The wild talent Shane Gillis took the SNL hosting reins for the second time on March 1. His television appearance sparked new debates concerning both his former history and what represents acceptable comedy material. The show began with James Austin Johnson doing an impersonation of Donald Trump during his time as President while talking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the cold open sketch.
A Risky Monologue
Shane Gillis moved to the stage after the sketch and delivered his monologue, which combined cultural analysis with political satire. The comedian utilized satire about Trump and Biden before drawing an unthinkable association between liberals and the Sith Lords in the Star Wars franchise.
“You guys are pretty liberal here. Look, I understand being liberal, dude, it feels good. It’s powerful. It’s too powerful, dude. It’s like the Sith. You, like, lose yourself,” he joked.
The audience responded with mixed reactions—some laughed, while others hesitated. Shane Gillis continued pushing boundaries with more provocative jokes, including one about white men awkwardly questioning their girlfriends about past relationships, referencing Tinder culture.
A Joke That Went Too Far?
Later in his monologue, Shane Gillis discussed his love for historical documentaries, particularly Ken Burns’s Civil War. He mocked its long runtime, saying,
“It’s 900 hours long. No one on Earth has ever finished it. It’s kryptonite to women. If you put that on, they will fall asleep immediately. That’s a little Cosby tip for you, actually.”
The audience responded significantly differently to the mention of Bill Cosby because of his 2018 sex assault conviction, which was overturned in 2021. People either laughed uneasily or stayed completely silent.
Debate Over Comedy’s Limits
The SNL audience welcomed Shane Gillis back five years after his initial recruitment, but his offensive remarks from 2019 caused SNL to dismiss him immediately. Viewpoints about Gillis’s unrepentant comic methods diverged after backlash occurred regarding his current comedic content. This monologue has renewed discussion about the existence of funny speech boundaries and understanding of received comedy comments as acceptable behavior.
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