This is no laughing matter.
“Saturday Night Live” alum Kevin Nealon slammed stars who break character during sketches after Ryan Gosling’s most recent hosting gig.
On March 7, Gosling — notorious for breaking character when guest-starring on the comedy show — couldn’t hold back his laughter during the “Passing Notes” sketch, which was specifically designed to make him crack.
However, Nealon was not amused by the occurrence as he expressed on X Tuesday, “I never broke character on ‘SNL.’ I knew how much time the writers put into those scripts.
“You don’t want to be the one who throws it off. [‘SNL’ creator] Lorne [Michaels] doesn’t like when the cast breaks. Even if the audience laughs, it doesn’t work for the sketch.”
Nealon — who was on the show from 1986 to 1995 — then made a nod to his famous 1990 Chippendales sketch with the late actors Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze.
The moment featured the actors in the final round of a Chippendales audition, where they had to rip off their shirts to give their best performances for the hiring manager, who was played by Nealon.
“If I could get through the Chippendales sketch,” he added. “I could get through anything.”
During “Passing Notes,” Gosling plays a high school principal tasked with reading several embarrassing notes written by students with “SNL” star Ashley Padilla.
However, before Padilla could read her first note, a warning flashed on the screen that told viewers, “The contents of these notes have been changed since rehearsal.”
As a consequence, Gosling and Padilla laughed throughout the entirety of the sketch, with the rest of the cast members trying to hide their smiles as well.
The “Project Hail Mary” star also broke character during “Wedding Tradition,” where he portrayed an odd wedding guest, and “Cyclops,” where he was a clueless cyclops trying to unlock treasure.
Earlier this month, Gosling addressed his reputation for breaking character on the “Today” show when Craig Melvin asked him if “the rest of the cast (is) going out of their way to make it difficult for Ryan Gosling to keep it together.”
“First of all, one thing they don’t tell you is that when you do ‘SNL,’ you don’t sleep for a week,” Gosling explained.
“[You’re] really delirious when you get there and then you’re working with people … that are intentionally trying to destroy you, and just good luck not laughing,” he continued. “I don’t know. I know you’re supposed to take your comedy more seriously.”
The Oscar nominee, who has hosted “SNL” four times over the years, added, “I don’t know, but it’s — I can’t do it. It’s too hard.”
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