Shane Gillis’ Bad Opening Monologue Set a Tone for His Whole ‘SNL’ Episode

Shane Gillis took to Saturday Night Live five years after he was originally supposed to and showed everyone what they were missing! And it wasn’t much. After everything that came out about Gillis, he was fired from the show and while he never made his debut as a cast member, he apparently was famous enough that they thought he would make a great host. The reality is that there was nothing particularly special about Gillis’ hosting gig.

If anything, most of the sketches were not funny and the only laugh out loud moments did not come from Gillis himself. Maybe it was set in tone through the cold open and monologue but the entire show was just off.

A Lackluster Cold Open

What will the Republican party always do? Support Donald Trump even though they have been made fun of and attacked by Trump time and time again. Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernandez) is talking into the party when he sees James Risch (Mikey Day) sitting by himself. The two start talking about how much they “love” Trump but also acknowledge the things that Trump has said about them and the horrible things they go through while supporting him.

When Tim Scott (Devon Walker) and Lindsey Graham (James Austin Johnson) join the table, it is more of the same. It is a simple cold open meant to show how the Republican party lets Trump walk all over them but there wasn’t much of a bang to it outside of just a promising premise.

Shane Gillis’ Opening Monologue Was Hard to Watch

Well, Gillis took to the main stage in Studio 8H and started his monologue by saying “Yeah, I’m here.” The way he addressed his firing from Saturday Night Live for racist jokes that he made in the past was to just simply say to those who don’t know who he is to not look that up. Gillis never made it to a single episode as a member of the cast. His monologue was just a mess and not one that will be memorable.

The monologue was just filled with jokes that were either not that funny or were bordering on weird and slightly offensive. Which is a weird choice given why Gillis was fired from the show. He made jokes about his father being a volunteer assistant coach for a girl’s basketball team and then called himself his mother’s “gay best friend” as a child. Then Gillis said that he has members of his family who have Down syndrome and while it started off as a bit about how much Gillis loves his niece, he did use the R-word slur while posing a situation where kids may eventually make fun of her.

Gillis could tell that he was bombing the entire time and kept saying that his jokes he normally does are not allowed on television and this monologue doesn’t really deserve to be there either.

The full episode of Saturday Night Live is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.

Saturday Night Live

A famous guest host stars in parodies and sketches created by the cast of this witty show.

Release Date

October 11, 1975

Seasons

49

Studio

NBC

Producer

Lorne Michaels

Watch on Peacock