Saturday Night Live
Ryan Gosling & Gorillaz
March 7, 2026
BIG NEWS, GUYS: Lorne Michaels reads my blog! Because how else can you explain that the last time Gosling hosted in 2024, I wrote this:
I’m pretty sure the entire world agrees that Ryan Gosling is not just a pretty face, he’s genuinely hilarious, and clearly delights in being funny. But maybe he delights a little too much in being funny, especially if you’re one of those people who hates when the host and/or cast begins breaking mid-scene. Because Ryan Gosling Can. Not. Keep. It. Together.
Hating it when the cast breaks is a legitimate complaint that many people have — I’m old enough to remember Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz making each other crack up which felt like a cheap way to make the audience laugh with them when the sketch wasn’t otherwise working. That said, Gosling’s giggles seem genuine, and they are, like it or not, highly contagious.
Bring him back sooner THAN SEVEN YEARS FROM NOW, Lorne.
And then not only did Lorne not wait another seven years to bring Gosling back, they also made THE ENTIRE EPISODE about Gosling breaking! Which, OK, now that I know Lorne Michaels is reading this — and he definitely is — a couple of notes:
- Great job on bringing Ryan Gosling back quickly.
- Making the cast break is like cumin: a little goes a looooooong way.
Turns out, when everyone in every Goddamn sketch is struggling to keep it together, it’s distracting, and sometimes even irritating. It’s not that it’s not fun, at least at first– it is very contagious — but when every sketch is an exercise in breakage, when you explicitly tell us you are trying to make the cast break, the gimmick becomes obvious: it becomes cheap, and the magic dies a little.
Some gentle suggestions, Lorne Michaels:
- Let’s get Ryan Gosling in that Five-Timers smoking robe sooner rather than later.
- But less breaking. At the very least, pretend it’s organic.
Great talk, Lorne! Let me know if you want my thoughts on who should replace you!
Continue reading “Ryan Gosling breaks ‘Saturday Night Live’ for the fourth time” →
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