The SNL cast typically does a really good job not breaking character, but now and again, it just becomes impossible to keep a straight face. That’s what happened last night when a sketch about the threats of AI devolved into giggles and full blown laughter after Ryan Gosling showed up dressed as Beavis from Beavis And Butt-Head.
The basic premise involved a townhall style news program about artificial intelligence. Kenan Thompson played an MIT professor and Heidi Gardner played the News Nation journalist interviewing him. She was asking him questions about AI, but he kept being distracted by an audience member sitting behind her who looked a lot like Beavis. It’s hard to blame him. Ryan Gosling looks exactly like Beavis, and as soon as Gardner turned around and looked at him, she couldn’t stop laughing. It got even worse after Mikey Day’s Butt-Head showed up, and by the end, the entire cast, with the exception of Kenan, was barely holding it together. Check out the magic below…
There’s a lot to love about this sketch, but my absolute favorite moment is the exchange between Gosling and Day at the end where they’re introduced to each other and talk about having very busy lives. Each one laughs a little bit, but they’re able to keep it together enough to get their lines out and recover. I need a follow-up sketch ASAP where these two hang out, get to know each other and hopefully discover their lives are remarkably similar. We’re all just a chance encounter away from meeting a new soulmate/ best friend.
Saturday Night Live definitely encourages performers not to break character, but when it happens now and again in the middle of a legitimately funny sketch, people absolutely love it. Some of the best sketches of all-time like More Cowbell, Matt Foley and Debbie Downer feature at least a few moments of cast members and/ or guest hosts breaking. Some of them are even made better and more legendary by people breaking character. There’s something infectious about laughter, especially when the other person is trying not to laugh and can’t help themselves.
Of course, this wasn’t the only thing Ryan Gosling did during his SNL hosting duties, and not surprisingly, everything is proving quite popular. Most of his sketches have already flown past 100,000 views on YouTube and are on pace to do much higher numbers than the legendary sketch comedy show normally puts up. That’s not a surprise given how much everyone is feeling Gosling right now on the heels of his Oscar nomination for Barbie and fantastic performance of "I'm Just Ken." His next movie The Fall Guy is also getting some tremendous buzz.
As for SNL, the show will take a few weeks off before returning on May 4th with its next host Dua Lipa. She’ll be pulling double duty and also doing the music portion. I can’t wait.
