ESPN is feeding Shane Gillis jokes to say at the ESPYS… and they’re making fun of him?
The “Worldwide Leader of Sports” has faced criticism as of late for putting out talent that’s… well, maybe not so talented. Or at the very least, not incredibly specialized for what they are tasked with covering. That has been on full display as of late, with many sports fans clamoring for the network to roll out anyone besides Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee for their coverage.
But anyways, in a surprising move by ESPN, the network has tapped quite the big name to come in and host the 2025 ESPYS awards show. The ESPYS, which takes place on July 16 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California, is an event that celebrates the past year of sports – and helps to raise money for V Foundation for Cancer Research.
And comedian Shane Gillis has been chosen to host it this year.
Craig Lazarus, ESPN vice president and executive producer of The ESPYS, had this to say about the network’s decision to roll with the stand-up comedian for their annual awards show:
“Shane is not only one of the top comedians today, but also a huge sports fan, which made him an easy choice to host The ESPYS. We are thrilled to work with him to create an entertaining show celebrating this year’s best moments in sports and are excited to see what he’ll do on stage.”
Excited… and probably a little nervous.
Shane Gillis’ statement about his newly announced upcoming gig was short and sweet. He didn’t beat around the bush too much, and simply stated that he’s a fan of sports and that he’s looking forward to being the host for ESPN’s awards show:
“I’m excited to be at The ESPYS this year. I like sports so this should be a good time.”
This also bucks a trend that ESPN has had in recent years with the ESPYS. Taking a look at the lost below, you’ll see there have only been two comedians in the past ten years that have hosted the awards show. ESPN had been going with athletes – or former athletes – to take over the hosting duties:
2015: Joel McHale
2016: John Cena
2017: Peyton Manning (I’ll allow it)
2018: Danica Patrick
2019: Tracy Morgan
2020: Russell Wilson, Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird (Sheesh)
2021: Anthony Mackie
2022: Steph Curry
2023: No Host
2024: Serena Williams
As you can see, not a lot of comedians have hosted in the last decade. Maybe Shane Gillis will knock it out of the park and start a new trend? Or maybe just become the de facto host for the foreseeable future? As a fan of Gillis myself, I wouldn’t hate that. And soon enough, we’ll get to see how the popular stand-up comedians handles his ESPYS hosting gig.
The ESPYS will air on ESPN tomorrow (Wednesday, July 16), and Shane Gillis recently stopped by a Jimmy-Kimmel-less Jimmy Kimmel Live! to talk a little bit about his upcoming hosting responsibility. Guest host Chris Distefano asked if he was pumped for the opportunity, and Gillis said he was… but still had a number of things to take care of:
“Yeah, I’m excited about it. I’ve still got a lot of work to do. I’ve gotta figure it out.”
Gillis was apparently workshopping some of the jokes he’ll tell at a local comedy club, and the guest host – who also happens to be good friends with Shane – said that some of the jokes were killing. Gillis agreed, but also pointed out that ESPN has been feeding him some jokes to say… and implied that they are both mean and not that funny:
“The jokes are… I’ve never done a thing where somebody else is writing the jokes. They hired writers, and they’re like, ‘Here’s the jokes we came up with.’ And they’re like self-deprecating for me? So I’ll be at home, I’ll get an email (with one of the jokes) and it’ll be like, ‘Hey I’m Shane, I’m hosting the 33rd ESPY Awards. I’m a big, fat dumba**.’ And I’m like, ‘Who wrote this? Which one of you guys wrote that one?’ I’m not saying that.”
Hilarious reaction from Shane. I’m personally hoping that he brushes off all of the writers and goes with his own jokes… but I’m sure that wouldn’t go over all that well with the ESPN big wigs and the writers they hired. Guess we’ll find out what jokes he goes with when he hosts the ESPYS tomorrow night.
You can hear Shane talk more about it in the interview below:
