Timothée Chalamet Performs 3 of His Favorite Bob Dylan Deep Cuts on 'Saturday Night Live'
Timothée Chalamet decided to forego Bob Dylan's famous tracks during 'SNL,' instead opting to perform lesser known 'personal favorites.'
When Timothée Chalamet took the stage on Saturday Night Live, his song choices weren’t for the casual Bob Dylan fan.
During his opening monologue, the actor, who stars as the famed singer in A Complete Unknown, warned viewers that they wouldn’t be hearing popular Dylan tracks when he took the SNL stage as the musical guest.
“You might not know the Bob Dylan songs I’m performing, but they’re my personal favorites,” he told the audience. “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.”
During his first time onstage, Chalamet opted to perform a medley of “Outlaw Blues” and “Three Angels,” two deep cuts in Dylan’s catalogue. Released in 1965, the former song appeared on Dylan’s 1965 album, Brining It All Back Home. The second track, meanwhile, comes from Dylan’s New Morning album, which was released in 1970.
Chalamet, wearing a fur-lined hooded coat and dark sunglasses, began crooning “Outlaw Blues” as strobe lights played on the stage. He eventually ditched the jacket and shades, before sitting down next to a piano, which was played by James Blake, to perform “Three Angels.”
When Chalamet returned to the stage for his second and final performance, he performed an acoustic version of “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” Dylan first performed the song in the early ’60s, and many artists covered it during that decade.
Chalamet, wearing a scarf and track suit, performed the track while sitting on a stool and playing a guitar. He was once again joined by Blake on keys for the performance.
Chalamet’s A Complete Unknown has been a hit with critics. The James Mangold-directed film, which follows Dylan’s rise to fame in the ’60s, earned eight Oscar nominations, including a Best Actor nod for Chalamet.
Dylan himself has praised the project, tweeting, “Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.”
Chalamet was delighted by Dylan’s sign off.
“Floored,” he responded. “I am so grateful. Thank you Bob.”
Photo by Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty Images