Watching Sean Gillis make himself blush while hosting Saturday Night Live for the third time this past weekend, I bet no one thinks Sean Gillis is funnier than Sean Gillis. While that’s a pretty safe bet, his confidence in his comedic style can’t be attributed entirely to his appearances on a show from which he was fired, in a Budweiser commercial where, as he noted, he “looked like a lesbian,” and in a TV show about tires that 59% of critics hated while 91% of people probably hated and 91% of people probably liked also I find it interesting to hear women say “whore love.”
No, we want to thank everyone who, during his 38 years on this earth, politely laughed at a quip from Gillis’s “Cornell Seventh Grade Book of Punch Lines.” Also kudos to Lorne Michaels, who knew the ratings/headlines as soon as he saw the cows, even if he didn’t want to put them in his barn late at night.
(Will Heath/NBC) Shane Gillis hosts SNL monologue on October 10, 2026
Just as journalists who deserve their paychecks are taught to avoid making headlines with puns or profanity because it’s a lazy job, many successful comedians don’t desperately cling to easy laughs by calling women whores or beating up their “big fat sisters,” like Gillis did in his Saturday night monologue. As far as I know, Leanne Morgan has never joked about going to the gym where men are made out to be sluts for wearing sweatpants that show off D’s and B’s, and she probably actually went to the gym. Oh wait, Gillis did say in his monologue that he feels most comfortable working out at “his friend Joe Rogan’s personal gym.” Correct. Riiiiiiiight.
For a show like “SNL,” controversy isn’t just valuable; It gives a platform to people who are more than willing to stand up in front of a live audience and say ugly things that people are afraid to say out loud. . . at present. But if they see enough people doing it, they might be brave enough to do the same.
The point is, happy, successful, confident, well-liked comedians are creative and secure enough to reach for their material without going straight into their own asses. There’s a difference between being a “controversial” comic and appealing to the lowest common denominator. Dave Chappelle is just as bad when it comes to content, but at least he’s good at being the absolute worst person, if that can be part of this argument. It’s worth noting here that although Chappelle has been in the industry much longer than Gillis, Chappelle has only twice as many hosts. . . Want to know why?
Gillis has made a career out of attracting people who yearn for a chance to storm the Capitol, and it’s clear that there’s a home now for “Saturday Night Live,” a show that has continued for 51 years by offering a little something for everyone, carving out space for everyone — except women and people of color, and a growing number of viewers who haven’t been able to wear red ball caps since 2017. Who’s laughing now? I don’t want to run on the treadmill with anyone.
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For a show like “SNL,” controversy isn’t just valuable; It gives a platform to people who are more than willing to stand up in front of a live audience and say ugly things that people are afraid to say out loud. . . at present. But if they see enough people doing it, they might be brave enough to do the same. Just like that, we’re here. Audiences just want to look in the mirror, even if they secretly despise what’s in the mirror.
By now, Gillis’s misogynistic sad clown antics have been met with enough polite, awkward laughs from friends, relatives, and dates waiting for him to shut up so they can order their appetizers, and now he not only has an entire career to show off the act, but a built-in audience of like-minded fans, too many of whom have told them they “have a great sense of humor.” We are all paying a sickening price now, and anyone who paved the way is complicit.
But SNL is a liberal showyou might be thinking. I mean. . . certainly? But it’s also an archive of soundbites that spans decades, including hits like “Jane, You Ignorant Slut” from the late-’70s “Weekend Update” sketches starring Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin. I will save your Google. There is more.
By now, Gillis’s misogynistic sad clown antics have been met with enough polite, awkward laughs from friends, relatives, and dates waiting for him to shut up so they can order their appetizers, and now he not only has an entire career to show off the act, but a built-in audience of like-minded fans, too many of whom have told them they “have a great sense of humor.”
After Gillis’ recent hosting gig, it’s refreshing to see what men in the entertainment industry have to say about him. Michael Che, who began working as a writer on “SNL” in 2013 and took on an on-screen role as co-host of “Weekend Update” the following year, commented on Gillis’ monologue via a series of Instagram Stories, writing, “Have to do more press this week to promote this special… want to know every damn question. Creek” star Dan Levy Levy, son of “SCTV” actor Eugene Levy, also took to Instagram to say in a more direct and thoughtful way, “Women wearing shorts at the gym doesn’t mean they are whores. This leads men to become misogynists by calling them whores. “
But the most effective statement came from Lorne Michaels, who respected his first instinct to classify Gillis as persona non grata after a segment with racist and homophobic slurs appeared on his podcast, “Matt and Sean’s Secret Podcast,” resulting in Gillis being removed from the cast of “Saturday Night Live” just days after his hiring was announced.
I personally regret every time I give a polite smile that puts wind in the sails of a very boring and disrespectful person and feel too embarrassed to course-correct. Most women have moments like this. I had this experience during my first job, when I was 15 and I laughed at the security guard who was twice my age and he joked that his pants felt tight after I mentioned I had a girlfriend. I was in a situation like this when I was driving with an old friend and when he ranted loudly about how women who were assaulted by Harvey Weinstein “shouldn’t be surprised”, he only issued a “you have to be careful about stuff like this” warning that he was behaving in a way that “shouldn’t be surprising”. It’s hard to stand up in a moment like this, but look what happens if we don’t. Shane Gillis is a cystic papule. All that was left was pus.
Lorne Michaels may invite Gillis back. The fact that I and countless other writers are writing similar reviews all but ensures this. But what he should be asking himself is whether the kind of audience he’s courting for the kind of jokes Gillis made last weekend is one he would feel comfortable with. This should be important. More people should speak out if something doesn’t look like it.
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