characters and ignoring the week’s current headlines.

Speaking of staying current, Andy Samberg blessed those who watched with another “SNL Digital Short” gem.

Making light of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent anti-gay comments, Samberg created an entire love song to Ahmadinejad, insinuating the two share a gay love affair.

Crooning lyrics like, “you belong to me, like a very, hairy Jake Gyllenhaal to me” over a piano driven ballad, the skit was definitely a “laugh out loud” moment. And to top it off, Samberg recruited Adam Levine from Maroon 5 to sing the hook.

While Samberg’s digital shorts may go down in “SNL” comedy history (along with his Emmy for last year’s “D*** In a Box” short), it’s too bad Samberg can’t bring his over-the-top creativity to the live broadcast. I’m hoping this will be the year he will shine on a more regular basis. One of the night’s biggest treats, however, actually had nothing to do with the “SNL” cast and crew.

Kanye West can now be added to the list of amazing musical acts to stop by the comedy show.

West pulled out all the stops, opening the show’s first musical interlude with the Daft Punk-sampled “Stronger.” With red lights glaring and bouncing to the beat, a mini orchestra, back-up singers, and DJ A-Track cutting records, Kanye and the gang proved why his new album is sitting at the top of the charts.

As a follow up, during his last set, West jumped into an impromptu freestyle, making reference to being in the number one spot without being shot or selling rocks – an obvious jab at his current nemesis, 50 Cent.

Despite some strong material, the show was not without its flops. A good portion of that can be blamed on Keenan Thompson.

The former Nickelodeon alum is flat-out not funny. Each character Thompson “acts” out seems to have the same voice and mannerisms. I will never be able to figure out how he continues to stay on the show.

The worst failure of all – and the most important – falls on the Weekend Update section. No matter how bad “SNL” gets, I can usually expect a laugh during this segment. However, since Seth Meyers took over, I’m surprised whenever a laugh presents itself.

The only way I can describe the jokes during Weekend Update now is “amateur.” They seem like the type of punch lines I would get from a high school version of “The Daily Show.” When you can hear crickets in the crowd after a joke, maybe it’s time to make some changes. All in all, the season opener of “SNL” provided everyone with a glimmer of hope for the future; maybe they can turn things around. I’m just hoping the “Not Ready For Primetime Players” didn’t use up all their best ideas in the first episode. Only time will tell.

Jake Corbin can be reached at [email protected]