Nearly five years after he was fired from Saturday Night Live over racist comments, Shane Gillis returned to Studio 8H with a hilarious host opening monologue.
During the monologue, Gillis got candid about his firing. “Most of you probably have no idea who I am,” he shared. “I was actually fired from this show a while ago, but 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. I probably shouldn’t be up here, honestly.”
USA Today reports that days after he was hired as a Saturday Night Live cast member in 2019, Shane Gillis was dismissed by the long-running show. He only appeared in one episode before receiving backlash over a 2018 podcast clip where he used an anti-Asian slur.
In response to the backlash, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels stated he hadn’t known about the clip when he hired Gillis. He also said he thought the language in the 2018 podcast episode was “offensive, hurtful, and unacceptable.”
Shane Gillis also spoke out about the situation by stating he is a comedian who “pushes boundaries.” He then noted he would be “happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything” he said.
In the rest of his monologue, Gillis joked, “Every little boy is just their mom’s gay best friend” as well as talked about family members with Down syndrome. Eventually, he declared he could “see everyone not enjoying” his jokes. “This is, you know, just the most nervous I’ve ever been,” he pointed out.
Shane Gillis Fans Praise Him For ‘Funniest Self-Appraisal’ Moment
Meanwhile, fans of Shane Gillis took to X (formerly Twitter) to share their thoughts about his opening monologue.
Shane Gillis obviously crushed it but this was the funniest self-appraisal in that tense moment,” one X user declared. Another fan wrote, “Shane Gillis had one of the best SNL monologues in recent memory. Is comedy back?”
Meanwhile, some X users pointed out the attention Gillis’ jokes were getting. “Shane Gillis made jokes I thought were funny so I enjoyed listening to them but i had 0 idea how absolutely insufferable like all of the discourse surrounding them was.”
A fellow X user added, “Just for the record, Shane Gillis CRUSHED it last night on SNL. Regardless of whatever controversy he had in the past. He was brilliant with all of his sketches [and] comedy. Best host I’ve seen on there in MONTHS.”