Comic Shane Gillis debuted as Saturday Night Live host by first joking about his extremely brief stint on the late night show back in 2019 that ended after controversial comments of his from the year prior resurfaced.
“Yeah. I’m here,” Gillis began his monologue. “Most of you probably have no idea who I am. I was actually fired from this show awhile 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.”
In September 2019, Gillis was hired and subsequently fired less than a week later without making an SNL appearance due to racist and homophobic jokes he had made on a comedy podcast.
In the four-and-a-half years since, Gillis has come out with a pair of stand-up specials, with last year’s Beautiful Dogs being released on Netflix. In addition to having a recurring role on the comedy-drama series Bupkis on Peacock, Gillis has also made several appearances on Joe Rogan’s popular–and controversial–podcast.
Gillis’ monologue also included some bits that didn’t seem to get the reaction he was aiming for, like when he pointed out how his father–in attendance–was a “volunteer assistant girls’ high school basketball coach.”
“I thought it was funny. Alright. You don’t think that’s funny, to bring my dad here to make fun of him for being a volunteer girls’ high school basketball coach?” he said. “Alright, I thought it was great. Nevermind. I thought that was going to be a big hit here.”
Later, Gillis began another bit by talking about his appearance.
“I don’t know if you can tell by looking at me, but I do have family members with Down syndrome,” he joked. “It almost got me,” he added, mimicking a fighter ducking punches. “I dodged it, but it nicked me.”
“Look,” Gillis then said. “I don’t have any material that can be on TV, alright? I’m trying my best. Also, this place is extremely well-lit. I can see everybody not enjoying it. This is, you know, just the most nervous I’ve ever been!”