Fired Shane Gillis Brings Controversies Back

The standup comic was ever-so-briefly a cast member, fired before the season began for racist (including anti-Asian) and homophobic jokes. He didn’t quite go racist here, but his monologue certainly pushed the boundaries of homophobia and ableism … and is sure to stir up even more controversy.

As for the rest of the show, it was very hit-or-miss, with some sketches that left us scratching our heads as to what the point was, others feeling like huge missed opportunities and then some that absolutely nailed it.

Perhaps because of the awkward response to his monologue — and Shane’s awkward reaction to the audience — the episode ran short enough to bump a pre-recorded parody that was much stronger than most of tonight’s show. Luckily, they quickly got it up online so we could all still enjoy it.

As usual, we’re ranking all the sketches from worst to first, including the Monologue, Cold Open, “Weekend Update” and any sketches that were cut for time but made their way online. We’ll skip the musical guests, because they’re not usually funny — unless Ashlee Simpson shows up. We wrap up with a look at the cast-member who had the strongest week.

This was a premise with potential, and Ego Nwodim certainly gave her all as a priest, but it didn’t really go anywhere. A white family from Ohio attending a Jamaican church with a lot more animation and energy than a typical Catholic service could have reveled in the awkwardness. Instead, Shane Gillis’ dad character was able to mimic the Jamaican accent, and no one cared. And the sketch didn’t really have anything to say about anything, other than allowing Ego to sing the same song over and over and dance. This was … frankly … pretty terrible.

“It’s uh, it’s uh, yeah, I’m here,” Shane said right at the top, quickly acknowledging that he’d been fired from the show. “Don’t look that up, please,” he said immediately. “If you don’t know who I am, don’t google that. It’s fine, don’t even worry about it.” He acknowledged what a lot of people have been thinking, then saying, “I probably shouldn’t be up here.” He then shifted to what he should be doing, being a high school football coach, which was a pivot right into a typical standup monologue where he gives a shout-out to his “volunteer assistant girls high school basketball coach,” lamenting it didn’t get a bigger audience reaction.

He then pivoted to a homophobic slant, using “gay” as a slur while talking about being best friends with your mom when you were a little boy. “Remember when you were gay?” he asked. “Every little boy was just their mom’s gay best friend.” He then said the turning point in that relationship ws the first time he masterbated.

From there, he took on Down syndrome, saying, “I don’t know if you can tell by looking at me, I do have family members with Down syndrome. It almost got me. I dodged it, but it nicked me.” After another awkward response, he acknowledged, “I don’t have any material that can be on TV. I’m trying my best.”

“This place is extremely well-lit. I can see everyone not enjoying it,” he said of his own monologue. He kept noting how he wasn’t getting laughs as he went along, like his joke about people with Down syndrome being happy and not caring about the election.

He wrapped by dropping the r-word in a joke about his niece with Down syndrome being called that word (hypothetically) only for her three adopted Black brothers to “come flying out of nowhere” to “wail on that cracker.” He then shared that he and his family opened a coffee shop for people with Down syndrome to work at, before joking about the slow service and everyone getting apple juice.

The centerpiece of this was Shane Gillis as a contestant not being willing to identify any of the famous Black people for fear of looking stupid on television. We were hoping for more when Ego Nwodim came up as his next challenge, but all we got was her stumbling over the titles of paintings. It felt like they missed an opportunity to say something a little more biting here. Bowen Yang was the first contestant he faced, who gave a look into the camera and said, “Pumped to be here,” considering Shane’s controversial anti-Asian and anti-gay jokes? It was a pretty pointed stare and should only add fuel to the speculation he’s been frustrated with some of the host choices of late.

A stupid ending for an otherwise clever sketch about Forrest Gump returning for his 20-year high school reunion where he wins an award for most successful after his incredible life, making Shane Gillis’ “peaked in high school” alumnus more than a little jealous. They had some funny moments on the stage together, though Mikey Day’s Forrest impression left a lot to be desired. This was one of several pieces on the night that just didn’t quite come together.

Colin Jost kicked off with a reaction to Donald Trump winning the South Carolina primary, “which means Trump is now undefeated everywhere except court.” They got in some jabs about why Nikki Haley didn’t have the Black vote in South Caroline and Biden’s fundraising before giving a little more weight to Alabama’s declaration that frozen embryos are children. In fact that bizarre story even bled into their first guest.

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Who knew a frozen embryo would have such strong opinions about “pure narcissist” Tom Sandoval. Marcello Hernández kept emphasizing all the features he didn’t have, while using them anyway, saving a pretty good burn for Colin himself, describing himself as, like Colin, someone with “no discernible talent, just a white blob.” His whole appearance was more weird than funny.

It wasn’t even joke swap and Colin still delivered an absolutely horrible joke about Black History Month — and almost kept a straight face after his deadpan delivery. Michael Che then used jars to counter the effectiveness of women’s exercise, and then got even more disturbing about an 84-year-old woman who wants to join the WNBA.

