Ryan Gosling kicked off his stint as host of the season 43 premiere of “SNL” will a very extensive joke at the expense of “La La Land.”
The joke, of course, is about how Ryan Gosling — who is white — saved jazz in that movie. Sure, that’s not exactly literally how the movie went but it’s hyperbole based on the fact that Gosling — who is white — was the face of jazz music in “La La Land.” Which is silly.
Anyway.
“I’m so honored to be here hosting ‘SNL’ again,” Gosling said. “It’s my second time. It’s the season premiere. Jay-Z is here. I mean, I haven’t felt this good since I saved jazz. I mean, you guys know that i saved jazz, right? I did this movie, ‘La La Land,’ and everybody said that I saved jazz. I guess it was dying and I saved it.”
That was just the beginning of the gag, which lasted for the entirety of the monologue and included Gosling playing the piano while smoking a cigarette and interventions by “SNL” cast member Kenan Thompson and Gosling’s “La La Land” co-star Emma Stone.
Stone provided the punchline.
“Ryan, this is ridiculous, okay?” Stone said. “You didn’t save jazz. How many times have we talked about this?”
“A lot,” Gosling responded.
“Yeah, a lot,” Stone came back. “You got to stop, man, because you did not save jazz. we saved jazz.”
Stone, I should note, is also white.