Timothée Chalamet Will Be The Host AND Musical Guest On SNL In Two Weeks
Timothée Chalamet is on a generational media tour right now. He went from being an awesome actor we all liked as Paul Atreides in the 'Dune' movies (but sorta side-eyed a bit for being apart of the Kardashian Kult) to the most beloved man in America, all in one fell swoop Theo Von interview....
Talk about a cool ass dude; he's funny, personable, extremely passionate and knowledgable about his interests (like Bob Dylan, or acting in general)....he seems like he's just like you or me, except he's the most famous young actor on the planet right now! Who woulda thought?! He's one of the bros! He also had this interview with Nardwuar on top of that, which everyone loved....
He's on SUCH a hot streak that when he went on Instagram Live just to gyrate around an empty warehouse to 'I Gotta Feelin' by the Black Eyed Peas, nobody even batted an eye!
"That's just Timmy being Timmy, and that's fine with us!"
It's like he has the invincibility star from MarioKart right now. He's untouchable.
That'll certainly be put to the test on January 25th, however, when he is the host AND musical guest on Saturday Night Live. That's something that takes real balls to attempt, especially when you're not known to be an "actual" musician. It isn't exactly easy to sound great in that environment, and even the most seasoned artists have come off poorly there. That being said, he worked on his guitar/harmonica playing and singing for five years leading into 'A Complete Unknown' and supposedly crushed the performances there (I haven't seen it yet/am avoiding watching clips so I can't confirm) - so who's to say he won't kill it here?
I'm just wondering, will he just do a couple Bob Dylan songs from the movie's soundtrack, or will Timmy break out an original or two? Maybe a ballad for Kylie? Is this his 'Chalamet Goes Electric' moment where he secures the 'Best Actor' Oscar, or an Ashlee Simpson-level come down to reality? Maybe his rap-persona Lil Timmy Tim returns?
Only time will tell - but I'm really excited. Dave Chappelle followed by a Chalamet double feature is one hell of a way to kick off SNL's 50th anniversary season.
P.S. Just to speak to the influence Timothée Chalamet carries over the youth of America right now - I'm a self proclaimed music old school nut who has The Beatles tattooed on my body pretty prominently, and it took Timmy Chalamet's casting for me to become even slightly interested in Bob Dylan. I went from knowing maybe five of his hits and nothing of his story to reading the full book 'A Complete Unknown' is based on in a week after the Theo interview. Hand up. That's on me. But I now feel as well studied on the history of folk as I am anything else, and I'm stoked to see how the movie compares….and how good Timothée is as a young Bob, of course. God he's awesome.
P.P.S. I watched 'Saturday Night' (the movie based on the first night of SNL ever) last week and enjoyed it quite a bit. It's nothing special, and a pretty cookie cutter comedy - but I thought the cast did a good job respectfully honoring a lot of the greats, and it was pretty creatively inspiring seeing even a dramatization of what went on behind the scenes there. Would recommend.