"Saturday Night Live:" the fabulous Ms. Betty White

  Betty White killed last night. 

And good thing because it could just have easily gone the other way -- she coulda been killed.

Turning in the single most memorable hosting performance of the season, White proved that eighty-eight (and a half - don't forget that "half") should never be an impediment to this kind of work -- that is, of course, if you are Betty White.

Her timing was flawless, her material good to above average, and her execution was on the level of something you'd expect from someone who's spent about 60 years in front of a camera.

Beneficiary of a remarkable Facebook campaign that got her up on that stage last night in the first place, White graciously thanked the lord of social media -- and then gave it the back of her hand.

"I didn't know what Facebook is and now that I do know what it is, I have to say it sounds like a huge waste of time."

Zaaaapp...and especially funny because that was, after all, a joke about an 88.5 year-old host who had turned down two previous offers to get up there.  

White appeared in virtually every sketch -- strike that "virtually." She was everywhere last night: Three "MacGrubers" (as Mac's mechanized-wheelchair-bound grandma, Nana); the opening "Lennon Sisters;" a riff on an NPR talk show about, ummm, muffins, that revealed bawdy Betty at her best; a "CSI" "spin-off; and even a digital short with a nod to "Golden Girls"  that was maybe the highlight of the whole night.

"Thank you for being a friend." Remember? Betty White then shape-shifting into a death metal head-banger with a vengeance? Guess we won't be forgetting that image any time soon.

Sure, she had a lot of help from her new friends -- former cast-members Molly Shannon, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer all converged on Studio 8 H for this very special Mother's Day edition -- but there are still plenty of reasons why someone as famous and celebrated as Betty White might reject an offer to host "Saturday Night Live."

Leading that list is the opportunity to commit career hara-kiri a dozen times over the course of an hour and a half.  But at 88, what's there to lose?  She has a new sitcom on TV Land in a few weeks ("Hot in Cleveland"), so now is as good a time as any to remind a few million viewers that this long and remarkable career wasn't some kind of fluke. White is a genuinely funny human being who may not have to prove anything at this point -- except, perhaps, to prove that she's still got what it takes.

At 88 and a half, I think we can all admit: That's not as easy as it seems.