When Shane Gillis, the comic, was finally allowed to perform live in NBC’s Studio 8H, he remained silent about his firing from “Saturday Night Live” after only one show.
Rather, Gillis—who has since gained popularity as a stand-up comedian and podcaster—delivered an introductory monologue that might have implied that he and “S.N.L.” were better off for having taken different paths.
Gillis, who has performed in standup specials like “Beautiful Dogs” on Netflix and is a co-host of “Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast,” was announced to be an “S.N.L.” cast member in September 2019. Just days later, “S.N.L.” reversed course and dropped him from its lineup, following criticism of resurfaced podcast segments in which Gillis used a slur to describe Chinese people and performed a caricature accent, and used a homophobic slur to refer to the filmmaker Judd Apatow and the comedian Chris Gethard, as well as the presidential candidates Andrew Yang and Senator Bernie Sanders.
At the time, “S.N.L.” said in a statement that the language Shane Gillis had used “is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable.” Shane Gillis himself wrote 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.”
Returning to “S.N.L.” nearly five years later as a guest host, Gillis did not take a scorched-earth approach in his monologue, like when Norm Macdonald appeared as a host in 1999 after he’d been fired from the show. (“I haven’t gotten funnier,” Macdonald said at the time. “The show has gotten really bad.”)
“Yeah, I’m here,” Gillis began. “Most of you probably have no idea who I am. I was actually — I was fired from this show a while ago. But if, 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.”
Gillis joked that he “probably shouldn’t be up here, honestly,” adding that he was biologically designed to be “a high school football coach.” He also teased his father, who was shown in the studio audience, and whom Gillis said was a volunteer assistant girls’ high school basketball coach.
He also joked about his mother and a time in his life when he was closer to her. “I was gay for my mom,” Gillis said. “She would pick me up from school, I would hop in the van. I would be like, ‘Girl, tell me about your day.’”
Gillis then spoke about having family members with Down syndrome. “It almost got me,” he said, shifting from side to side. “I dodged it, but it nicked me. It nicked me.”
Playing off the bemused reaction of his studio audience, Shane Gillis joked, “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.”
Shane Gillis acknowledged that talking about Down syndrome can make people nervous. But he said the people 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.”
Gillis joked about his sister, who he said had adopted three Black children and has a daughter with Down syndrome. He imagined a day in the future when his niece is older and she is bullied by a white student.
“And then, without warning, three Black kids start whaling on that cracker,” he remarked. “It’s kind of a nice moment,”
Gillis also mentioned the coffee shop his family owns and that hires individuals with Down syndrome.
“Especially at work, there’s no difference between us and them,” he declared. “You’re thinking, ‘Dude, what’s your problem?'” They say things like, “I really detest my job.” FOR MORE DETAILS CLICK….
