Third time’s the charm!
Ryan Gosling returned to Saturday Night Live on April 13 for his third appearance as host on the late night sketch comedy show, which saw cameos from actress Emily Blunt and University of Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark and featured the actor revisiting one of his most-loved SNL sketches.
Gosling, 43, led the show with a hilarious, musical monologue that saw him promise not to do “any jokes about Ken,” and explaining that he’d had to “break up” with his character in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 blockbuster Barbie after they “went too deep.”
However, soon after, he admitted he would indeed be discussing his much-loved character, since “letting go just feels like a break up.”
Gosling then added that for “processing a break up,” there was “really only one thing that can help. The music of the great Taylor Swift!”
The actor then launched into a Ken-focused rendition of Swift’s “All Too Well,” much to the delight of the audience, which included the lyrics, “because I was just Ken, and now I’m just Ryan.”
However, it wasn’t long before Gosling was interrupted by his The Fall Guy costar Blunt, 41, who admonished him for singing about Ken, “again” instead of promoting their movie and told him to take off Ken’s fur coat, which he had donned.
“Ryan, you have to move on. It’s time,” Blunt told him before Gosling launched back into the song. This time, the actress took matters further, hitting him over the head with a bottle (that was undoubtedly not real glass). Since that didn’t stop Gosling raving about Ken, Blunt then hit him with a plank of wood and proclaimed that, “Ken is dead.”
Gosling reminded her that she had starred in Oppenheimer — nodding to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon created by the two movies in the summer of 2023 — and asked her if she ever missed it.
Blunt then began singing nostalgically about her role as Kitty in Oppenheimer to “All Too Well,” before she was joined by Gosling as they sang about their respective movies and characters, including that it was time to wish the characters, “farewell.” However, Gosling managed to sneak in at the end that “Ken will never die!”
On Sunday, Swift, herself, reacted to the monologue, writing on X, “All Too Well (Ryan and Emily’s Version) !!! Watch me accidentally catch myself singing this version on tour. This monologue is EVERYTHING.”
Elsewhere in the show, basketball star Clark appeared during the “Weekend Update” segment and jokingly admonished Michael Che for his jokes about women’s sport. Meanwhile Gosling revisited his famous “Close Encounter” sketch, including a guest appearance from the original skit’s star, Kate McKinnon, who also starred alongside the actor in Barbie.
Gosling is no stranger to SNL — having appeared as a host and guest in various capacities in the past. In fact, one of his appearances on the show is what led him portray Ken.
In a Season 43 “Weekend Update” segment, Gosling played former castmember Alex Moffat’s cousin, called “Guy Who Just Joined Soho House.” In an episode of Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett’s Smartless podcast, Gerwig said that the “Guy Who Just Joined Soho House” was what sparked her interest in having Gosling appear in the Barbie movie.
Gosling, 43, also appeared on the show just last week during Kristen Wiig’s opening monologue, securing a coveted Five-Timers Club jacket from series creator Lorne Michaels — despite having only hosted twice at that point.
“Are you sure? I mean I haven’t even hosted three times yet,” the star said to the SNL creator-producer, who playfully shushed him in return.
In a promo for this week’s episode, Gosling is seen working up the courage to get an autograph from country music icon Chris Stapleton, the night’s musical guest.
Standing outside the “You Should Probably Leave” singer’s dressing room, Gosling runs through a few greetings for the singer, before deciding that “Master Stapleton, ‘tis I, Sir Gosling” beats out “Yo Chris, one for the ‘gram?” for an acceptable intro.
Gosling first hosted Saturday Night Live back in 2015, where he notably played a dad who finds himself the subject of some uncomfortable advances from his daughter’s 13-year-old friend. Two years later, in 2017, Gosling returned again to the show as host, and reprised his role as a man abducted by aliens in one of the episode’s sketches.
During both alien-themed sketches in 2015 and 2017, Gosling had cases of the giggles from scene partner Kate McKinnon.
