Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt Bid Barbenheimer Farewell on ‘SNL’

Ryan Gosling returned to host Saturday Night Live for the third time last night, bringing his singular charm and inability to keep a straight face throughout the show.

Gosling giggled his way through most of the sketches, but his enthusiasm and genuine enjoyment shined through. And while the actor built his career on high-intensity dramatic roles, it’s clear that he’s a goofy song-and-dance man at heart. Gosling channeled this effortlessly in Barbie, turning Ken into a breakout (and Oscar-nominated) role.

But Barbie was last year, and as the seemingly endless awards season has drawn to a close, it’s finally time for him to say goodbye to Ken. Gosling’s monologue saw him singing a farewell ode to his himbo alter-ego to the tune of Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well.” Gosling crooned, “If I said that I was doing fine, you know I’d be lying, ‘cause I was just Ken and now I’m just Ryan,” as he donned the famous white fur coat.

But Gosling’s ode was interrupted by Emily Blunt, who angrily reminds him that he’s there to promote their upcoming action comedy The Fall Guy. She complains that they had a whole special effects-laden opening monologue and that he needs to let go of Ken. “Look here, you’re Kenning right now, and I hate that’s even a verb. I resent that. Take the fur coat off. You’re embarrassing yourself,” she said.

Blunt refused to be waylaid by the Barbie-pink sets and dancers, as she breaks a bottle over Gosling’s head and hits him with a chair. “Ken’s dead. All right, Ken is dead,” she declared. Gosling then reminds Blunt that she starred in Oppenheimer and the two bond over their Barbenheimer connection.

Blunt and Gosling then duet through the rest of the song, reminiscing about their golden days as Kitty Oppenheimer and Ken while pink beach balls fly overhead and Albert Einstein dances out with a margarita. It was a silly, celebratory to close the Barbenheimer chapter for both actors and an entertaining kick-off to one of the best SNL episodes of the season.

(featured image: screenshot/NBC)