Ryan Gosling on Saturday Night Live: surprise cameos, emotional tributes, plus what’s next

The star kicked off his opening monologue by immediately introducing a strange sighting in the room — sitting right up front was Harry Styles.

The British singer, fresh off the release of his album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,  essentially proved to be the scene-stealer for the rest of the monologue, with Ryan breaking into “Sign of the Times,” other cast members coming out for a better look at the Grammy winner, and even the camera panning away to Harry more than it did to their host.

One of the most memorable parts of each time Ryan hosts SNL is his tendency to break character and start giggling, and this time around was no exception, especially during one sketch in particular. In “Passing Notes,” Ryan joins Ashley Padilla as a principal and high school teacher respectively chastising students for bullying.

Throughout the sketch, they read notes passed by the students, but a message flashes on the screen telling viewers the contents of the notes were changed since rehearsal. This led to many breaks and stifled guffaws from both Ryan and Ashley, including one high-pitched squeal in reference to a joke about Ken.

On the latest episode, the groundbreaking virtual band Gorillaz performed, starting off with one of their signature hits, “Clint Eastwood,” joined by rapper Del the Funky Homosapien.

To mark their 25th anniversary and the arrival of their latest album, they closed out with “The Moon Cave,” joined by Anoushka Shankar, Asha Puthli, Jalen Ngonda, and Black Thought.

If the opening monologue wasn’t a tip off already, Harry Styles will be back next week, March 14, to perform double duty as both the host and musical guest for SNL. He’ll likely break out tracks from his newly released fourth studio album, which now has two singles ready to perform in “Aperture” and “American Girls.”