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We were surprised Bowen Yang wasn’t the frozen embryo, but then he came out as Truman Capote to talk about Women’s History Month. The voice and characterization he chose was hilarious and brilliant satire as he tore apart famous historic women. Every bit of this segment worked as he tore into women with ridiculous lies and a delightfully off-beat charm. Bowen always delivers at the “Update” desk.

Exploring workplace relationships, we did get a laugh out of Shane Gillis’ horrible treatment of Ego Nwodim as his “silver” choice to ask out. The premise was simple enough. The employees learned that they can ask someone out once and if they get a no, that’s it. So Shane immediately started looking for loopholes, which led to some other revelations and funny moments which somehow culminated in (the guy who’s clearly “the cute one” of the show) Marcello Hernández’ reveal that he was wearing “booty” khakis — which even got Chloe to break as he started wiggling what his mama gave him. This was a clever extrapolation of a simple premise enhanced by silly characterizations and solid performances from the cast in bit roles.

Longtime fans of SNL might have seen the connection between this political cold open and the classic “Bill Brasky” series of sketches from the mid-1990s where a group of men tout the impressive achievements of the off-screen Bill Brasky. In this case, it was James Risch, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, and Tim Rice talking about how Trump has torn them apart individually … and they love him anyway. “Sometimes I think he’s downright dangerous,” said Mikey’s James Risch. But when asked if he endorsed him, he said, “Yeah, big time. He’s great!” It was shameless and painfully accurate as they lamented Trump’s dominance of the GOP while pandering to him in absentia.

This time, the ending actually worked in a sketch spoofing targeted ads and the notion that our devices are listening to us even when we don’t want them. Everyone has experienced the creepy ad that seems to crop up right after you’ve talked about something in front of your phone or Alexa, which made it even funnier when Shane Gillis started trying to prove the phenomenon wasn’t real by detailing the very specific ads he’s getting, like a Green Bay Packers butt plug. It got more bizarre from there, but aside from some terribly awkward line deliveries and pauses, it turned into one of the night’s funniest moments.

This fake ad perfectly spoofs the shameless glorification of online gambling, taking it to its darkest extreme by suggesting that you can bet on your friend with a serious gambling addiction. Considering you can bet on every detail of an NFL game, why not every aspect of your friend’s life as it falls apart around him? The shameless glee of Shane, Kenan Thompson, and Marcello Hernández as they hype this awful product perfectly captures the tone and laissez faire attitude of the real gambling ads that got a huge profile during this past football season.

The absolute absurdity of this sketch, which immediately turned into a crime scene as LiMu Emu showed his very dark side, worked brilliantly well. While Shane Gillis was mostly terrible in his live performances, he played the distraught partner of LiMu perfectly in this pre-taped bit. In fact, it was such a strong piece, it’s a disservice to the show itself that this was left on the cutting room floor (we’re suspecting all his commentary about the audience not liking his monologue is why they ran out of time). We’d have much rather had this darkly comic parody ad than that church service disservice to comedy sketch.

“He is whatever he says he is,” is the perfect line to sum up this take on Donald Trump’s new gold shoes that look as ridiculous as they don’t help at all on the basketball court. What they can do, though, is give someone the same confident that Trump has to say something that is obviously untrue enough that people start to believe it is true. So you don’t have to be good at anything if you can just say you’re good at everything. Shane gives a solid Trump impression, treating everyone around him dismissively and like crap — including James Austin Johnson’s Trump. All in all, this was a great take on a ridiculous product.

The ladies clearly had a blast portraying average-looking sex dolls, rocking around awkwardly and making terrible expressions on their faces. The premise of an average-looking sex doll for below-average-looking dudes is funny enough on its own, but props to the cast — and the ladies in particular — for elevating an already solid premise with their deliveries. Props especially to Sarah Sherman, who nailed a truly bizarre performance as only she can.

This was such an odd night with a large number of ensemble sketches that nobody really took the reins among the cast. Shane seemed to dominate every sketch he appeared in, with players like Andrew Dismukes and Heidi Gardner playing support in almost everyone of them.

It was a big night for Marcello Hernández, who did have a lot of solid leading roles, but his Marco Rubio didn’t’ really do anything and the frozen embryo did not’ bring the laughs it should have. Still, he’s quickly finding his voice on the show, and appears to be becoming a fan-favorite, too.

Despite clocking fewer appearances, we have to give this week’s nod to Ego Nwodim, who made the most of the time she was given. We didn’t love the Jamaican church sketch, but there’s no denying her commitment to such a ridiculous role. She gave the same on The Floor parody, which had her just edging Marcello for us.

All in all, this was a night of solid performances from the cast, but very few breakout moments that will stand the test of time. Sarah Sherman gets a shout-out as Fugliana and Bowen was hilarious as Truman Capote, but eac only had that one moment.

“Saturday Night Live” returns next week with host Sydney Sweeney and musical guest Kacey Musgraves.