Shane Gillis made his third appearance as host of “Saturday Night Live” on Sunday, but his opening monologue struggled to connect with the studio audience. The 38-year-old comedian, dressed in a matching black T-shirt and pants, launched into a rambling routine centered on his struggles with weight and his attempts to appear non-threatening to women while hiking.
Gillis opened by criticizing the atmosphere at public gyms, particularly in New York City. “Going to the public gym as a fat guy… is a nightmare, dude,” he said, adding that the only people he encountered were “the hottest gay guys you’ve ever seen.”
The monologue took a sharper turn when he commented on women’s fashion, stating, “I haven’t been to the gym in so long I didn’t know women just dress like whores now?” The remark earned groans from the crowd. He continued by mocking neon-colored athletic shorts, describing them with crude detail and noting that he was currently appearing in the background of numerous TikTok videos.
Turning the focus to his own appearance, Gillis joked about his receding hairline and compared his balding pattern to that of Adolf Hitler. “I’ve balded directly into an Adolf Hitler haircut,” he said, explaining that his hairstyle made it impossible to avoid the comparison during speeches. He then delivered a punchline that fell flat: “I’m not going to [brush it to the side], that’s gay. That’s it: You’re either gay or you’re Hitler, and isn’t that where we’re at as a country?” The line received very few laughs before the segment abruptly concluded.
This performance echoed Gillis’s previous hosting stint in 2024, where his monologue was also poorly received; he later attributed the failure to a Gen Z audience not understanding his Civil War-era humor. Despite these missteps, Gillis has found success elsewhere, earning praise for his stand-up specials, his Netflix series “Tires,” and popular sketches such as “CouplaBeers.”
Gillis’s relationship with “SNL” has been complicated since September 2019, when he was hired as a cast member alongside Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang. He was fired just five days later after controversial clips from his podcast resurfaced, featuring anti-gay slurs and mockery of Asian people—remarks that were particularly contentious given Yang’s status as the show’s first openly gay cast member of full Asian descent.
Former “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels has since revealed that he was forced to fire Gillis against his own wishes due to pressure from NBC executives. In recent years, Michaels appears to have sought to rehabilitate their professional relationship, once offering Gillis the role of Donald Trump for the show’s 50th season, which Gillis declined. While Gillis bombed his monologue during his first hosting appearance, his subsequent returns have highlighted his strong sketch comedy abilities, even if his opening routines remain inconsistent.
The audience clearly didn’t want him back. That awkward silence before the end says it all.
Classic Gillis. He might be a great stand-up guy, but these monologues are just embarrassing misses.
Why do we keep letting him host? The groans were deafening during the women’s clothing comments.
I actually laughed at the gym bit. His observational humor is still strong despite the botched jokes.
That Hitler comparison felt really lazy and lazy in 2024. SNL needs better material.