‘SNL’ star James Austin Johnson impersonates Bob Dylan
The Saturday Night Live performer James Austin Johnson has impersonated Bob Dylan at various times throughout the musician’s career. Johnson joined SNL last year as one of its many comedic actors, specialising in some spot-on impressions. These include the former American president Donald Trump and current American president Joe Biden, both of which Johnson performed during his appearance on The Jimmy Fallon Show on Monday. November 28th.
Host Fallon revealed that he and Johnson share a love for Dylan and his music, leading to these impressions of the musician. Regarding Dylan’s latest book, The Philosophy Of Modern Song, Johnson said: “What you’ve got to get is the audiobook. Cause if you ever listen to him on Sirius XM, he’s like, ‘Theme Time Radio on Sirius XM. You’re listening to Bob Dylan. Today’s theme is flowers, hydrangeas, chrysanthemums.'”
Fallon then shared how he’s never heard someone impersonate Dylan’s speaking voice before, to which Johnson replied: “You should listen because his voice is a little terrifying.” As he then sings ‘Jingle Bells’, the comedian performs various Bob Dylan impressions, including “Greenwich Village Bob Dylan” and “National Skyline Bob Dylan”.
Dylan recently caught heat after the reveal that the ‘hand-signed’ copies of his book, selling for $599 (£505), were processed with an autopen system. The singer apologised in a statement that revealed he chose this method after a diagnosis of vertigo and other illnesses. “It takes a crew of five working in close quarters with me to help enable these signing sessions, and we could not find a safe and workable way to complete what I needed to do while the virus was raging,” the songwriter stated. “So, during the pandemic, it was impossible to sign anything, and the vertigo didn’t help. With contractual deadlines looming, the idea of using an autopen was suggested to me, along with the assurance that this kind of thing is done all the time in the art and literary worlds.”
Dylan added: “Using a machine was an error in judgment, and I want to rectify it immediately. I’m working with Simon & Schuster and my gallery partners to do just that.”
The book provides the singer’s commentary on other musicians’ tracks. It came with a limited run of 900 “hand-signed” editions sold for $599 each., and copies came with a letter of authenticity from the publisher Simon & Schuster.
Dylan’s book, The Philosophy Of Modern Song, was released on Tuesday, November 1st.
Watch Johnson’s impersonation of Dylan below.
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