Season 43 of Ryan Gosling is starting off with quite a bang. Ryan Gosling hosts with Jay-Z as musical guest reminding us how much we missed the show!
Ryan Gosling is back as host for the season 43 premiere of Saturday Night Live. And it was quite the premiere episode! With some great sketches and amazing Jay-Z performances, it was the SNL we know and love.
Cold Open
Did you think that Alec Baldwin as Trump was done forever? Think again. In a cold open that caught us up on everything happening this summer, we got everything we could have wanted and more. It followed Trump dealing with Puerto Rico as well as Jeff Sessions living in a grandfather clock. It just reminded us that the world is crappy but Saturday Night Live is not.
Opening Monologue
Ryan Gosling doesn’t even think that Ryan Gosling saved jazz. And honestly, I’m glad we all realized that it wasn’t just Ryan Gosling who saved jazz but also Emma Stone. Confused? Well so were we while watching it. The entire monologue is strange and he’s continually bringing up the jazz joke from last fall but it still made for a great joke over all.
Close Encounter 2
Bringing it back from the best sketch Gosling ever did, we find Kate McKinnon, Ryan Gosling and Cecily Strong checking back in about their second alien abduction. The whole sketch was fine and we laughed a bit because it was a set up we knew. But the best part? Kate McKinnon pushed Ryan Gosling’s butt together continually and everyone kept laughing and breaking character.
Woke Jeans
Honestly it was one of those filler digital shorts that are just fine. They’re not really funny but they’re not terrible, they just exist to fill some time. But it does give us a really great Ryan Gosling look and honestly, that’s all we need.
HGTV
What was this? The Fliplets was about triplets who have their own HGTV show but Tristan (Ryan Gosling) was the only one who went to stay with their father. So he came back as a bad boy and that is basically the entire sketch. It felt like another filler and not really one of the best.
Jay-Z
Did this performance force me to go and buy 4:44 on iTunes? Yes, it did. It is a pretty great album and his performances showed that. The first was set in a camouflage set and honestly, that’s all you need to know. Just go and experience it. Especially for Jay-Z’s Colin K jersey.
Starting the second song with an empty stage was an incredibly moving image. Honestly, Jay-Z’s entire performance is just worth your time. He still is an amazing musician and it is one thing you don’t want to miss.
Weekend Update
Love Weekend Update when it tears into Donald Trump? Well you’d love this week’s. Basically everything was about this administration with a few tasteless jokes thrown in. There was a bit where the Guy Who Just Bought a Boat shows up with Ryan Gosling and they make jokes about how terrible they are, romantically speaking.
Henrietta and the Fugitive
This is honestly the weirdest sketch and it makes no sense but I cried from laughing so hard? It’s just so dumb that you can’t help but laugh about. Ryan Gosling falls in love with a chicken who waits for him for 20 years while he’s in jail and they go to Barcelona together. It is just as crazy as it sounds and yet I could not stop laughing about it.
Food Tasting
There is no Tarazano’s but Ryan Gosling also can’t keep himself together. Another sketch that really doesn’t make much sense is made because Ryan Gosling keeps laughing throughout it. That’s pretty much the only reason this sketch was funny. Basically a couple is in one of those “surprise it was Domino’s you were eating!” things and they get angry about it. It wasn’t that funny but Ryan Gosling having the inability to keep a straight face is charming and more than makes up for it.
Papyrus
OMG. OMG. That’s all you need to know about this sketch. Basically Ryan Gosling is having an existential crisis because he knows that the Avatar logo is the Papyrus font. It’s a whole movie and honestly I’m just so happy this sketch exists. Even if it ends in Comic Sans.
Mickey’s Endzone
I can’t really explain this to you. Basically Ryan Gosling’s a rock flute player with a love triangle. And then his apartment gets broken into? It’s weird and definitely the last night sketch that is kind of a throwaway. It did have Leslie Jones ripping a pair of pants terribly and that’s all you really need in life, right?
Next: Blade Runner 2049 may be long, but it is worth the three hours
Check back on Culturess each week for a recap and news on Saturday Night Live. And next week is host Gal Gadot!