Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | March 9, 2026
Breaking isn’t just about Shabba Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp (nailed it). It also describes what happens when an actor can’t keep their shiz together when filming or performing in a scene, sketch, or what have you. They start to laugh, and then, most of the time, the audience starts to laugh. But it isn’t always successful, and some actors (Jimmy Fallon) have felt the ire of audiences for breaking too often. No one is really interested if it doesn’t feel genuine.
One of my favorite 30 Rock episodes includes Tracy Jordan trying to break on purpose, because that means he won’t have to remember his lines. It’s super funny and plays into the delicate balance that is laughing during a scene. It’s something that has happened quite a bit in Saturday Night Live’s 50-year history, and the reaction can be hit or miss. But sometimes, you take two people like Ashley Padilla and Ryan Gosling, put them in a scene meant to crack them up, and enjoy your creation.
That’s what happened in a new SNL sketch called Passing Notes. The setup is simple enough. Padilla and Gosling play a teacher and principal who address a class about bullying. However, the kids start passing notes in class, much to the chagrin of their elders. Padilla and Gosling then read the notes in front of the class, only the content of them has been changed since dress rehearsal, much like what used to happen to Bill Hader when he would do Stefon.
The notes include making fun of Gosling’s character for trying to play basketball and going to see Barbie alone. Meanwhile, Padilla’s character is mocked for asking ChatGPT for makeover tips and having the worst vagina at her gynecologist’s office. Mikey Day even catches a stray, reading a note that accuses him of being an undercover cop because he’s so old. Day, the oldest cast member playing a student, can barely get through reading the note without his hands shaking.
While seeing the actors break is certainly funny, it’s elevated by everyone’s commitment beyond the silly asides. Padilla is her always-funny self playing a low-status authority figure, which is really her wheelhouse. Gosling, meanwhile, seems happy to be there, while also getting off some of the funniest lines that aren’t surprises, like saying that the difference between roasting and bullying is that “roasting is bullying that’s really funny.” He also expresses disappointment in Jane Wickline’s character for passing notes because she “is such a good student and has so few friends.”
Gosling and Padilla really make this thing work. It’s not just that the idea itself is very silly (it is), but they’re also doing it with two of the most popular kids in class. You have a gung-ho host who is never afraid of embarrassing himself but also tries (as hard as he can), and a cast member who enriches every scene she appears in, even if only for a moment. You can’t do this with any two people you want; otherwise, it would get too obnoxious.
If anything, this sketch is the purest indicator to me that the folks at SNL know what they have in Padilla, not just in her ability but her popularity as well. She has fired through this season like a shooting star. Taking an entire sketch trying to make her break seems like something that would be reserved for a vet. Instead, the honors are given to her despite barely being on the show for two years. They’re clearly high on her (as they should be).
My only hope is that we don’t see something like this again for a while. I don’t want the folks at 8H to start beating a dead horse just because it does well. There needs to be the exact right circumstances (and pairing) for this to work again. And, hey, if they just save it until the next time Gosling appears (and joins the five-timers club) and dust it off with the same pairing, I’ll be tickled.
