John Mulaney’s promo for his “Saturday Night Live” hosting gig this weekend gets crashed by ‘Bob Dylan,’ who lends his Nobel Prize-winning talent to write some very unusual cue cards.
In the video, which was released on Wednesday, Mulaney becomes puzzled as his intro turns into a reminiscence about running into music producer Shooter Jennings in Luxembourg.
“Sorry. Uh, who’s the writer on this promo?” he asks as the camera cuts to James Austin Johnson as the folk icon, who says he’s been hired as the cue card writer since “it’s Season 50 and they’re busting out the big guns.”
The former “SNL” writer points out that the intro, which name-dropped Guns N’ Roses guitarist Duff McKagan, was “a little overwritten.” Mulaney adds, “They’re normally, like, pretty punchy. Maybe we could do something like, ‘Hey, I’m back in New York.’”
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Dylan then riffs on New York being the birthplace of “Moby-Dick” author Herman Melville, adding, “That’s the ultimate fish story, if you ask me.”
Mulaney notes that’s still off, suggesting, “I know you’re just getting your footing, but this is, like, the big pre-election show. A lot of people are gonna be tuning in. We just need something energetic. They’re almost exclusively not funny. Maybe I should have a cast member with me?”
He’s then joined by new “SNL” addition Jane Wickline who awkwardly says, “Wow. Writer, stand-up, host. Is there anything you can’t do?”
Mulaney answers that he can’t “sing” as he warbles the word, deciding, “Huh. I guess I can” (Although, someone who can sing is this weekend’s musical guest Chappell Roan).
Dylan’s final thought: “I’m hosting ‘SNL’ this week with musical guest Charlie Mingus. You know, the night that Judas betrayed Christ, they broke bread, and he said, ‘One of you’s gonna sell me up the river, rat me out, send me to the Pharisees. I think it’s gonna be you.”
“Saturday Night Live” airs Saturdays on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET and streams on Peacock.
