In maybe the best Saturday Night Live promo of the season so far, John Mulaney is joined by a surprise guest who wants to contribute some rather intricate, obscure and arcana-filled bits of writing for the new spot.
“Oh my God, Bob Dylan! What are you doing here?” Mulaney asks, surprised to see the rock icon in the studio.
Cut to cast member James Austin Johnson, trading his usual Trump drag for a wicked impression of latter-day Dylan.
“Season 50, they’re busting out the big guns,” this Dylan says in that unmistakable nasal drawl. “I won a Nobel in literature.”
So Mulaney agrees to give “Bob” a try, reading a cue card with the great one’s words: “Hey, it’s great to be back in the Big Apple. Herman Melville was born here, author of ‘Moby Dick.’ That’s the ultimate fish story if you ask me.”
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“Yeah, see that’s still off,” Mulaney says to the newcomer.
“The book is dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne!” Dylan insists.
“Bob Dylan, I know you’re just getting your footing,” Mulaney says, “but this is like the big pre-election show, a lot of people are going to be tuning in. We just need something energetic. They’re almost exclusively not funny.”
Enter new cast member Jane Wickline and, well, watch for yourself above.
Mulaney, a former SNL writer, welcomes real musical guest Chappell Roan this weekend.
Saturday Night Live airs Saturday at 11:30pm ET/8:30pm PT on NBC and streams live on Peacock.
