Shane Gillis on Saturday Night Live: The Unapologetic Edge of Comedy Amidst Controversy
Comedian Shane Gillis kicked off his monologue as the host of Saturday Night Live with, “Yep, I’m here. I was fired from this show a while ago, but don’t look that up, please.”
Gillis, known for his stand-up special Beautiful Dogs on Netflix, was initially announced as a cast member of SNL in September 2019. However, just days later, SNL reversed its decision and dropped him from its lineup. This came after criticism emerged regarding resurfaced podcast segments where Gillis used a slur to describe Chinese people, performed a caricature accent, and used a homophobic slur about filmmaker Judd Apatow, comedian Chris Gethard, as well as presidential candidates Andrew Yang and Senator Bernie Sanders.
At the time, SNL stated in a release that the language Gillis had employed was “offensive, hurtful, and unacceptable.” Gillis himself expressed in a social media post that he was “a comedian who pushes boundaries,” adding that in comedy, “you’re going to find a lot of bad misses.”
Serious question, do people actually think Shane Gillis is funny? The seems to be set at an all-time low.
— Hayden (@HTMoore23) February 26, 2024
Since then, Gillis has ascended into the comedy realm. Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, where Gillis aired some of his contentious remarks, boasts over 80,000 paid subscribers on Patreon. Collaborating with John McKeever, he launched a web series, delivered two comedy specials, embarked on nationwide tours, and most recently, forged a partnership with Bud Light.
In his monologue, Gillis urged the audience to let his past jokes remain in the past, stating, “Please don’t Google that. It’s fine. Don’t even worry about it.”
How not surprising that the men (let’s specify that all Shane Gillis’ fans seem to be white men) who loved Gillis’ monologue for being offensive were enraged by the female band member not smiling. No one in the band smiled. But a woman not smiling? Rage.
— Leopard on parade (@Leopardonbackup) February 26, 2024
In addition, he also delved into stand-up material that resonates strongly with his online audience: “I don’t know if you can tell by looking at me, but I do have family members with Down syndrome.”
Capitalizing on the bewildered response of his studio audience, Gillis jestingly remarked, “Look, I don’t have any material that can be on TV, all right? I’m trying my best. Also, this place is extremely well-lit. I can see everyone not enjoying it. This is the most nervous I’ve ever been.”
Following this icebreaker, he crafted a hypothetical future scenario involving his niece with Down syndrome and her three adopted Black siblings. In this narrative, he depicted a situation where a White child would use an outdated term for a person with mental disabilities – the “R word,” a term Gillis himself mentioned onstage – and then “three Black kids come flying out of nowhere and start wailing on that c*****r.”
Gillis acknowledged that discussing Down syndrome might make some people uneasy. However, he remarked that the individuals he knows who have it are “doing better than everybody I know — they’re the only ones having a good time, pretty consistently. They’re not worried about the election. They’re having a good time.”
He added, “I thought that was going to get a bigger laugh. I thought we were allowed to have fun here.”
I can tell exactly where stand up comedy is if you people are seriously telling me that Shane Gillis is funny
— Chevall (@ChevallP) February 26, 2024
In a glimpse of what Gillis’s SNL stint might have entailed had he remained a cast member, the show capitalized on his talent as a Donald Trump impersonator, coupled with recent news about a limited-edition set of high-top sneakers endorsed by Trump, to create a cleverly satirical movie trailer.
In the segment, Gillis portrays Gordon Dwyer, an inept office worker who struggles with basketball and life in general—until he acquires a magical pair of Trump sneakers. These sneakers not only grant him Trump’s iconic tousled hair and aggressively confident demeanor but also imbue him with newfound prowess. When Andrew Dismukes questions skeptically, “You’re saying these Trump shoes made you good at basketball?” Gillis retorts, “No, they give me the power to claim I’m good at basketball and then double down on that until people actually start to believe it.”
In his SNL appearance, Shane Gillis displayed his knack for edgy humor, treading controversial territory and provoking reactions from the audience.
Check out the new episode of SNL here.
