Ryan Gosling brought back his iconic Barbie anthem “I’m Just Ken” when Harry Styles crashed his Saturday Night Live monologue.
Gosling, 45, hosted SNL for the fourth time on Saturday, March 7, to promote his science fiction blockbuster Project Hail Mary but he wasn’t counting on a distraction from Styles. The former One Direction star, 32, is next week’s host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live but unexpectedly showed up in the front row in Studio 8H a bit ahead of schedule.
“Well, I’m hosting next week and it’s been a while,” Styles explained in a nod to his previous SNL hosting stint in November 2019. “I just wanted to watch, get a feel for it!”
Gosling was impressed, calling Style’s impromptu study session“so professional [and] so awesome,” Unfortunately, Styles’ presence seemed to throw Gosling off his hosting rhythm as he accidentally called his new movie Project Harry Styles instead of Project Hail Mary.
When the cameraman kept cutting back to Styles throughout the monologue, Gosling finally got fed up with his unexpected guest.
“Could you listen less cool? It’s like your coolness is becoming an issue,” Gosling complained before the cameraman revealed he was wearing an “I <3 Harry” T-shirt.
The distraction took up so much air time that Gosling had to break the news to SNL cast member Sarah Sherman that he was cutting their alien-themed dance number.
“Harry Styles is here? Get me to God’s country,” Sherman, 33, joked in a sly reference to Morgan Wallen’s infamous SNL walkoff.
Eventually, Gosling tried to shake off his nerves by actually singing Styles’ 2017 single “Sign of the Times” right in front of him. (Gosling’s Project Hail Mary costar Sandra Hüller sings “Sign of the Times” as a karaoke song in the movie.)
“[The song] is very poignant. It’s the anthem of our generation, some have said,” Gosling pointed out. “It’s called ‘Sign of the Times’ and, oh my god, it’s by Harry Styles! Now I gotta sing it in front of him?”
A mopey Gosling interrupted himself one line into the anthemic track to admit that “nobody wants this.”
“This is probably my final show … I genuinely hate this,” he complained.
Gosling eventually resorted to singing the chorus to his Oscar-nominated Barbie track “I’m Just Ken” as a way to bail out of continuing with “Sign of the Times.”
“I promised myself I wouldn’t do that,” Gosling dejectedly admitted.
The actor reminisced about how “cool” it was to sing “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars in 2024 before explaining, “I just thought I had another one in me, I guess?”
SNL star Mikey Day came out to comfort Gosling with a kiss on the cheek, with the entire cast soon joining them on stage to help boost morale.
“[You’re here] because I’m like your favorite host of all time?” Gosling asked, with Kenan Thompson correcting him: “No! We just came to get a better look at Harry!”
The whole cast finished off the monologue by belting out the chorus of “Sign of the Times” as Styles looked on with a big grin from the front row.
Saturday Night Live continues on NBC March 14 at 11:30 p.m. ET with Styles as host and musical guest.
