Ryan Gosling breaks up with Ken in emotional ballad as Emily Blunt and Kate McKinnon make SURPRISE cameos as star hosts SNL… while Chris Stapleton appears as musical guest

Ryan Gosling reunited with his The Fall Guy co-star, Emily Blunt, as well as Kate McKinnon on the latest SNL episode – and also broke up with Ken as he hosted for the third time.

The Barbie star, 43 – who recently made rare comments about his daughters – was also joined by musical guest and country singer, Chris Stapleton, during the big night.

The actor kicked off his opening monologue by stepping out onto the stage and was greeted by loud cheers and applause from the live audience.

Ryan expressed his gratitude to be back hosting the sketch comedy series while briefly plugging his upcoming film, The Fall Guy, also starring Emily Blunt.

‘So don’t worry. I’m not going to make any jokes about Ken. Because it’s not funny,’ he stated. 

He then gave a big reveal to the crowd and announced that he had broken up with his Barbie character, Ken. 

‘Ken and I, we had to break up. We went too deep. And it’s over. So I’m not gonna talk about it,’ Gosling said, but after a brief pause, added, ‘I actually am gonna talk about it a little bit.’ 

‘You know when you play a character that hard, that long, just letting go just feels like a breakup. And for processing a breakup, there’s really only one thing that can help: the music of the great Taylor Swift.’ 

A piano was brought out onto the stage and the star sat on a bench in front of the instrument before belting out an emotional ballad as he reflected on his split from Ken. 

As he sang, Gosling seemingly performed to the tune of Swift’s track titled, All Too Well. Some lyrics included: ‘If I said that I was doing fine, you know I’d be lying/ Because I was just Ken, and now I’m just Ryan.’ 

Suddenly, his Fall Guy co-star, Emily Blunt, appeared on the stage beside Ryan – who was also sporting a fuzzy coat that his character had worn in Greta Gerwig’s movie. 

She frustratingly told the actor, ‘We had a whole full game plan. It was going to be epic. I was going to hit you with things. Instead you’re singing about Ken, again.’ 

Gosling argued, ‘But it’s not totally unrelated. I listen to this song in The Fall Guy while thinking about a breakup. I’m doing exactly what we talked about.’ 

Blunt then said, ‘You’re Kenning right now, and I hate that’s even a verb. Take the coat off. You’re embarrassing yourself. Come on,’ while also telling him to ‘move on.’ 

However, Ryan is unable to get over his break up and started to break out in song once again. ‘I was there, beach blond hair, now it’s time to wish Ken farewell…’ 

Emily disappeared off the stage for a few seconds, but when she returned, she slammed a glass bottle on Gosling’s head, causing it to shatter into pieces. 

‘What the hell, Emily!’ the actor exclaimed in shock. She replied, ‘You were a stunt man, and you can take a hit. And look how cool that was. Right?’ 

He agreed and added that Ken would also think it was cool. Blunt then hit him with a wooden chair and angrily told Ryan that Ken was ‘dead.’ 

Gosling humorously retaliated by calling her film, Oppenheimer, an ‘inferior’ film to Barbie. He added that Barbie won the ‘people’s hearts,’ while Oppenheimer did not. 

However, when Gosling asked Blunt if she missed Oppenheimer, she then also broke out into an emotional ballad. Ryan joined in on the song and the pair sang about ‘Barbenheimer.’ 

In conclusion, both Ryan and Emily said a final ‘farewell’ to their Barbie and Oppenheimer characters. They blew out a candle, which then lit back up on its own. Gosling said, ‘That’s right. Because Ken will never die.’ 

Ryan also had the chance to show off his comedic skills by appearing in various skits throughout the latest episode. 

At the very beginning during the Cold Open, Gosling had the chance to return to the Close Encounter skit that he has taken part in during his previous times hosting. 

He was also joined by Kate McKinnon who made a surprise cameo. The star has also starred in the same sketch in the past. 

Along with Ryan and Kate, current SNL cast member Sarah Sherman also joined in as the trio discussed their experiences with an alien abduction at The Pentagon.

