Bob Dylan made an extremely rare chat show appearance – without speaking a single word.
The musician came out of hiding for an unscheduled slot on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote his new collection of American whiskies.
Despite not appearing live on the show’s Thanksgiving episode, Dylan joined Fallon for a pre-recorded segment in which the pair watched a private performance of the Big Apple Circus while enjoying a dram of Dylan’s Heaven’s Door whisky.
The clip plays up to the “Mr Tambourine Man” singer’s mysticism. It shows them watching the circus performers in silence and, after applauding the collective at the end, Fallon notices Dylan has vanished from his side, his whisky glass the only proof that he was ever there.
The name of his new spirits brand is derived from the classic song “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” which was written for the soundtrack of the 1973 Sam Peckinpah film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
In 2016, Dylan became the first musician to be awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, which saw the songwriter accused of being “impolite and arrogant” after he took six months to accept the award.
Fallon bypassed the opening monologue of his chat show, with US comic Jerry Seinfeld stepping in as a Thanksgiving surprise to fans.
