Shane Gillis to Host ‘SNL’ Nearly 5 Years After Show Fired Him

Daniel Kreps
·2 min read
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Shane Willis - Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Bob Woodruff Foundation
Shane Willis - Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Bob Woodruff Foundation

Almost five years after Shane Gillis was hired-and-fired by Saturday Night Live, the comedian will finally make his SNL debut, but this time as host.

Gillis’ comeback will come full circle on February 24 when he takes the reins of SNL alongside musical guest 21 Savage.

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Gillis was among the new Not Ready for Prime Time Players (along with Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman) announced to join the SNL cast heading into Season 45 in 2019. However, shortly after his casting was revealed, racist and homophobic jokes that Gillis made on a podcast years earlier resurfaced, and while Gillis promptly apologized, the show’s producers still dropped him before he ever filmed an episode.

“After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL,” Lorne Michaels said in a statement at the time. “We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as comedian and his impressive audition for SNL. We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard.”

Gillis responded with his own statement, “It feels ridiculous for comedians to be making serious public statements but here we are. I’m a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can’t be taken away. Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at SNL, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction. I respect the decision they made. I’m honestly grateful for the opportunity. I was always a Mad TV guy anyway.”

In the half-decade since his dismissal, Gillis has avoided controversy while also watching his status in the comedy world ascend, thanks in large part to his hit 2021 stand-up special Live in Austin. Gillis also released his stand-up special Beautiful Dogs in 2023, and appeared alongside former SNL star Pete Davidson on that comic actor’s Bupkis.

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