SNL announces first shows of 2025, and a bizarrely iconic host/musical guest double feature

Saturday Night Live is celebrating 50 years this season and we’ve had some great hosts so far. But the newly announced line-up for January really takes the cake.

The host and musical guest, which is typically only the same person when a professional singer pulls double duty. This time around, the artist serving as host and musical guest is none other than Timothée Chalamet. You’re probably thinking to yourself “does he sing” and the answer is yes but it is sort of complicated.

We do know that Chalamet can sing Bob Dylan songs, as seen in A Complete Unknown, but fans of the actor also know he has rap persona called Lil’ Timmy Tim. So we could be in for a treat depending on what Chalamet decides to perform on the show!

It is a smart move to do it this way given Chalamet’s singing in the James Mangold film but we don’t know if he will just be doing covers of Dylan songs (maybe with people like Monica Barbaro’s Joan Baez?) or if he’ll do some other kind of performance.

He has, in the past, sang while hosting. Some of my favorite sketches include Chalamet bringing us some kind of vocal performance. Remember when he and Pete Davidson were rappers? Because that still lives rent free in my head. One of my favorite Saturday Night Live sketches of all time is Chalamet singing about his tiny horse that his father wants him to get rid of.

It was so iconic that the sketch got a sequel the next time that Chalamet hosted.

Honestly, the mystery of what is going to happen during this episode is making it really interesting. Sure, the logical step is that he’ll just perform a Dylan song but he also can do whatever he wants. Imagine if he decides to revive his song “Statistics” just for all of us to enjoy?

The song that I do hope they perform on Saturday Night Live is a duet between Chalamet and Barbaro from the film.

I cannot wait to see what Chalamet ends up doing on the episode but this host and musical guest combo is kind of iconic (and the first time in 30 years that something like this has happened)!