Heartthrob A-lister Ryan Gosling will return to “Saturday Night Live” for this third time as host, according to NBC.
Gosling’s appearance is his fourth time at the helm of the NBC late-night comedy sketch series. His last appearance was in Season 49.
Ryan Gosling Caused SNL’s Longest-Running Cast Member to Burst Into Laughter
During Ryan Gosling’s last appearance as an SNL host in 2024, he famously appeared in a sketch where he played the animated MTV character Beavis, and Mikey Day played Butthead. Their uncanny resemblances to the celluloid characters caused their fellow SNL stars to break into laughter, including the show’s longest-running cast member, Kenan Thompson.
Day and Gosling spoofed the characters in a sketch featuring cast members Thompson and Heidi Gardner. Both actors, who are known for holding it together during the most hilarious sketches, famously couldn’t stop laughing at Gosling and Day’s on-point makeovers.
Variety quoted Thompson, who has been on the series for 23 seasons, saying, “I haven’t had a break like that in a while where I was in tears, and I couldn’t talk. It was that funny to me, and what I was about to say next was funny to me.”
He added, “I was frozen. I was literally quivering, and then I started to panic. Because I was like, I can’t talk without cry-talking. I don’t want to waste the line! It could throw off everything. It was like, three seconds of just chaos.”
Additionally, Gardner told Vulture that the sketch had been worked on for about “five years prior” to its SNL debut. She added that breaking during the show as Gosling and Day acted nonchalantly caused her to leave the stage “a little bit in shock.”
Ryan Gosling is Also Well-Known to Break During Sketches
When Ryan Gosling hosted SNL’s Season 43 premiere in 2017, he could barely hold it together during the live show. He famously burst into laughter during most of his sketches.
The “Hail Mary” star stifled laughter during the show’s now-infamous “Alien Encounter” sketch, where he appeared alongside Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong. The actor was shaking as he, Strong, and McKinnon shared their stories of alien abduction with hysterical results.
In that same episode, Gosling began chuckling to himself in the “Dive Bar” sketch before it even really began. He also couldn’t keep a straight face during his “Weekend Update” appearance, where he played a guy who just joined SoHo House.
Gosling’s appearance puts him one step closer to becoming a part of SNL’s Five-Timers Club. This exclusive club of hosts has hosted the series five times and includes, per PEOPLE, stars such as “Only Murders in the Building” star Steve Martin, Scarlett Johansson, Chevy Chase, Candice Bergen, Tom Hanks, John Goodman and Alec Baldwin to name a few.
Ryan Gosling hosts SNL on March 7, 2026. The series airs live on NBC beginning at 11:35 p.m. ET, and airs the next day on Peacock.
