When will “Saturday Night Live” be the same again? SNL brought in Shane Gillis to host their latest episode alongside musical guest 21 Savage. The duo spun heads at first, starting with “Who is Shane Gillis?” and moving to “Why 21 Savage?”
Shane Gillis’ monologue is what put this show back on track. SNL fired him back in 2019 after comments that he made on his podcast in 2018 regarding race and sexuality resurfaced. After being fired five days after his hire as a cast member, Gillis continued his podcast and career as a comedian, releasing his first comedy special two years later in 2021. With recent success on TikTok and Patreon, he was invited back by his former employer to host the 12th episode of the 49th season on Saturday, Feb. 24.
As most people didn’t even know who he was upon his host announcement, he jokingly told the audience in his opening monologue to not look up his firing in 2019. That was about all Gillis said about being fired, steering away from that controversy rather intelligently. He was actually great with the crowd and pointed out awkward moments when his jokes got few laughs, which then got a kick out of the audience.
Having an actual comedian on the stage to open the show was a smart choice by SNL, especially when that comedian is one they thought was funny enough to be a cast member five years ago. Although he can come off as an immature person who has no real command in life, he’s an artist at crafting and delivering comedy.
This episode almost acted as another tryout for Gillis. He acted in almost every sketch and did an outstanding job. Maybe you have to be a certain type of person to laugh at his humor, but people who already knew who he was were fighting the extremes of each side for him. With a good amount of people in the audience not thrilled by his presence, he was able to pull the lever back and show them that he is funny.
In today’s comedy world, everything is posted to the internet and is seen by anybody whose feed it floats across. This makes for a wider audience and more room for feedback and criticism which many believe has depleted comedy, including SNL, in the recent decade. Gillis slowly built back that connection between the jokes and the audience that SNL has been searching for throughout the years. His sketches, set in a Caribbean church and an HR office training room, helped bridge that gap as he took advantage of who he was when delivering the jokes. We all know that he’s got a frat-bro persona that he knows people probably hate already, but he takes advantage of that in his delivery which, when the audience understands, makes it hilarious.
As for 21 Savage, he performed songs from his new album, including hit “redrum.” The best part of both his performances were the backup singers, ballerinas, orchestra and artistic setting. The combination of 21 Savage and Gillis made for a “Saturday Night Live” episode that may be the start of a trend toward the comedy we’ve all been dying to revive.
PHOTO COURTESY OF NBC
