On April 15, Ana de Armas made her hosting debut for Saturday Night Live, promoting a slew of new projects including spy thriller Ghosted in which she stars across from Chris Evans, and her upcoming John Wick spinoff Ballerina. The show started with a lively opening monologue that she began in Spanish before telling the audience she was born in Cuba and only learned English when she moved to the U.S. at 26-years-old “the way everyone who comes to this country does — watching Friends.”
“Who would’ve thought that the best English tutor would be Chandler Bing?” she joked. “I mean, look at me now. Could I be any better at English?”
She also shared that she will become an American citizen in three weeks, saying, “I am proud to become a citizen because when I moved here, everyone was so welcoming.”
One of the big sketches of the night starring de Armas was a parody of Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie film, but focusing on the less pink American Girl Dolls. If these group of historical toys had a live-action movie, it probably wouldn’t be as bright and happy as Margot Robbie is in the Barbie role.
In another sketch, the popular new character created by cast member Ego Nwodim, Lisa from Temecula, came back to cause some more chaos.
Nwodim and de Armas paired up again in a sketch where they played voice actors hired by music producer “Spicy Fuego” played by Devon Walker to add some sexy tags to his tracks, but they have some trouble communicating.
Then the Please Don’t Destroy group got very relatable with their ode to hangxiety, that familiar feeling you have waking up after a party and have to deal with both a hangover and a fear you said all the wrong things the night before.
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.