3/7/26: Ryan Gosling | Gorillaz

 

Iran Press Conference

• Nice to see Jeremy right out the gate, especially after not having much to do in the Connor Storrie.

• 2nd episode in a row with Colin appearing in the cold open as Pete Hegseth. We get a funny “entrance” with Colin doing a handstand with help from two other people.

• Colin: We’re treating Iran like the breathalyzer in my car and blowing it the hell up!

• Colin: If we don’t know what we’re doing, Iran DEFINITELY doesn’t know what we’re doing!

• Colin: Shoutout Megan Fox, back on Insta! *bites fist*

• Wow, Colin is freakin’ FANTASTIC here. He was already solid in this role, but he’s particularly great here.

• Colin: Ya’ll playing Chess, I’m playing Grand Theft Auto!

• Nice to see Ashley again as Kristi Noem.

• Ashley: I didn’t get fired, I self-deported.

• Ashley: Like they say, you miss 100% of the dogs you don’t shoot.

• It’s a shame this will probably be the last appearance Ashley makes as Kristi Noem, since I really liked her in the role the few times she appeared.

• Overall, a GREAT cold open, and the best from the show in a while. It might be the best of the season so far.

Rating: ****

Monologue

• Pretty hot crowd for Ryan, which is expected since he’s become a very popular host at this point.

• And right away, we get a Harry Styles cameo. And he got more applause than Ryan!

• So far, Ryan seems a bit ill-at-ease here. I’m not sure why he would be, but something about his delivery and general demeanor is a bit off compared to how he usually is on the show.

• Interesting monologue from Ryan about the Earth.

• So far, this monologue feels a bit too similar to Will Ferrell’s monologue from 2019, where he was distracted by Ryan Reynolds. I also can’t help but find it offputting how the general concept of this monologue is “Harry Styles is so effortlessly cool that Ryan Gosling is distracted!”

• I did like the cut to a camera man with a shirt that says “I Love Harry”.

• Pretty funny “Get me to God’s country” reference from Sarah, after walking on and finding out Harry Styles was here.

• I don’t know how to feel about Ryan having to sing “Sign of The Times” in front of Harry. I feel like it could be pretty funny, but Ryan’s off energy is particularly noticeable here, with all of his lines about how miserable he is.

• Mikey comes to save the day! His kiss on Ryan’s cheek was really funny, and Ryan busting out laughing was a fun moment. It’s a good example of the fun friendship Ryan and Mikey have shown on the show.

• Interesting to point out Harry is hosting next week at the end of the monologue. It reminds me of how hosts would announce next week's host in the original era.

Rating: **½

Wedding Tradition

• Ha, I love Ryan’s costume.

• Ryan’s reaction to finding out about the Wedding tradition of the couple kissing when glasses are clinked is pretty funny.

• Yeah, the turn this takes is pretty predictable, but it’s working for me. Ryan as this creepy character is cracking me up.

• Ha, I love Ryan twirling his hair when he clinks the glass again.

• Sarah is good here as a straight man.

• Oh my god at Ryan’s sudden snort before saying he wants the couple to kiss the “Poozy”. 

• A very funny turn with Ryan clinking the glass when Sarah’s siblings come on “I’m doing the siblings now.”

• Great moment with Jane following through with Ryan’s clinking, and full on making out with Jeremy.

• Ryan’s breaking and hesitance to say his lines near the end of this is really funny.

• Good ending with Ashley as Sarah’s mom deciding to go with Ryan.

Rating: ***½

Otezla

• Interesting concept with Ashley as the spokesperson revealing she doesn’t know what Otezla is.

• I don’t know how to feel about this so far. I sort of get what this is going for, with Otezla having an unknown past that everyone in this commercial is theorizing about, but it doesn’t feel that funny to me.

• Everyone in this commercial is giving a very solid performance, and this wasn’t awful, but I didn’t really get this.

Rating: **½

The Treasure of Darlor

• Mikey, Ryan, and Kenan as dumb Cyclops are really funny so far. This has a dumb energy I really like.

• Ryan: Can you open the door?

• Ashley’s repeating of “GO BACK.” to the Cyclops is really funny, and it surprisingly gets Ashley to break.

• I love the moment with the Cyclops huddling up, and then repeating “Can you open the door?”

• Ashley is still cracking up, it’s honestly really fun to watch, since she’s been very professional so far in her tenure. 

• Ashley begging Ryan to go back while breaking is really funny. This sketch is lots of fun.

• Ryan, after being handed the key to the treasure: Guys I got the treasure!

Rating: ***½

Monty McTreats & The Pastry Bakery

• The innocent, wholesome start this has makes me think we’re gonna get a sudden dark twist. Which is something the show has been leaning too hard on.

• Yeah, there it is. One of the doughboys hung himself.

• I do like how you can see a doughboy jumping into a well in the background.

