Name: Shane Gillis Addresses SNL Firing Controversy
Uploaded: 2021-07-21T18:03:34.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Shane Gillis Addresses SNL Firing Controversy' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-07-21. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Shane Gillis Addresses SNL Firing Controversy' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-07-21. Transcript available.

The Joe Rogan Experience
What was your experience like with the whole SNL debacle thing? What was that
like?
It's very very crazy. I don't know. It's tough to...
There's not many people that have you can even talk to about it, you know,
because it fucks you up a little. It makes you like
Not trust people and shit for a while. Like in what way? I don't know. I don't
know how to explain it
It's but the back to the main the experience of it was like
You just it was kind of surreal because I went from I was one of the first
people to get like canceled or however you want to say it
consequences
However, yeah, however you want to say it doesn't matter what we call it. It is
what it's right, but I
Was one of the first people to go from I was doing I was poor. I was not famous
at all
I was poor and then I got canceled immediately like that was my thing like
right
It was a very different experience famous and then yeah, most people that get
canceled or yeah
You got canceled on the way I got canceled immediately. Yeah, they they
literally were like, how about this guy? And everyone was like no
So you got cast on SNL. Yes, and then what happened?
So I found out I was getting on SNL the day before they announced it they got a
call
They're like hey, we want to put you on the cast the whole time. I was
We'll start from the top
My my agents and all those people they were like
You're do you want to audit or do you want to write? Do you want to send a
packet in for SNL? I was like no
I'm not gonna be a writer
I'm never gonna I won't work on that show and then I guess they saw me at JFL
and
Comedy Central thing and they were like we like him we want him to audition he
can come straight in to audition
So I went straight to the main stage for the audition and the whole time
leading up to it
I was like, I'm never I'm never gonna get this I don't care. I want to do stand-up
I kind of hated SNL at that point because every time every sketch was like
You know, you know what it is. Yeah, and then I was like, I'll never fit in
there
And then when we when you go to audition
It's just you just wait your turn in a green room and they keep you there extra
long for like two or three hours
To like make you nervous. Really? But I knew I was certain I was never gonna
get it and I really wasn't nervous
I was in there fucking dipping hanging out
And then they were like, alright, it's your turn to go
But that's when the nerves hit like you walk in and you see the main stage
because that's what you audition on is like the stage
Wow and it's a totally empty studio the whole room is empty except for a table
of like writers and
Producers and Lorne Michaels and then you go on and they're like three two
Go do five minutes Wow in front of just a camera right now you're doing stand-up.
I did stand-up Wow
I did five minutes of stand-up. That's all and then I
Ran into Michael Che that night and I was like I was so nervous
Like I was so nervous when I was auditioning that I had to like hold the mic
against my chin because my hand was fucking shaking
There's no one in the room. You just have to do stand-up for five minutes to no
one. That's so weird
It was so we and then you're not supposed to look at or acknowledge the table
of writers and producers or whatever. Why they have rules?
They have rule they have rules that your agents tell you
They never told you any rules. So your agent says do not look at the writers.
Yeah, they're like don't even acknowledge them
Pretend the rooms full just go and everybody was like they're never gonna laugh
the table Lauren all them
They're not gonna laugh first thing. I said they all started laughing. I was
like
I was supposed to not acknowledge them, but you know, I was doing stand-up. Do
you remember what you said?
No, I don't
Genuinely, you just just did a bit. Yeah, I was just yeah, I was nervous
But as soon as they started laughing, I was like and then went back to you know,
I mean
I was like looking at him I could see they were laughing and you I was told the
whole time no one's gonna laugh
They were laughing. I was like, oh fuck. I did pretty good. Ran into Che that
night. I was like I sucked. I was nervous
He was like now you were that was good then
A couple days later you get a call back and you go into the office and you meet
everybody and you walk around and talk to everybody
And the people I was with that were also doing that then you go into Lorne
Michaels office to meet him
So the three people I was with they all went in
Slowly met him left one guy didn't even get invited in they just sent him home,
which is fucked up
They invited him to the call back and then we're like no never mind Wow and
then
They kept me there for an extra like hour by myself and I was just sitting
there like oh fuck. I got this
Like I'm gonna be on it like this is I can't believe I got this I wasn't even
excited
I was just like this is wild
This is fucking nuts and then I go in to meet with Lorne and he's he's the man.
