The moment die-hard Shane Gillis fans have all been waiting for has finally arrived.
When the news broke that the popular comedian would be hosting Saturday Night Live, the show he was once “canceled” from, Gillis’ rabid fanbase immediately circled the date on the calendar. That day (or Saturday Night) has finally come, and boy did Shane deliver in his monologue.
In case you didn’t know, Shane Gillis (the guy that your boyfriend can’t stop showing you TikTok clips of) was actually announced as an SNL cast member back in 2019. Less than one week later, he was fired, or as some say “canceled,” after some “offensive” material from his past work resurfaced.
Most of the time, losing a cast member spot on Saturday Night Live would be devastating for someone trying to make it comedy. However, the public firing had the exact opposite effect for Gillis’s career, who has since rocketed to stardom.
Fast forward to 2024, and the long-running sketch show that once fired Gillis asked him to come back and host. Funny how things work out in life, right?
And if you thought he wasn’t going to mention that whole fiasco in his monologue, you’d be wrong. Shane looked pretty comfortable up on the iconic late night stage, and had this to say about going from being fired from the show in 2019 to hosting it five years later:
“Yep, I’m here. Most of you probably have no idea who I am. I was actually fired from this show a while ago, don’t look that up. Please.
If you don’t know who I am, please don’t Google that. It’s fine. This is…I don’t know. I probably shouldn’t be up here honestly.”
Gillis handled the awkward situation with grace, and most importantly, with his patented humor and delivery. Something tells me that SNL is regretting that “cancelation” right about now, especially after the ratings for the episode come in.
The rest of Gillis’ monologue was risky, to say the least. You could tell that the typically withheld and conservative (and by conservative I don’t mean political… I mean stiff and not very funny) comedy show was really letting Shane hold the reins.
He touched on some subjects that would definitely be considered “taboo” for SNL, and you could kind of tell by the fact the audience and the band didn’t really seem to be laughing. Shane even casually mentioned that most of his material isn’t fit for TV, but he killed it nonetheless.
If you like comedy, you probably laughed (and tuned into SNL for the first time in years). And if you don’t like comedy, well… I guess you just watch SNL anyways? What are you even doing here?
You can watch the full monologue below:
