Four-time “Saturday Night Live” host Ryan Gosling is known for breaking character from time to time, and his stint on this weekend’s episode was no different. This time around, Gosling had a good excuse: the show’s writers changed the jokes in a specific sketch sometime between final rehearsal and going to air.
Gosling starred as a school principal speaking to a classroom about bullying in “Passing Notes.” Cast members Ashley Padilla played teacher Ms. Perry, and Kam Patterson, Jane Wickline, Mikey Day, and Marcello Hernández played students.
Gosling and Padilla were delivering an anti-bullying message when they realized some of the students were passing notes.
“If I catch you passing a note, I’m gonna read it out loud. Now we all get to learn about who’s smooching who,” Padilla said before snatching the letter up.
“Oh, it’s about me,” she said before diving into the note’s contents. “Yo, real talk, I sat behind Miss P. on the bus when we took that field trip last week. She was on her phone. She uploaded a picture of herself to ChatGPT and said, ‘Do you have any makeover tips for me?’ And ChatGPT just answered, ‘No.’ Pretty sad, bro.”
It was clear Padilla was caught off guard by the note from the beginning, and she broke into laugher before finishing. Gosling was, of course, up next.
“Okay, don’t tell anyone this, but I came to school early the other day and Principal Wit was in the school gym shooting hoops,” he read aloud from the next intercepted message. “Oh God, I saw him miss 133 layups in a row. After each miss, he said, ‘There’s got to be a way to do this.’ When he finally made one, he tried to celebrate by ripping his T-shirt in half, but he couldn’t do it and just stretched it out really bad.”
The actor made it through that note mostly unscathed, but a follow-up got him. “I never expected this from you, Mandy,” he told Wickline. “You’re such a good student … and you have so few friends.”
Gosling then read, “This happened a few years ago. I went to see ‘Barbie’ with my sister and principal Whit was there” — a reference to his 2023 hit film.
While laughing, Gosling continued, “He bought an entire row for himself. Every time the Ken character came on screen he’d say, ‘Finally, something to look at. If I was still gay, I’d do him.’” Gosling then burst into laughter before he added, “I refuse to apologize for being right.”
Watch the sketch in the video above.
