These days, Ryan Gosling is 31 and known the world over, especially to us fanatics in Huggalo Nation, not only for his acting talent but for being a human cupcake made of puppy kisses and confectioner’s sugar. But back in 1991, he was just your average 10-year-old with hammer pants pulled up to his nipples, singing Michael Bolton songs at a Mormon talent show (“hey, girl. Joseph Smith teaches us that belly buttons are a sin.”). Okay, okay, “When a Man Loves a Woman” is actually a Percy Sledge song, but Michael Bolton’s version hit number one the same year as this video, which doesn’t seem like coincidence. (Yes, Ryan Gosling was raised Mormon AND Canadian. The extreme politeness makes so much more sense now, doesn’t it?)
According the the YouTube uploader (via Buzzfeed, Crushable):
Ryan Gosling at a mormon talent show in late 1991, I believe with his sister Mandi. This was before he won the spot on the mickey mouse club.
It doesn’t say anything about Baby Goose actually winning, so we’ll have to assume another kid turned in an absolute barn burner of a butter sculpture. Later in the video, Ryan and Mandi dance to C & C Music Factory. When Baby Goose heard the singer say “Let’s sweat, baby!” he always assumed it was a song about playing double-dutch with the girls down the block, something he stills does to this very day. “Hey, girl, I made up some new rhymes. They all end in ‘best friends forever!'”