Shane is somewhat infamous for his brief experience as a cast member of "Saturday Night Live." Unfortunately Shane was fired very soon after his hiring was announced due to the fact that his jokes were too controversial and offensive. In 2021, Gillis bounced back with his comedy special "Shane Gillis: Live in Austin."
Shane Gillis was born on December 11th of 1987 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Raised on the outskirts of Harrisburg, Gillis played high school football as an offensive tackle. After graduating from high school in 2009, Gillis attended West Chester University.
Gillis' stand-up career began in 2012 when he started performing regularly in Harrisburg. In order to seek out greater opportunities, Shane relocated to Pennsylvania and eventually reached the podium at the Philly's Phunniest tournament in 2015. He then won the tournament in 2016. During this period, Shane was heavily influenced by comedians such as Bill Burr, Norm Macdonald, Dave Chappelle, and Louis CK. In 2016, he also started podcasting for the first time, creating the "Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast." Over the next few years, he frequently appeared on podcasts like "The Bonfire" and started another podcast called "A Fair One."
In 2019, Comedy Central called on him to perform at Clusterfest. He then earned a spot as a "New Face" at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal.
Shane was soon announced as one of the new cast members of"Saturday Night Live." Unfortunately he was dropped almost immediately afterward due to public outcry. This was due to a YouTube clip that showed Gillis using words like "Chink" and homophobic slurs. Shane took to Twitter to apologize, but the creator of "Saturday Night Live" quickly decided to remove him from the cast. Gillis then pushed back, stating that the clips had been taken out of context and that he was misquoted numerous times in various news articles. He then retracted his initial apology.
Despite the fact that this was a major blow to his career, Gillis continues to perform and win critical acclaim. In 2020, he was named Stand-Up Comedian of the Year at Theinterrobang's Sixth Annual Comedy Awards. Gillis then launched the web series "Gilly and Keeves," which featured a number of notable skits. In 2021, Shane released his first live comedy special, "Shane Gillis: Live in Austin." The special was released free of charge on YouTube, eventually accumulating over 3 million views. It was also well-received by critics and placed second in official rankings on "The Laugh Button."
In 2021, Shane increased his notoriety significantly by appearing on "The Joe Rogan Experience." During his first appearance, he addressed his firing from "SNL," giving his own personal take on the matter. During his second appearance on the podcast, he joined comic Mark Normand and Ari Shaffir and revealed that he had been on tour with Louis CK. These appearances represented a major step forward for Shane, as the "JRE" podcast is watched by hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide. The podcasts themselves proved to be somewhat controversial, with Joe Rogan stating that gay and transgender people are the "most vicious" champions of transgender culture. The host also stated that "SNL" has a history of stealing material from stand-up comedians.
Shane Gillis has been described as having a friendly demeanor, but this demeanor serves to distract the audience while he provides notable social insight and delivers self-deprecating sex jokes.
