For years, I considered myself a “reluctant” Timothée Chalamet fan. I could never seem to come around on the guy despite nearly always loving his film performances (Wonka being a major exception 🤮).

But after the past week, I’m a full convert. A Complete Unknown (2024) was undeniably fantastic, and this week’s SNL double duty as host and musical guest was just a topper.

From rocking the internet as a guest picker on College GameDay to dating Kylie Jenner to completely transforming himself into an insanely wide variety of roles, Chalamet might be the movie star of our generation.

The sketches that worked

• The cold open — “Founding Fathers Cold Open” — managed to successfully walk the line between impeding dread and caution-to-the-wind hilarity. Thanks to a strong feature from an about-to-laugh Lin Manuel Miranda, this one was a victory.
• The opening monologue was great, too. The only way to win at SNL is having tons of fun at your own expense, and Chalamet did that well.
• I loved “Dog Run” — it felt like the old-school sketches of 70s-80s SNL. Goofy, silly, hilarious, no egos at all.
• Not a full sketch, but “Andrew Dismukes and His Puppet Dad on Crazy Families” from Weekend Update was another moment that felt very early-aughts SNL, which I love.
• The premise of “Medcast” was great. Not a “laugh out loud” experience, but smartly written.
• “New Barista Training” followed the classic 1, 2, 3, punch structure of a solid sketch. The concept was funny and Chalamet went all-in on execution, so this one passed the test for me.
• “Grandma’s Birthday” was funny enough and, as always, capped well by a funny almost-laughing Kenan Thompson.
• I absolutely adored the animated “God“. I love when we get some new mediums tossed in! This one harkened back to the TV Funhouse era and it was great.

The sketches that didn’t

• “Oedipal Arrangements” felt like one that should have been tossed after the table read. Funny premise, of course, but the execution was a little too ick for my taste.

The musical guest

Chalamet could have come across as conceited during these songs. It’s been a rarity in SNL’s history to see a musical guest who is not a career musician, and there’s no denying it was a big deal. But instead of overly self-assured, he seemed just genuinely happy, excited, and honored to be performing on the stage.

In preparation for A Complete Unknown, Chalamet spent five years submerging himself in the world of Bob Dylan, training vocally and mastering the cadence. SNL was just added opportunity to showcase the spot-on impression, and, in my opinion, he did very well (plus the “Ladies and gentlemen, I love him, too” intro from Adam Sandler didn’t hurt.

Here are both of his songs:

Final thoughts

My introduction said it all. I’m fully on board as a Chalamet fan. This was a welcome episode with very few low moments. We’re approaching the end of the season and I was very happy with this one.

My rating: 4.5/5