Shane Gillis was asked to host the 2025 ESPYS, and boy did he deliver.
The ESPYS awards show took place last night at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and the event that’s put on by ESPN (thus Disney) was broadcast live on ABC. For those that are familiar with Shane Gillis’ typical material… it doesn’t exactly always line up with the values and “safety guardrails” of a Disney production.
But ESPN’s annual event – which celebrates the past year of sports and helps raise money for the V Foundation for Cancer Research – went on with the stand-up comedian at the helm. Gillis is the first comedian they’ve had host the show in a while, as ESPN has been going with athletes (or former athletes) to take over the hosting duties as of late.
Part of me wonders if they’ll go back to the approach of having safe, controlled athletes host after Shane Gillis stirred up some outrage and controversy with some of his jokes.
Did ESPN really think that they’d get a buttoned-up version of Gillis, just because he was physically going to be wearing a tuxedo? We should’ve known that the stand-up comic known for pushing the envelope would have used the stage on ESPN to continue on with his… let’s just say regularly scheduled activities. I thought it was kind of wild for ESPN to pick him as the host in the first place, just because the “Worldwide Leader In Sports” generally plays things safe.
From a comedic perspective, Shane Gillis’ monologue was a masterclass. Nothing was off limits for Gillis. He rattled off a two-in-one COVID-19-Aaron-Rodgers joke, made a deportation comment about Donald Trump and Juan Soto, crafted a racial WNBA joke including Caitlin Clark, and even referenced the whole Jeffrey Epstein client list situation that’s been circulating online over recent weeks. There was even a nasty Bill Belichick joke that took a shot at he and his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson.
From an ESPN perspective? I’m sure the network is facing the music from enraged, bitter viewers who don’t have a sense of humor. But I do have to give ESPN credit… they did post the full, unedited monologue in its entirety onto their YouTube page earlier today. In just over an hour, it’s already racked up almost 200,000 views. And that’s not even counting all of the unofficial clips that were shared online while the ESPYS was still ongoing.
I know I just rattled off the subject matter for a number of jokes that Gillis told, but there’s one that’s flying under the radar that might have been the best one of the night. During his monologue, he announced that “4-time WNBA All-Star Brittany Hicks” was in the audience, and the camera panned to a woman in the crowd while the entire venue clapped and hollered.
He quickly got to the punch line, which was him revealing that the woman the camera showed was his friend’s wife… not a WNBA player. Shane then said he knew that no one actually watched the WNBA. All in all, it was a hysterical opening monologue, and it definitely walked the line between funny and controversy… but isn’t that what good comedy is all about?
Check it out:
