Ryan Gosling can’t stop breaking as he hosts ‘SNL’

During the SNL40 celebration in 2015, Andy Samberg and Adam Sandler performed a Digital Short called “That’s When You Break.” It was an ode to all the times Saturday Night Live performers and hosts have broken into laughter during sketches. (Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch. Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz. Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz. Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz.”

This weekend’s Ryan Gosling episode of SNL would be the highlight of a future reprisal of “That’s When You Break.”

Hosting for his third time, Gosling delivered one of the best episodes of the season while repeatedly breaking himself — and causing everyone around him to break too.

“Heidi Gardner never breaks so this is kind of amazing,” pop culture writer and SNL expert Mike Ryan noted during the “Beavis and Butt-Head” sketch that caused Gardner to crack up for extended periods of time.

The episode was so filled with extended periods of laughter from Gosling and the cast that it appears the show ran out of time to air “Papyrus 2” and had to put it online instead. This was the first time I’ve ever seen a promo for a cut-for-time sketch run during an episode.

I was also unfamiliar with Chris Stapleton until I heard a snippet of “White Horse” during the promo for this episode. Now I know all about Stapleton’s hat.

COLD OPEN

Close Encounter Cold Open

SNL didn’t waste any time with a political cold open this weekend. Instead, Kate McKinnon returned to once again play Miss Rafferty, the woman who has been repeatedly abducted by aliens in the most uncomfortable and sexually dismissive ways.

• Seventh time’s the charm: This was the seventh time we’ve gotten a close encounter sketch, with the previous one airing in May 2022 during McKinnon’s last episode. Gosling was part of the first installment of this recurring bit and returned to it the second time he hosted too.
• What goes around comes around: SNL has had an interesting string of cameos this season. McKinnon hosted in December and saw her episode taken over by Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph. Then Wiig hosted last week and watched Gosling cameo during her monologue. And now Gosling hosted this week and got McKinnon back as one of her popular characters during the cold open.

THE MONOLOGUE

The monologue cameos kept rolling this week. Emily Blunt, Gosling’s The Fall Guy costar, appeared during his monologue to snap Gosling out of his attachment to playing (being?) Ken from Barbie.