Edgy “anti-woke” stand-up comedian Shane Gillis held nothing back when he hosted this week’s “Saturday Night Live”, opening his monologue with a jokes about his firing from the show, his parents, a relative with Down syndrome, and much more.
“I’m here,” Gillis began his monologue, which “SNL” posted on the social media platform X. “Most of you probably have no idea who I am. I was fired from this show a while ago, but — you know — don’t look that up, please. If you don’t know who I am, please don’t Google that. It’s fine. Don’t even worry about it,” he said to a chucking audience.
Shane Gillis’s monologue! pic.twitter.com/pd1DjEhtp7
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) February 25, 2024
Gillis, who was hired by “SNL” producer Lorne Michaels in 2019 was famously fired just five days after he was hired for a racial slur he used in an Asian joke he had made the year prior.
Shortly after Gillis’s new gig with “SNL” was announced, Entertainment Weekly reported that comedy journalist Seth Simons brought attention to a controversial clip from a September 2018 episode of “Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast,” co-hosted by Gillis and fellow comedian Matt McCusker.
The episode, which has since been removed from YouTube, featured Gillis used homophobic slurs and making derogatory remarks about New York City’s Chinatown and its residents, including the use of Asian slurs and an attempted Asian accent, which he referred to tongue-in-cheek as “nice racism.”
However, five years after his infamous firing, Gillis did not shy away from making jokes on subjects that have increasingly become taboo, even in the once-free-speech-embracing comedy orbit.
Gillis said he couldn’t tell if the audience could tell by looking at him but, “I do have family with Down syndrome. It almost got me. I dodged it, but it nicked me.”
Were you offended by the jokes?
This is also a line from his comedy special, “Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs” which was released on Netflix on Sept. 5.
“Look, I don’t have any material that can be on TV,” Gillis joked, referring to his non-PC and anti-woke genre of comedy.
He added, “I’m trying my best. Also, I can see this place is extremely well-lit. I can see everyone not enjoying it.”
On social media, there were some lukewarm reviews, but the reaction was overall positive.
Shane crushed per usual
— Joe Pop (@JoePops_) February 25, 2024
First funny thing on SNL since Dave Chappelle.
Glad you Broken Clocks finally got another thing right for once.
Shane Gillis should run your whole show.
— Samuel Urban 🐛🌺 (@ill_Scholar) February 25, 2024
That was a very funny and endearing monologue. Good stuff.
— Don Incognito (@MassActivation) February 25, 2024
In the monologue, Gillis went on to joke about how his sister adopted three black children and married an Egyptian man, and that visiting their house was “like getting in the craziest Uber pool you’ve ever been in.”
Gillis then said, “My niece has Down syndrome.”
He added, “it’s a funny thing that happens when somebody in your family has Down syndrome. When my sister was pregnant, everybody was very, very scared. And then, once they come into your life, what you realize is that’s easily the only good member of your entire family.”
Gillis explained how every day his relatives post pictures of his niece in a group chat the members are in together.
“And everyday day somebody else in my family comments, ‘she looks exactly like uncle Shane,’” he said prompting laughter from the audience. “And there’s no denying it. She does. She looks like me with bangs. Just happy.”
