Who is Shane Gillis as stand-up comedian makes SNL return?

Back on February 3, when Ayo Edebiri hosted SNL, it was announced comedian Shane Gillis would make his Saturday Night Live hosting debut on February 24.

Gillis has a popular comedy special on Netflix titled Beautiful Dogs, as well as co-hosting the most subscribed-to podcast on Patreon, Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast. But if you haven't seen Gillis' comedy, you may remember him from 2019, after he got fired by SNL before he even appeared on the show. So what's he doing back?

Gillis was fired from the cast days after his hiring was announced, after clips had resurfaced of the the comedian using language, which SNL termed "offensive, hurtful and unacceptable” in their statement.

“We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard," read a statement from a spokesperson on behalf of Lorne Michaels, the show’s creator and executive producer.

The resurfaced clips included Gillis saying racist and homophobic jokes, such as calling Chinese people slurs ands saying "the gayer the army, the scarier," partly due to the prospect of rape against men.

Gillis himself took to social media to write: “I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries. I sometimes miss."

He added: “I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said.”

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Bob Woodruff Foundation

But after the firing, Gillis made an appearance on controversial podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, and said that he told the producers "I like to say gay and r*tard a lot." To which they allegedly replied, "Ah, that's fine, don't worry about it."

But despite the controversy, Gillis didn't shy away from the past in his monologue.

“Most of you probably have no idea who I am,” Gillis said. “I was fired from this show a while ago. Don’t look that up. If you don’t know who I am, please don’t Google that. It’s fine, don’t even worry about it.”

NeitherSNL or producers of the show shared why they had decided to bring Gillis back, even for just one episode. But Michaels has always stressed that he wants "a variety of voices and points of view within the show."

His monologue also included jokes about his "biological clock is ticking" on his dream of stand-up. Comparing it to when a "woman's biological clock is ticking," and they see a family that makes them feel as though they should have children. Gillis said his equivalent was seeing teenagers and they're noticing their potential for coaching them in football.

Gillis also said he "was gay for my mum," until "the first time I whacked off." Before continuing to acknowledge the nature of his humour saying: “Look, I don’t have any material that can be on TV," adding, "this place is extremely well-lit. I can see everyone not enjoying it. This is the most nervous I’ve ever been.”

Although Gillis is not the first to be fired from the sketch show. Whilst hosting the show in 2019, his first return after his firing in 1995, Adam Sandler performed a song titled 'I was fired'.

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