Timothée Chalamet honors Bob Dylan on SNL, reflects on Oscar losses and shares hilarious Wonka jokes

Timothée Chalamet returned to host Saturday Night Live for the third time, but this marked his first appearance as the musical guest.  

“This is a historic episode because it’s the first time an actor has also been a musical guest of Saturday Night Live, and if you’re wondering if that’s true, it’s not,” he joked in his opening monologue. “That’s a distinction I share with the great Gary Busey.” (This is true; Busey pulled double duty in a March 1979 episode.)  

Fans hoping to see a revival of Timmy Tim were warned not to hold their breath. Chalamet announced he would be performing songs by Bob Dylan in homage to his role in the Academy Award-nominated Dylan biopic, which recently earned eight nominations.  

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Drawing parallels between his portrayal of Dylan and his role in *Wonka* (2023), Chalamet joked, “I actually discovered that the two men have a lot in common: They’re both eccentric, they’re both innovators, and they both captured and enslaved hundreds of Oompa Loompas.”  

Reflecting on his recent Oscar nods, which made him the youngest two-time Best Actor nominee since James Dean, Chalamet shared, “It’s an enormous honor going to these awards shows, it’s such a great experience, but I just keep losing. And each time it gets a bit harder to pretend it doesn’t sting.” He noted this was something he had in common with his friend and former co-star Saoirse Ronan.  

The show then played a montage of Chalamet’s reactions at various awards ceremonies, showing him losing to Mahershala Ali and Gary Oldman multiple times. With each loss, his reactions became progressively more subdued and deadpan.  

“Man, just another lonely night with my Dune popcorn pocket,” Chalamet joked, throwing in a risqué quip.  

When he attempted to use his monologue to deliver an awards speech he’d never had the chance to give, Kenan Thompson humorously interrupted. The camera then zoomed in on Chalamet’s unamused expression, as he maintained a convincingly deadpan, award-worthy glare.  

Chalamet concluded his monologue by expressing his gratitude to the show: “I’m so grateful Saturday Night Live is still doing weird stuff like this, 50 years in. They’re either really nice for letting me do this, or incredibly mean, and this is all a big prank. I sincerely can’t tell. We’ll find out.”