Gosling was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as jazz musician Sebastian in Damien Chazelle’s acclaimed musical La La Land.
In the video above, Gosling deadpans his way through a clever routine where he white-splains jazz to the audience, finally being joined on-stage by La La Land co-star Emma Stone for the big punchline.
For his SNL monologue, Ryan Gosling ran with the “saving jazz” joke, taking it literally and in the process poking fun at his own performance in La La Land and mocking the whole idea of a “white kid from Canada” rescuing the most influential of American musical forms from obscurity.
Gosling made his second career appearance as SNL host for the show’s season 43 premiere, with Jay-Z serving as musical guest.