Saturday Night Live recap: Shane Gillis stumbles back into Studio 8H

Saturday Night Live has never been above a ratings ploy—the powers that be (ahem, Lorne Michaels) have routinely tapped controversial figures to host the sketch-comedy show over the years, from polarizing POTUS Donald Trump to tech douche Elon Musk. (And sometimes it likes to sprinkle in a nonsensical Dave Chapelle cameo for literally no reason.)

So it wasn’t all that surprising that Studio 8H would welcome back Shane Gillis (with musical guest 21 Savage), the former SNL cast member who, a mere four days into his show tenure, was fired back in 2019 after instances of him using anti-Asian and homophobic language were resurfaced online. (Ironically, Gillis would have joined the show the very same season as Bowen Yang, the show’s first Chinese American cast member, who has not been shy about his displeasure over some of the casting choices this season.)

Despite Gillis’ firing, the 36-year-old comic has had a very successful five years since that scandal, with Netflix specials (Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs was released last September), The New Yorker profiles, and, you know, a whole-ass hosting gig on Saturday Night Live. Yet, while news of his casting no doubt prompted curious viewers to tune in to his “cancel culture” victory lap, his choppy comeback episode was less flagrant and more forgettable.

Cold open of the week: It’s a little too real

This week’s political cold open was a depressingly accurate one: Senators Tim Scott (Devon Walker), James Risch (Mikey Day), Lindsey Graham (James Austin Johnson) and Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernandez) gab about their shared bully—Donald Trump, natch—who they 100-percent still endorse despite doxing Graham during a rally and saying Black people like him better “now that he has a mugshot.” (“Yeah, my man got street cred!” Walker’s Tim Scott cheers.) The bit runs too long, but it’s dutifully skewering and has the same stomach-turning effect as watching a friend continuously take back the fuckboy who broke her heart.

Opening monologue: From controversy to cringe

Remember Jo Koy’s catastrophic opening monologue at the Golden Globes last month? Shane Gillis gage him some serious competition here. The comic rightly addressed the elephant in the room early on: “Most of you probably have no idea who I am. I was actually—I was fired from this show a while ago. But if, you know, don’t look that up, please, if you don’t know who I am. Please, don’t Google that. It’s fine. Don’t even worry about it.”

Brushing off the backlash, Gillis segued into jokes about his family, including his niece with Down syndrome (“It almost got me!”), but the majority of the punchlines notably didn’t land with the uneasy studio audience (including the stone-faced band behind him). The host’s discomfort was palpable, made even more apparent by the fact that his usual stand-up schtick wouldn’t fly with NBC censors: “Look, I don’t have any material that can be on TV, all right? I’m trying my best. Also, this place is extremely well-lit. I can see everyone not enjoying it.” Big yikes.

Best sketch of the night: White Men Can Trump

Gillis did considerably better in the show’s pre-taped bits, including a faux-mercial for Rock Bottom Kings—a FanDuel-esque app that lets you to wager on how far your betting buddies will sink into gambling addiction—and this fake movie trailer for White Men Can Trump, a comedy starring Gillis as Gordon Dwyer, an unathletic doofus who gains the unfettered bravado of a certain politician when he’s magically gifted a pair of Donald Trump’s new gold high-top sneakers. “They gave me the power to say I’m good at basketball, then double down on that until people actually start to believe it!” Gordon proclaimed. Gillis’ Trump impression was spot-on, and his Donald-off with Johnson’s version was a good kicker.

Most pointed sketch of the night: The Floor

Hosted by Michael Longfellow’s eerily accurate Rob Lowe, “The Floor” featured contestants trying to identify as many photos as they can for a cash prize. “History buff” David felt confident in being able to recognize famous historical figures, but faltered at the sight of Black icons like Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Aretha Franklin. (“Huge fan of her. Pass!”) “You don’t know who Oprah is?!” Heidi Gardner’s fellow competitor asked incredulously, to which David yelled: “Of course I know who Oprah is, I’m just afraid to get it wrong on the TV!” With David only able to correctly identify Cleveland Brown from Family Guy, the bit would be a funny jab at ignorant white men if Shane Gillis weren’t also, you know, an ignorant white man.

MVP of the night: Ego Nwodim’s Father Lawrence

We’ll give props to Bowen Yang’s fantastically bitchy Truman Capote that popped up at the “Weekend Update” desk to celebrate Women’s History Month (“Women are like kombucha—they’re full of yeast and they’re technically alive”), but Ego Nwodim’s Jamaican preacher might be the most delightfully unhinged we’ve seen the comedienne so far. This was one Sunday sermon we’ll be happy to revisit.

Stray observations

• Speaking of “Weekend Update,” there were some pacing issues with Marcello Hernandez’s cameo as a frozen embryo from Alabama, but we did enjoy his takedown of Vanderpump Rules’ resident villain—“I don’t got a brain, I don’t got a heart, I’m like Tom Sandoval…even without eyes, I can see that Tom is a pure narcissist”—as did the whooping in-person audience. (Seriously, people, stop trying to make the Sandoval apology tour happen.)
• After a few weeks off, we’re back with a stretch of fresh episodes, including next week’s edition with Madame Web starlet Sydney Sweeney as host (do we think they’ll go the Jacob Elordi route and talk about nothing but her looks?) and Kacey Musgraves as musical guest. Dune: Part Two actor Josh Brolin will take the hosting reins on March 9, with pop icon Ariana Grande performing.