‘Yeah. You know, it was wild. One second, we’re three friends on a camping trip, and the next we’re citizens of the stars,’ Sarah began. 

Gosling then added, ‘And, sir, before we begin, may I say something? I’m just realizing that I was wearing the same outfit the last time I was here. I just want you to know I do have other clothes.’ 

Bowen Yang, who was one of the interviewers, asked, ‘Now, how were you all brought on board the craft?’ 

‘Well, we were hit with this warm soft light, and then we materialized on the spaceship between these two glowing beams,’ Sherman explained. 

Ryan also expressed, ‘And our clothes were gone, but we were wearing these comfy robes made of transparent light.’

However, just like the previous Close Encounter skits, Kate’s experience was vastly different from her friends and far from magical. 

She recalled being sucked up into the spaceship and was once again surrounded by gray aliens.

‘I see my old buddies – the gray aliens – with the big dumb eyes, and it hits me I’ve been on this spaceship more times than I’ve been to a dentist.’ 

Ryan and Sarah talked about the aliens they encountered speaking a ‘universal language’ and compared it to ‘love.’ However, Kate did not have that experience. 

‘All right. Now this gets my gunk because these two are getting ASMR love tingles, meanwhile down in Gen Pop, the grays and I are doing our usual dance.’

Ryan then revealed that on the way to the bathroom, he got lost and met up with Kate and the gray aliens. 

Bowen asked, ‘And how did they react when you walked into the room?’ with Gosling answering, ‘Like middle schoolers meeting Taylor Swift. They just mobbed us.’ 

At the end, both Ryan and Sarah recalled the peaceful way they left the spaceship, with the actor explaining, ‘I went back to the smart aliens, and they touched our heads to theirs, and we were back on Earth.’ 

Sherman was also given a special gift to ‘make our world better’ while Kate said she was dumped unceremoniously into North Korea.  

In another sketch, the actor portrayed a man named Harrison who had just proposed to his girlfriend. The pair were at their home and were talking about the engagement to his fiancée’s friend and her boyfriend named Brad. 

Gosling’s fiancé and her friend briefly went to the kitchen, leaving Harrison and Brad alone in the living room. 

Brad – who just met Harrison for the first time that day – started to talk about how ‘exciting’ the engagement was. 

Ryan replied with, ‘Yeah, definitely. I think I made a mistake,’ which left Brad very confused. 

He continued, ‘Oh, no, no, no. It’s nothing. I shouldn’t have proposed, Brad. You see, our dog died, and I wanted to fix it.’ 

Gosling explained that that he didn’t have any family or friends to talk to about the situation, and begged Brad for help. 

His fiancé and her friend came back to the living room to announce that the friend was going to be a bridesmaid. She then told Brad that he would have to be in the wedding party as well. 

The women left the room again, leaving Harrison and Brad alone. Brad tried to change the topic and brought up Jojo Siwa’s new look. 

‘I don’t know who that is. I keep driving to the airport, and I just sit in my car, and I watch the planes fly away,’ Ryan said. 

The women return to the room, and Brad started to help Harrison by telling both him and his fiancé that they didn’t need to rush into getting married and later added, ‘in the eyes of the law, you could still walk away, no problem.’

The fiancé began crying and left the room, with her friend going after her. ‘I’m going to leave tonight,’ Gosling eagerly told Brad. 

But Brad dramatically asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’ Ryan ignored the question and explained he was going to get facial reconstruction from a man he found on Groupon and will ‘start a new life in Istanbul.’ 

He told Brad, ‘Now, I need you to meet me there with $12,000 in cash,’ but Brad desperately said, ‘I am not a part of this!’ 

‘You’re the main part of this, Brad,’ Gosling said, raising his voice. Brad expressed, ‘I don’t know you at all!’ 

When the women returned, Brad told the fiancé the truth about Harrison not wanting to marry her. She understood and explained to Harrison that she also was a bit nervous. 

‘That makes me feel so much better,’ Ryan admitted, and apologized to both his fiancé and Brad.

She then left the room with her friend to get celebratory drinks and Brad told Ryan in relief, ‘I’m so glad that all worked out.’ 

