Returning to “Saturday Night Live,” Shane Gillis discusses his dismissal in a monologue

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Longtime producer Lorne Michaels is still eager to court controversy if it means people will tune in to see potential fireworks. The show featured guest hosting from stand-up comedian Shane Gillis, who was famously hired and fired from “Saturday Night Live” in 2019 due to racist slurs that he used on a podcast.

In his monologue, Gillis sheepishly admitted to the firing but then walked a comic tightrope the rest of the way through his speech, insisting that little boys who are close to their mothers are, at least temporarily, gay. Other than that, the fireworks were pretty subdued. Social media users’ exaggerated reactions suggest that the monologue was either the most terrible thing that has ever happened to the show or the most brilliant example of anti-woke humour that has ever aired.

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Gillis, who is obviously anxious, is using his comedic talents to represent himself as a white male comic similar to Nate Bargatze, complete with supportive parents and an unexpectedly diverse family. The truth, however, likely lies somewhere in the middle. The question of whether Gillis’s monologue won over new followers or deepened divisions stems from the fact that, before the programme, more hurtful remarks from his past were reported.

Aside from that, how did Gillis do? While his sketch comedy skills didn’t go beyond his stand-up persona, the guest host managed to pull off hilarious cameos as a white family’s religious patriarch who travels to a Jamaican church, an HR representative who inquires about office dating etiquette, and a nervous contestant on “The Floor” who is terrified of making a mistake when it comes to African Americans. Among his other roles, he played a man whose spying digital device showed advertisements for a Green Bay Packers-themed sex toy online, a rival of Forrest Gump at a 20-year high school reunion, and an enthusiastic owner of Fugliana, a less-than-stellar sex doll for average men.

Performing “Redrum” with Portuguese backup singers was musical guest 21 Savage. “Should’ve Wore a Bonnet” featured Brent Faiyaz and Summer Walker. This week’s video sketch was Please Don’t Destroy.

Republican Senators Jim Risch (Day), Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernandez), Lindsey Graham (James Austin Jones), and Tim Scott (Devon Walker) were the subjects of this week’s subdued political sketch. The senators all voiced their dissatisfaction with former President Donald Trump (who won South Carolina’s primary on Saturday) and their admiration for him. While Graham brings up his doxxing experience under Trump’s watch, Rubio talks about being called “Little Marco,” and Scott maintains that Trump is completely devoid of racism, even if he claims that Trump’s criminal indictment makes him more attractive to black people. Scott is adamant that he will protect his honour at any cost. “However, I would gladly accept the position of vice president if he offered it.

Gillis humbly began the much-anticipated/dreaded monologue. “Um, yeah, I’m here,” Gillis assured. I lost my job on the show not long ago. I implore you not to look that up. That shouldn’t be Googled. Gillis changed gears and began talking about how much he resembled a high school coach, “slash ninth grade sex education teacher,” instead of providing any details or explanation for his dismissal. “It’s just your mom’s gay best friend.” Then came a skit about how every little kid who is close to his mother The routine wasn’t shy about being direct with jokes like “Mom asked when we stopped being best friends,” which was a subtle way of addressing the strained relationship that develops between mothers and their sons once puberty sets in. For the first time ever, I took a break. His affection for his mother turned cold as he said, “When is that going to leave the house?”

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An extended riff about Down syndrome, in which Gillis begins by noting that people occasionally mistake him for having it based on his appearance, may have been the most dangerous part, though. “I managed to avoid it, but it bit me,” he quipped. A member of his family, including a niece, has Down syndrome, he disclosed. “I was hoping for a more widespread chuckle,” he deadpanned. It appeared as though Gillis was both conscious of and unable to resist the limelight that the show would offer him, regardless of how others may view his comedic timing. At least some of his work has aired on television, according to producer Lorne Michaels, but he said, “I don’t have any material that can be on TV” when delivering it.