Timothée Chalamet Is Himself and Bob Dylan on ‘S.N.L.’

Television|‘S.N.L.’: Call the Musical Guest by the Guest Host’s Name

If you’re “Saturday Night Live” and you need someone to play Alexander Hamilton in an opening sketch about the Founding Fathers, there’s only one person you can turn to: Lin-Manuel Miranda.

And then you make him stand there in silence for most of the sketch.

This weekend’s “S.N.L.” (which featured Timothée Chalamet as both its host and musical guest) seemed like it was going to begin with a sketch about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Most of the cast was onstage in waistcoats and wigs, with Mikey Day playing John Hancock and Andrew Dismukes as Benjamin Franklin.

“What say you, Alexander Hamilton?” asked Michael Longfellow. And there, in his “Hamilton” garb, was Miranda, the decorated creator and star of that Broadway musical.

“What do I say?” Miranda answered. “I say our lives matter not if we lose them in the cause of liberty. What matters is the nation we build.”

And sure enough, he began to rap.

’Cause in America, all men are created equal,

America not England; we’re doing the sequel,

And we will have leaders, but know one thing:

In America, we will never have a king.

But then he and the cast members froze in place as James Austin Johnson strode onstage in his recurring role as Donald Trump.

“Never say never,” Johnson said. “Kidding, of course, though in many ways I’m not. I’m in my king era.” And like the Founding Fathers, Johnson said, “I am creating a new country as well. And just like them, we’re doing it very whitely.” He declared that “D.E.I. is over,” adding: “Workplaces must go back to looking like the TV show ‘The Office.’ Mostly white people with one funny Black guy who’s having a really bad time.”