Shane Gillis and Saturday night Live I didn’t do it I participated in 2019 with accurate and good conditions. Just a few days after being announced as a new cast member, the Pennsylvania native was fired for repeated offensive remarks. But since then, Gillis has seen and hosted major career rebounds. SNL He returned in February 2024 and March 2025. So what happened back then and how did he come here? Read on to learn more about Shane, his career, and his past on SNL.
Shane Gillis played football
Shane is a comedian, sketch comedy writer and podcaster. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, he played for the high school soccer team as an offensive tackle. Shane temporarily attended West Point before leaving in his first year and played football at Elon University for a year. Eventually he transferred to Westchester University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
He was a European teacher
Upon graduating from university, Shane taught English in Spain for six months. He wasn’t officially on his feet until 2012. He performed in several towns in his hometown, including Harrisburg and Lancaster, and eventually moved to Philadelphia.
Shane was hired as a hotly featured “SNL” cast member
Less than a decade after his comedy career, Shane was announced as a special cast member in 2019 alongside Starr Bowen Yang and Chloe Feinman. However, shortly after the announcement, the clip resurfaced on Shane’s social media.
We’ve come a long way… Shane Gillis will host SNL on February 24th pic.twitter.com/rhapand9y8
– KFC Radio (@kfcradio) February 4, 2024
Shane was fired from Saturday Night Live
Social media users pointed out a clip of Shane using racial slur to describe people of Asian descent. In one episode of his podcast, Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, he has a comedian with the comedian. Matt McCuskerShane heard, “f**king ch ***s live entho,” imitating the Chinese accent.
A spokesman after NBC received Shane’s previous comments SNL “After talking to Shane Gillis, I made a statement that he decided not to participate. SNL. We were unaware of his previous statements that have emerged over the past few days. The language he used was offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that these clips have not been seen before and that our review process has not met our standards. ”
“I’m a comedian that was funny enough to get SNL. It can’t be taken away.”
Shane Gillis issued a statement after being fired from #SNLhe said, “I’m always a crazy TV guy anyway.” Read it here https://t.co/rem19ttxtq pic.twitter.com/b3bp8mh2df
– indiewire (@indiewire) September 16, 2019
In response to his firing, Shane took him to X (formerly Twitter) at the time to protect himself.
“I’m a boundary-pushing comedian. I miss it sometimes,” he wrote. “I’m happy to apologise to someone who’s actually upset about what I said.”
Shane also said, “If you’ve gone through my 10 years of comedy, most of it is bad, you’ll find a lot of bad mistakes… my intentions will never hurt anyone, but I’m trying to be the best comedian I can, and sometimes it takes risks.”
He released his own stand-up special
Despite his career setback, Shane released his own comedy special over the years. In September 2021, he released his first live stand-up performance. Shane Gillis: I live in Austinon YouTube. Two years later, his second live special, Shane Gillis: Beautiful dogIt premiered on Netflix in September 2023.
