Lindsay Lohan -- Doing 'Saturday Night Live' Was My Idea

Lindsay Lohan was DYING to do "Saturday Night Live" again -- and kickstart her comeback -- so she reached out to Lorne Michaels herself to book the hosting gig ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to Lindsay tell TMZ she has always felt the "SNL" executive producer has been very fatherly towards her throughout the years. We're told LiLo has always enjoyed doing the show, but was waiting for the right time to do it again.

So now that her community service is coming to an end, our sources say Lindsay called up Lorne and asked him to consider her for the show again. We're told they had multiple conversations and eventually settled on a date ... March 3.