Veteran standup comedian stepped onto the stage at NBC's Studio 8H for his opening monologue on "Saturday Night Live," knowing well that viewers would question whether he still has the potential to host the show nearly 16 months after he was nearly killed in a car crash.

As Morgan told the audience, "People were wondering: Can he speak? Does he have 100 percent mental capacity?"

"But the truth is, I never did," he continued. "I might actually be a few points higher now."

Morgan's appearance on Saturday Night Live was his first major television performance since he suffered life-threatening injuries in the spring of 2014.

It would not be wrong to say that the 90-minute broadcast was a sentimental homecoming for Morgan, who became a household name as an SNL cast member in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and then on the NBC comedy "30 Rock." A sketch during his monologue (presented as if it were a prophetic "30 Rock" episode from 2012) reunited him with the cast members of the show, including Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer.

Another SNL alumnus, Larry David, also appeared in the episode's most discussed sketch, an opening sendup of CNN's Democratic presidential debate. The "Seinfeld" co-creator and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star very well impersonated Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

In tones that mimicked the voice of Sanders, David declared himself a Washington outsider: "I'm the only candidate up here who's not a billionaire," he said. "I don't have a super PAC. I don't even have a backpack. I carry my stuff around loose in my arms like a professor between classes. I own one pair of underwear, that's it."