Ryan Gosling Kicks Off Saturday Night Live's 43rd Season With a Jazzy Number

Alec Baldwin skewered President Donald Trump on the show's first episode of the season

By Meg Swertlow Oct 01, 2017 4:00 AMTags

Hey girl, it's fall...which means it's time for pumpkin spice lattes, wool sweaters that can't warm you the way I can and the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, hosted by yours truly, Ryan Gosling...

That's right—the most meme-able hunk on the planet was the host with the most for tonight's 43rd season premiere of SNL with musical guest Jay-Z.

The Blade Runner 2049 star made sure the season started off with a bang—or a jazz number.

During his opening monologue, the LaLa Land actor told the audience he was thrilled to be there and that, "I haven't been this excited since I saved jazz," a fact which the self-proclaimed white guy from Canada reiterated again and again.

Soon his Oscar-winning co-star Emma Stone surprises the crowd when she comes out to let the hunky star know that he did NOT in fact save jazz, and that's because—she explained, "We saved jazz."

photos
How It Feels to Be Impersonated on SNL

The show's opening sketch featured Emmy winner Alec Baldwin as President Donald Trump, Kate McKinnon as Jeff Sessions and Aidy Bryant as Sarah Huckabee Sanders.  The political sketch poked fun at Trump's tweets and his timing on responding to the crisis in Puerto Rico.

Tonight, Gosling went for the jazz and Baldwin went for the jugular. 

 

The sketch comedy show is hoping to build off the fervor of last season, which was the long-standing show's most-watched season in more than two decades.

Both Baldwin, who has hit on the premiere with his President Donald Trump impression, and Melissa McCarthy, who knocked it out of the park last season with her impression of former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, were awarded for their work on the show at the Emmys earlier this month. McKinnon also nabbed an Emmy for her performance on the sketch show.

Bobby Moynihan, Vanessa Bayer, and Sasheer Zamata left Saturday Night Live last season. Earlier this week the network announced that Chris Redd, Heidi Gardner and Luke Null had signed on as the season 43's new featured players.