Eva Mendes Loved Seeing Ryan Gosling As A “Cuban Papi” On SNL

Ryan Gosling returned to host Saturday Night Live and the reviews have been pretty amazing. Especially from his partner Eva Mendes, who credited “years of hanging out with my dad” as the inspiration behind the actor’s “Cuban Papi” skit.

Gosling was clearly having the time of his life as the host of SNL this past Saturday, even as he and the rest of the cast burst out laughing more than once during several skits. Including one called “He Can’t Tonight” alongside SNL cast members Kenan Thompson and Marcello Hernández. The skit saw Thompson, Gosling, and Hernández sitting in a bar and discussing their plans for the night. When their server noted that she could detect accents and asked where they were from because “I like countries,” Thompson said he was Dominican, Hernández said he was Cuban, and Thompson explained that Gosling “is from Tennessee, but ever since he married a Cuban woman, he different.” Gosling agreed. “A Cuban wife can change you,” he said, going on to share the way he used to say “hamburger, hot dog, and Patagonia,” before adding that “now, I talk like a Cuban Papi.”

And his “Cuban Mami” couldn’t be prouder of him. “Coño! My Cuban Papi made this Cuban Mami so happy with this!!” Mendes wrote on Instagram along with the video, going on to posit that “years of hanging out with my Dad paid off.” Mendes was born in Miami to Cuban born parents Eva Pérez Suárez and Juan Carlos Méndez. And apparently we all have her dad to thank for Gosling’s hilarious performance as a Tennessee-born, white “Cuban Papi.” We wonder if he picked up that impressive little shoulder shimmy from Mendes’ dad too.

Gosling wasn’t the only person Mendes wanted to thank for this hilarious skit. “Gracias to the super talented @marcellohdz for this skit,” she wrote on Instagram, adding that she was especially fond of the way Hernández said her name when he mentioned that she would be at this amazing club later. Along with, crucially, the original dog from Beethoven.

Mendes, who shares 9-year-old daughter Esmerelda and 7-year-old daughter Amada with Gosling, wasn’t the only one impressed with Gosling’s Cuban flair. “Ryan saying ‘bailando.’ ‘besito,’ I died,” wrote one of her followers, while another added, “Ya haz Cubanisado a Ryan Eva! Love it. He did great. Funny! He's officially a Cuban American.”

Perhaps we should all be thanking Eva Mendes’ dad, for all of those years of unintentional training for this one skit.