9 months ago
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Given that Shane Gillis was famously fired from “Saturday Night Live” for using a racial slur, one might imagine he’d tread a little carefully during his stunning return to the show.
Apparently not, we hear. Sources tells Page Six that Gillis plans to use the Down Syndrome jokes which have long been a part of his act.
Gillis has relatives with the condition and has worked with kids who live with it, and the bits he does in his stand-up act come off as unconventionally affectionate and even celebratory of people with Downs. But it remains to be scene whether the occasionally uncomfortable material will freak out a mainstream TV audience.
It seems that Shane Gillis — who was fired from ‘SNL’ in 2019 before he even appeared on the show — doesn’t plan to tread carefully when he hosts the show on Saturday. Rosalind O'Connor/NBC
The comic’s gig hosting the show on Saturday 24 is a huge story in the comedy world.
Gillis was hired by the NBC institution in 2019, but was fired five days later without ever having gone on the air.
The was canned because a 2018 podcast episode surfaced in which he and other comics used a racial slur for Chinese people. They were impersonating old-fashioned, pre-war landlords when they used the phrase, but “SNL” boss Lorne Michaels still gave him the boot.
A Page Six spy saw Gillis working out material a couple of times in comedy clubs in the city in the days leading up to his hosting gig, and told us he seems to be prepping the Downs bits.
“He’s going all-in,” said the spy.
Meanwhile, sources at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas earlier this month said that Gillis was “the star of the weekend.”
We hear Gillis plans to use his trademark Down Syndrome material during his appearance on the NBC show. Rosalind O'Connor/NBC
“He was at every party and everyone seemed to want to talk to him,” said the spy. “He’s got way more famous than most ‘SNL’ cast do,” they added.
Since the “SNL” incident, Gillis has gained some serious profile in part because of his two popular Netflix specials “Live In Austin” and “Beautiful Dogs,” but perhaps mostly because of his regular appearance on controversial but wildly popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Reps for Gillis and “Saturday Night Live” didn’t get back to us.