But Gosling revealed, ‘I didn’t mean a word of it. I’ll see you in Turkey. Farewell, Brad. You’re my best friend.’ He then kissed Brad on the forehead, grabbed a suitcase hidden behind the sofa and ran towards the door, concluding the skit. 

Another humorous sketch took place on News Nation and Heidi Gardner took on the role of a host named Bobbi. She was joined by Kenan Thompson who played a professor to take part in a discussion about A.I. 

During the segment, the pair were surrounded by a live audience that could also listen in on the serious conversation. 

Gardner asked Kenan, ‘Well, let’s get into it. Professor, you’ve been very outspoken about the threat that A.I. poses. Can you explain your stance to the average American?’ 

However, Thompson’s gaze was focused on an audience member sitting behind Heidi. ‘I’m sorry, what?’ 

She repeated the question and he answered, ‘Certainly. Um, to be clear, I’m not anti-A.I. I just Beavis – believe – I believe A.I. needs to be properly regulated.’ 

Heidi asked if there was an issue and Kenan honestly replied, ‘Um, yeah. There is a gentleman in your audience who looks strikingly similar to Beavis from the cartoon Beavis and Butt-head. Just a little distracting.’ 

Ryan Gosling could be seen in the background dressed like Beavis, wearing a similar wig and outfit that the cartoon character wore in the animated show. 

Gardner said she didn’t know the series but offered to have the audience member moved to another seat. Gosling – who was looking around to see who looked like Beavis – was then asked to move. 

Confused, he asked, ‘I’m sorry? You’re talking about me? I have no idea what’s going on. I’m sorry. What?’ 

Ryan then moved and Kenan and Heidi continued their discussion about A.I. However, another audience member who took Ryan’s seat also proved as a major distraction to Thompson. 

‘Now there’s a gentleman behind you that looks like Butt-head!’ he said, with Gardner adding, ‘Professor, just because our audience members aren’t as informed on the issue as you doesn’t make them butt-heads.’

‘Butt-head from the cartoon. He’s Beavis’ friend,’ Kenan explained, and the host offered to also move the audience member. 

However, when Heidi turned to ask the Butt-head lookalike – played by Mikey Day – to move, she appeared taken aback how similar he looked to the animated character and burst out laughing. 

She held up her hand, but couldn’t stop laughing as she fully broke character, causing the live audience to cheer and applause. 

‘Sir…kindly move seats,’ she finally said, facing forward again while still laughing. He eventually moved and said, ‘I’m so sorry. I’m confused. I’m just here to learn about A.I.’

The skit then showed in a tweet from X which mentioned ‘Cornholio.’ Kenan explained, ‘That’s someone trolling. That’s a reference to the cartoon. That was Beavis’ alter ego. He eat the sugar and become Cornholio!’ 

Heidi then asked another audience member for a question, but it was discovered that both Ryan and Mikey were sitting next to each other in front of the person asking a question. 

Thompson exclaimed, ‘You put them right next to each other? They even sitting like they do on the show. You two really don’t know that you look like Beavis and Butt-head?’ 

Gosling said, ‘I’ve heard rumblings that I look like someone from TV, but it’s just – maybe it’s this Beavis person. I don’t know. I don’t watch much television. I have an incredibly busy life.’

Day added, ‘Yeah. I’m very busy too. And this is honestly the first time I’ve ever heard that I look like this Butt-head person, so.’ 

With both Ryan and Mikey also laughing and breaking character, Heidi said, ‘Oh, boy. For those just tuning in, this is News Nation, not the Cartoon Network.’

Kenan then pointed out that they laugh like the characters, and the humorous skit concluded with Gardner deciding it was time for a commercial break. 

Chris Stapleton was the musical guest during the latest episode and the first song he performed was the track titled, White Horse. 

The tune can be found on his latest album, Higher, which was released late last year in November. 

He wore a black button up as well as black pants and a tan, cowboy hat for the performance. Stapleton also showed off not only his vocal skills, but also played the guitar for the audience.

Later in the night, the star took to the stage once again and sang a ballad called Mountains Of My Mind. The song is also included on the Higher album.