He's a nice guy
And he was like I'm gonna use you, but I don't know how
They like all that shit and then
Time passes and I figured they were gonna ask me to be a writer
Because that's usually how it goes. Yeah, usually you work on the show to
experience what the show's like
But I don't know. I didn't want to be a writer by all accounts. That place is a
den of fear everybody. Yeah a den of thieves
You hear Jim brewers account of the the climate in that place. Yeah, and it's
horrific. Yeah, they're all stealing from writers
They're stealing from performers if you're a writer and you submit your
packages the the higher-up writers will steal your shit
According to brewer. Yeah, if you submit a package they own that package even
if they don't hire you
I know that so if you have some great premises
They decide they're just gonna take your premises and not hire you they they
own all those bits. Yeah, it's crazy
I mean, yeah, I don't I don't I don't I don't care about writing
I didn't want to be a writer, right? So I was like if even if they offer me the
writing thing
I was like I don't want to take it
I think I would have at the time, but anyway, they they asked me to go straight
to cast
So I was like yeah, I'll definitely do that
Lorne calls says hey, we want to use you on the show
We're gonna announce it tomorrow
He was like do you have anything?
You want us to check out like they have people that vet you right, but they
they're not used to people having podcasts
Right, so they'd have to go through honey would they go through your Facebook
your Instagram your Twitter
I was just like I'll just delete all that shit
I don't care delete it all right, but I was like I also have a podcast and they're
like yeah
What's that and I was like, I don't know I say like gay and retard a lot
They're like oh, that's fine. Don't worry about it
so I was like all right, we'll see and
So the day they announced it it's a it was it was cool. It was very cool
You hear from everybody you've ever grown up with they're all like holy shit
What just like I can't believe you're on this and then so that lasted for about
like three hours before an article came out
That was like here's what this guy says
There's a clip of me saying something
You know unsavory stuff. Yeah, but talking shit. It was it was the one podcast
we ever
filmed
That's the one they used
Wow
And it just happened it and it was funny too because people like man
They really had to dig to find this I was like that's probably like three
minutes in
One podcast online it was three minutes in
Well, it's what we were saying earlier. That's what podcasts are and that's
what comics do a lot. We talk shit
It doesn't mean you really mean those things
But the idea today is that talking shit is not real. They want to take out of
context
Phrases and sentences that you've used and put them in quotes and make you look
like a monster. Yeah
Yeah, for sure
It was only one article that came out. No, there's a good few and so many
articles
I wasn't I think I was number one on Twitter for like three straight days Wow
just getting fucking eviscerate read it all
Yeah, I've read all oh no. Yeah, everybody was like stop reading car. I still
read comments
I read every comment why I don't know oh
It's fucked up and it's crazy too because I'll read like 90 good ones and then
one bad one one bad one will fuck you up
Just depends which one it is right. You know, I'll get called like
You know fat retard constantly. I'll be like yeah, whatever I could walk
through that no problem, but then there'll be one that's like
He's nervous like something something where they get you where they they know
you. Yeah, like he laughs at his own jokes on every podcast
It's like fuck do I shit?
right
anyway, so I get
all that stuff comes out and
It was funny. This is funny. I went into
Lauren's Lauren Michaels office and he was talking and I was convinced I was
getting fired
like I knew I was getting fired
Cuz if they didn't get me on that, there's so much more so much worse and
So he was talking to me and he was like no we think we can
He's like if we just get you to the first episode like people will see you're
not a piece of shit person right just talk
and I was like whatever I'll do
if I just
If I get fired here, whatever, I'll just go do Joe Rogan next week, and I'll be
fine
Anyway, I thought that was funny. No what I was like
I
Know you thought I literally thought that oh, okay. Yeah, I thought it'd be
funny
Well could have been funny. Yeah, I was booked up though. No, it's fine. It was
just funny to truly
That was a conversation. I actually had really in one Michaels office in the
middle of that. That's hilarious
It was I was in pure fucking
terror yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but
Cuz I remember somebody contacted me like to have you on and I was like I don't
have any room like for a long
I could do like an emergency podcast, but I'm like let me let this dude ride
this out. Yeah, and then we'll do one eventually truly
Glad that that did not happen because I would have come in emotional. Yeah,
come in like guns blazing
What happened to me isn't fair
And I never felt that way like the whole time I was like I kind of get it when
someone gets really canceled you need perspective
Yeah, you need you know what? It's like it's like you need that venom to work
its way through your system and then you develop a
Certain amount of immunity to the actual moment. Yeah
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, it was it ended up being a good thing
So when Lauren pulls you in the office and says we just have to get you to the
stage
We just have to get you to an episode then what happens?
