Shane Gillis hosted SNL on the weekend and made headlines again. I really, really wanted this to be a redemption story.
Nope. It’s pissed me off and reinforces my current feelings about standup. I know I’ve posted a lot of grumpy negative content this year but this is a thing we absolutely need to talk about.
Fuck.
So here’s the background stuff you need to know about Shane Gillis. He’s a comedian and part of the Rogansphere. Most of his fans seem to regard him as the Rogansphere exception, the smarter and nicer and cleverer member of that obnoxious club in their shitty walled garden out there in Austin.
His origin story was with SNL who once let him host and in the opening monologue of the show he used the N-word and implied some racist bullshit and lots of people said “not funny” and he got sacked by SNL.
Then daddy Joe made him part of the club and he’s been wildly successful and his fans all tell the story like it’s some moral parable in which SNL is the bad guy, racism is OK in comedy and what he did/said is all validated by the fact that he’s made lots of money since then.
Of course, that’s a fucking bullshit way of thinking. Making lots of money after a racist speech act doesn’t prove you were on the right side of history. SNL shouldn’t be shamed for taking what is objectively appropriate and correct action.
The Gillis fans who recite this parable imply that Gillis’ subsequent popularity is some kind of proof that he was right and SNL were wrong, but none of them have explained the logic. Unless, of course, collecting a big bad of money somehow erases sins. But nobody’s adequately convinced me that’s how it really works.
My favourite thing to hear from Gillis fans is that he’s not really racist, he’s just a keen student of history. This, if you didn’t already know, is a big dog whistle to racists in the USA. It’s something that resonates with Confederate flag wavers who miss plantations and want to intellectualize their biases.
And yeah, the whole “history” spiel his fans give me somehow serves to imply that he’s smarter than the rest of the Rogansphere.
It helps his fans like him, and I can confirm he’s quite likeable. His body language, his self-deprecation, his humble and unassuming casual delivery are disarming. I’ve watched most of what he has online, the specials and YouTube clips, and I’ll agree that he’s definitely mastered the likeability thing.
It also helps that he’s slightly out of step with the rest of the fuckwits in Rogan’s walled garden. I personally cheered when he called out Andrew Schulz for being a prick about people with intellectual disabilities. Shane Gillis has some family members with Downs Syndrome, so he doesn’t tolerate nasty ableist bullshit, and that’s great.
Anyone who steps up to Andrew fucking Schulz is probably a friend of mine. I hate that prick. Shane’s also on record as lightly chastising the rest of the Mothership Sphere for over-using the N word and being generally egregious. Many Rogansphere critics regard Shane Gillis as the great white hope (a telling phrase if ever there was one) of a comedy scene that comes out of anti woke podcast bullshit.
He seems like the one in the crowd of bullies who will, after the others have done their worst and left, quietly apologise on their behalf for being a bit too over the top. But I’m personally not convinced his sensibilities are particularly enlightened. Not just because he’s got a personal sacred cow about intellectual disability and sometimes says “Bro, that’s a bit too far” to his podcast buddies.
But here’s the main thing, the part that bothers me more than anything else…. not fucking funny.
Please believe me when I say I don’t want to join the pearl-clutching wowsers whining that a comedian said or did something that wasn’t politically correct. I don’t want to be one of those people and I hate finding myself siding with them. But it sure doesn’t help when the comedian isn’t funny.
It’s the same when Ricky Gervais engages in his usual punching-down bullshit. I’ll make myself watch his specials to make sure I’ve taken context into account. And I’ll look for the humour because of the golden rule – you can be offensive as long as you’re funnier than you are offensive. Ricky fails this test every time. Sorry, but he’s not fucking funny.
And I’ve happily sat through several of Shane Gillis’ sets too, because many of my friends idolise him. I can kinda see why, because he really has mastered the art of likeability. But jokes? What jokes he has seem pretty fucking weak to me. Honestly, I don’t even need to get into the “racist or historian” debate because I don’t see anything impressive comedically, and that what I judge people on first.
Like, I can totally see myself admitting that even though Tony fucking Hinchcliffe is a piece of shit, he’s got comedic chops. I’d love to be able to say that. Except I can’t. Have you seen his new special? Takes about 8 minutes to get to a joke, and when he does it’s both stolen and lame. I can’t tell you whether his funny forgives his fuckwit nature, because he never shows any funny. Same for Ricky fucking Gervais. I’m still waiting for actual jokes while the end credits roll.
And even though I find Shane Gillis far less egregious than either of those other fuckwits, I still can’t see enough actual comedy to justify anything with. I want to like him, and I kinda do, but I can’t like the jokes because I can’t see them. Watching him perform, I can appreciate his casual relatable banter, but it’s not unlike watching an open mic performer who’s relaxed and bonds with the audience but didn’t bring any actual material.
Mostly, watching Shane Gillis, I find myself asking what the big deal is, why so many of my friends think he’s the G.O.A.T. I don’t see any actual comedy. He’s likeable, much more so than his peers at Joe Rogan’s feet, but I genuinely don’t see why anyone would emulate him comedically. I’m not trying to be mean but I’m frankly mystified at the career success of someone who honestly looks like they haven’t learned to write a joke yet.
Anyway, against SNL’s better judgement they invited him back to host again. I guess they were expecting a different outcome this time, because he’s rich and famous now, and that means he was right all along.
Nope. This time his comedic climax was basically saying women at the gym are whores for dressing immodestly. Yep, that’s the joke. The whole joke.
And everyone erupts. The wowsers are saying the preachy and predictable things. And sadly, they’re right. I’d love to defend it on the basis of a joke and it’s context but I can’t because that is the whole joke and there’s no magical context missing from the conversation about it.
It’s a shit joke. It’s the kind of joke an idiot Andrew Tate supporter might find cutting edge humour, but it isn’t. It’s basically the kind of thing a 12 year old boy might say, so it’s hard to imagine anyone being impressed by it. Or maybe something your conservative grandparent in the nursing home might mutter.
I sure can’t imagine other seasoned professional comedians hearing it and going “Wow. Well, that’s why he’s the best… who else could have come up with something like that?”
So I had to watch the fucking thing. I don’t give a fuck about SNL and haven’t seen anything in Shane Gillis’s comedy that would inspire me to watch another one of his sets, but here we go, let’s sit through this and see what the big deal is.
And there were zero suprises. That shitty line was the closest thing to an actual joke he made. It was a typical Shane Gillis set. Filled with constant attempts to resonate and relate to people but no actual jokes, and then another clanger which is hard to defend because even if you think it’s barely offensive, it’s still not funnier than it is problematic.
Shame on you, SNL. You clearly didn’t learn anything the last time, or you’ve somehow been gaslit into thinking that you were wrong because he got a career without you. Why the fuck would you give a microphone and international platform to someone who fucked it up so badly the last time? I guess you’re going to let Ashlee Simpson have another go at singing on your show next?
And kinda fuck you too, Shane. Because you and all your friends have given stand up comedy in the 21st century a bad name.
Because you were given a national platform to show everyone where stand up is right now and you turned up with a lazy low level open mic set that tries to use a couple of edgy moments to cover up a lack of actual jokes.
And because you’re trying to gaslight your audiences and peers with the idea that you can offset racist slurs and calling women whores for not dressing like it was Sharia Law by acting humble and relatable. Trust me – if your go-to’s are slurs and slut-shaming, you’re not that fucking likeable.
Just say something funny, for fuck’s sake. I have comedian friends who seem to think you’re funny. The next time I’m obligated to sit through one of your sets, please show me why.
