Ana de Armas made her SNL hosting debut on Saturday, and she kicked off her monologue by keeping it real: She began by speaking Spanish. The Oscar-nominated actress was born in Cuba, and she told the crowd how she came to speak a foreign tongue.
“I was 26 and I learned English the way everyone who comes to this country does — by watching ‘Friends,’” de Armas told the crowd.
She then singled out which Friends cast member/character helped her the most. “Who would have thought that the best English tutor would be Chandler Bing?” She then did an impression of Chandler’s signature phrase. “I mean, look at me now. Could I be any better at English?”
De Armas also told a story about one of her first English-language films: the biopic Hands of Stone, starring Édgar Ramirez and Robert De Niro. She had a good story about the latter.
“One day on set he told me, ‘I may be going to Cuba soon. If I do, I’ll say hello to your family,'” said de Armas. “He even asked me for the phone number.”
She forgot about the exchange and some time passed. “Then, one day, out of the blue, I get a phone call from my dad – he’s hysterical,” she recalled “I’m like, ‘Dad, what’s wrong?’ and he goes, ‘Robert De Niro just came to visit me at work.'”
In summary, Chandler Bing is good at teaching English and De Niro is good people.
The de Armas-hosted episode also featured digs at Donald Trump’s claims that people cry when they see him and nonbinary cast member Molly Kearney defending trans kids (while flying). You can watch de Armas’ monologue in the video above.
