Look…I know Shane Gillis sells out stadiums, has appeared in Super Bowl commercials, and has leveraged his popularity into a popular Netflix comedy series. I know people dig his jokes and all-around “regular guy” vibe and I really can’t speak as to whether his humor is a reflection of his actual values or just an act that he knows appeals to a certain block of the population. He clearly has pretty good timing and presence, but I am simply not buying what he is interested in selling and based on the in-house audience’s reaction to much of the evening’s offerings of sketches, neither were they.
The evening took off on a rocky note from the jump, with a cobbled together cold open that tried to satirize the off-the-rails Oval Office meeting that took place on Friday between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, and others. However, based on the surprise appearance by former cast member Mike Myers as Elon Musk (a character previously played by his “Wayne’s World” co-star Dana Carvey), it was obvious the initial intention was to lampoon the un-elected autocrat’s power over Trump and his administration, but news-of-the-day got in the way.
The only problem was that the terror many felt in the aftermath of Zelenskyy’s treatment at The White House had still not subsided and as we are still in the midst of our government’s upending of societal and global order, trying to laugh at the situation does not exactly come easily. That being said, Myers was the perfect oddball to step into Musk’s shoes and completely nailed the overall discomfort he elicits.
Getting into Gillis’ monologue, like Dave Chappelle and many other stand-ups who’ve hosted over the years the comedian kicked off his second stint by re-hashing some of his regular bits, as well as introducing some new jokes to the Studio 8H crowd. Despite already having a cold open that involved Trump, Gillis immediately launched into his set with a joke about the recently re-inaugurated President. He also took some time to poke fun at Biden, but it was clear even at home that the audience was not interested in being stirred up at the moment and Gillis realized this too, pretty quickly. Even so, he sallied forth, making reference to sexual assault and Bill Cosby, as well as the awkwardness of wondering whether your romantic partner has ever dated a Black person. Gillis tried to treat this as a universal experience, but that didn’t seem to be the case as the light laughter reminded him that New York was “pretty liberal.” By the close of his monologue, Gillis even felt he had to mug to camera with a so-so wave of the hand, registering that his jokes may not have landed quite as well as he thought they would.
Gillis’ sketches weren’t much better, with the first being perhaps one of the funnier offerings for its use of mainstay Heidi Gardner. The set-up sees her and Gillis as a couple at a winery spending the day with Gillis’ parents, played by Andrew Dismukes and Ashley Padilla, but things soon go sideways when Gardner’s ditzy character insists on her boyfriend taking a series of photos of her in front of an orange tree. It’s a situation many have found themselves in or at least witness to and Gardner’s continued escalation of the situation was the perfect parody of today’s vapid culture.
From here, most of the jokes seemed to play to not only Gillis’ own sense of humor, but “Saturday Night Live‘s” own legacy with a certain type of sketch. For a pre-taped bit, Gillis pulled out the infomercial format that dates all the way back to Dan Aykroyd’s “Bass-O-Matic.” But whereas that sketch played on the silliness and forced excitement of salesmanship of the era, Gillis’ “CouplaBeers” takes aim at the epidemic of loneliness and depression in many men of today’s world. The conceit of these problems being fixed by a new drug called CouplaBeers, as well as a supplement called a LilBump may be hilarious to men of Gillis’ ilk and the sketch ultimately does point to the issues substance abuse can lead to, but overall, it felt like a not-so-subtle dig at those with mental health issues. Not something to really laugh about.
Another live sketch that recognized a reality in today’s society, but did more to encourage divisiveness than perhaps mock its continued folly was “Mid-Day News 2.” The scene featured Gillis alongside Gardner again, as well as Kenan Thompson and Ego Nwodim. All four play local news anchors whose continued reporting of crime turns competitive as the list grows between which crimes were committed by white people and which by Black people. There is something very real about how much exists along racial lines in America and that has always been the case, but making light of it as a game played between sides does nothing to fix the issue or change perceptions and what’s worse, it rarely comes across as funny.
“SNL 50” has had a lot of ups-and-downs, even for a show known for them, but Lorne Michaels’ continued platforming and encouragement of Gillis — a comedian who was fired from the show for resurfaced clips of him making ethnic slurs — is one of the more distressing missteps of his career. After two rounds as host of the show, Gillis has proven why he was originally cast on the show, as he knows how to command a stage and fit in with a cast. But it is where his humor is coming from and how that gets amplified whenever he’s presented to a nationwide audience that feels scary rather than hilarious.
