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March 3, 2025

Mick Jagger and LA Firefighters Trade Bob Dylan Jokes at Oscars

If Bob Dylan was watching the Oscars last night – which we wouldn’t be a lot of money on – he would have heard himself get lightly roasted by the show’s host, a firefighter and a Rolling Stone.The Timothee Chalamet-starring Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was nominated for eight awards at the ceremony including Best Actor, Best Picture and Best Director, but went home empty-handed.Read More: ‘A Complete Unknown’ Gets Shut Out at the OscarsMick Jagger brought the crowd to a standing ovation with his surprise appearance as presenter in the Best Song category. “The producers really wanted Bob Dylan to do this,” he began. “Bob didn’t want to do it, because he said the best songs this year were obviously in the movie A Complete Unknown. Bob said, ‘you should find somebody younger.’ I said ‘OK, I’m younger, I’m younger than Bob! I’ll do it!'”(Dylan is 83 and will turn 84 on May 24th, while Jagger is 81 and will turn 82 on July 26.)There was apparently some truth in Jagger’s playful ribbing. The Hollywood Reporter said that Dylan was indeed invited to be both a presenter and a performer at the ceremony, but declined the offer. “Bob Dylan wanted to be here, but not that badly,” host Conan O’Brien joked in his opening monologue.Later in the show, O’Brien brought out a group of L.A. firefighters to deliver jokes he was “not brave enough to share,” reminding the crowd that it would be wrong to be these brave heroes. LAFD helicopter pilot Jonith Johnson Jr. used his moment in the spotlight to take the night’s best shot at Dylan: “To play Bob Dylan, Timothee Chalamet learned how to sing. In fact, his singing was so good, he almost lost the part.”You can see both segments of the show below.Bob Dylan at the Movies: A Guide to 10 Films”In one way I don’t consider myself a filmmaker at all. In another way I do,” Dylan once said. Gallery Credit: Allison Rapp