• Yeah this isn’t really working for me, it feels like it isn’t going anywhere interesting after the reveal.

• Yeah the sudden death with a doughboy falling and dying in front of Ryan didn’t work for me.

• Wow, that ending didn’t even feel like an ending.

Rating: **

Weekend Update

• For the first time in what feels like forever, I actually really liked Colin’s opening rant about Kristi Noem being fired.

• Similar to last week’s Update, there are lots of groaners so far.

• Colin, about RFK: Who is what happens when you leave Walton Goggins in the air fryer…

• I liked Che’s joke about Trump’s neck rash being from when someone accidentally washed his shirt in Holy Water.

• Che, about a Man caught having sex with a dead deer: Even worse, it wasn’t dead when he started!

• Nice to see Kenan doing a commentary on Che’s side of the desk, and hey, JAJ is here too!

• Ha, I can already tell I’m gonna love this pastor character from Kenan.

• Kenan’s descriptions of the snacks in the green room are freakin’ hilarious.

• JAJ: You can have all the meat you want, but it ain’t a sandwich without no bread.

• Kenan: Fathergodlordjeeeesus…

• Kenan: I especially wanna thank God for making woman.

• Kenan randomly singing the lyrics to “Apple Bottom Jeans” was hilarious.

• Kenan talking about big foreheaded women is so funny, and the celebrities he lists are great (Zooey Deschanel being the funniest)

• Kenan’s prayer for Che about looking at pornography on his laptop is HILARIOUS. “Goooonin’ in his office with the door locked…” “Computer got more viruses than he do…”

• Wow, what a great way to end Update! Easily my favorite Update commentary of the season so far.

Rating: **** (Kenan brought it up a full star)

Passing Notes

• Interesting on screen reveal that the notes being passed that Ryan and Ashley are going to read were changed from Dress Rehearsal, seemingly without Ashley and Ryan’s knowledge.

• Mikey’s note about Ashley asking ChatGPT for makeover tips is really funny, and Ashley broke as expected.

• Marcello’s note about Ryan missing multiple layups while playing Basketball in the gym is also really funny, and Ryan surprisingly held it together fairly well.

• Kam’s note about Ashley preparing to go to the gynecologist is freakin’ HILARIOUS “Come on, Eileen! They’ve seen it a hundred times. You can’t have the worst one in the world! Just march in there and say it happened again!” Ashley trying her damndest to keep it together is also really funny.

• Ryan, about Jane: You're such a good student and you have so few friends.

• I love the meta note about Ryan going to see Barbie and being happy whenever Ken appeared on screen.

• I LOVE how Mikey is getting in on the action. Mikey’s note he reads about Kam think Mikey is an undercover agent because he looks 40 is really funny, and another fun meta moment, considering how the show still (for some godforsaken reason) casts Mikey as a high schooler.

• Ashley having a giant ziploc bag of spaghetti called “Lunch #2” is really funny.

• Wow, what a fun sketch! I wouldn’t mind if SNL did something like this again.

Rating: ****

The Goo Goo Man

• Another piece with an interesting setup, with Mikey (who’s been all over this episode) revealing $1200 was spent on visits from the mysterious “Goo Goo Man”.

• Ryan reading the things Goo Goo Man did for him is okay, but something about this isn’t fully working for me. I want to like the absurdity, but something about the pacing is off.

• The Goo Goo Man accessories Ryan wears are pretty funny.

• I like the heads up that Ryan gives Jeremy, with Jeremy appearing with the same hat Ryan is wearing.

• Yeah this feels too sluggish for it to fully work for me.

• And wow, that ended when it felt like it was still in progress.

Rating: **½

Lies

• Nice to see another pre-tape from Martin Herhily.

• I love how Martin’s ultimate lie is to live as Colin Jost. 

• Martin’s costume as Colin is freakin’ hilarious.

• I love the reveal that Jane and Colin are seemingly doing cocaine together.

• Jane holding a gun to the Real Colin and Martin is really funny.

• Pretty short, but another winner from Martin Herhily.

Rating: ****

Thoughts

Another mixed episode, and kind of a hard show to figure out. On one hand, this episode has TONS of strong material (much more than the previous episode). If you look at the amount of highlights, it probably could be considered the best episode of the season so far. But on the other hand, there was a pretty noticeable amount of subpar material, just like last week. This episode felt like there was no real middle line, there was either strong stuff that was memorable, or weak stuff that was hard to fully figure out. I would say this episode was good overall, but just a slight step below solid. Ryan Gosling was good, as expected, despite (like it has been all season with the hosts) not getting to shine much.

Segments ranked Best to Worst

Weekend Update

Lies

Passing Notes

Iran Press Conference

The Treasure of Darlor

Wedding Tradition

The Goo Goo Man

Otezla

Monologue

Monty McTreats & The Pastry Bakery

6.5/10