It just it just kept it just kept steamrolling like it never it didn't dissipate
at all like it kept being like no
You guys need to fire him and I get it
That's where the fun is yeah
The fun and going after someone is not going after someone and then no
consequences that makes them sad
Yeah, what makes them happy so then get you fired. Yeah
And that's yeah, they did a good job. Yeah, good job. Yeah, and it's fine. Look
the whole gun
Here's why it's fine your sketches that you're doing. What is it Gillian Keeves?
Yeah, those are the best fucking comedy sketches
That are on the internet right now. Thank you. I'm not bullshitting the only
thing that's at the same level is Kyle Dunnigan shit
Kyle Dunnigan the shit he's doing
Because he's got a massive advantage with that face swap though and he's so
good at these impressions. He's amazing
He's have you seen the new thing that Dunnigan is doing? He's the the the
fucking what is it?
He does a Fresh Prince takeoff with Biden. What is it called? Yeah, Fresh
Prince of DC. Yeah, something like that Fresh Prez
Yeah, dude, it's it's tear
Jerking his Bill Maher. Oh my god. It's incredible new rule. Yeah, it just oh
my god
And it's there's something about it that it's almost got like a South Park-esque
quality to it because it looks so fake
But it's obvious. It's like it's like these things like look how bad these look.
Look at the little tiny hand
He holds up for Bill Maher
Like the face swap thing is amazing. It really is amazing because he's like
look at the AOC
Because it looks so fake like you would never believe that that's the real
person. So it's comedic
But it's also
The the material is brilliant and you can get away with so much in someone else's
voice when everybody knows it's not really that person
It's really one of the most genius platforms ever created. Yeah, and he's the
master him and him and Kurt Metzger
Kurt is they're incredible. They're both yeah
It's the best shit. Kurt's like one of my he's one of my favorite comedians
But the shit you're doing is right up there with that. It's really fucking
funny, man
It's really funny
And it's like something you would never be able to do on SNL the stuff you guys
are doing. How are you financing this stuff?
I
Financed half and then we had a production company that financed half
The trump one was amazing the trump speed dating
Yeah, it's john mckeever. He's keeves. He's
Incredible writer direct. He writes all he's added some makes them. He's
They're really good man. Yeah, they're really good damn. I spazzed on that snl
story. No, you didn't at all. How do you spell like?
No, no, no look. It's awkward story. It is
It's always here's what's uncomfortable about it is I don't want to sound like
It's weird for me to rail against cancel culture because I was
A victim of it for lack of a better word. You know what I mean? Why is it weird
for you to rail against? I don't know
I don't know. I just it makes me seems defensive. Yeah
Yeah, I'd rather just be like look if people bring up cancel culture. I'm just
like
Honestly, I really believe it's better for you in the long run. I really do you're
a brilliant comedian
And I think your sketches are incredible and I think it's better that you not
get attached to something that's ultimately corrupting
And I don't want to be on the other side of it where it's like
I'm a free speech guy. I'm a fucking it's like dude. I don't want to be
involved in any of this
I just want to do comedy
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Shane Gillis Addresses SNL Firing Controversy

The Joe Rogan Experience
What was your experience like with the whole SNL debacle thing? What was that
like?
It's very very crazy. I don't know. It's tough to...
There's not many people that have you can even talk to about it, you know,
because it fucks you up a little. It makes you like
Not trust people and shit for a while. Like in what way? I don't know. I don't
know how to explain it
It's but the back to the main the experience of it was like
You just it was kind of surreal because I went from I was one of the first
people to get like canceled or however you want to say it
consequences
However, yeah, however you want to say it doesn't matter what we call it. It is
what it's right, but I
Was one of the first people to go from I was doing I was poor. I was not famous
at all
I was poor and then I got canceled immediately like that was my thing like
right
It was a very different experience famous and then yeah, most people that get
canceled or yeah
You got canceled on the way I got canceled immediately. Yeah, they they
literally were like, how about this guy? And everyone was like no
So you got cast on SNL. Yes, and then what happened?
So I found out I was getting on SNL the day before they announced it they got a
call
They're like hey, we want to put you on the cast the whole time. I was
We'll start from the top
My my agents and all those people they were like
You're do you want to audit or do you want to write? Do you want to send a
packet in for SNL? I was like no
I'm not gonna be a writer
I'm never gonna I won't work on that show and then I guess they saw me at JFL
and
Comedy Central thing and they were like we like him we want him to audition he
can come straight in to audition
So I went straight to the main stage for the audition and the whole time
leading up to it
I was like, I'm never I'm never gonna get this I don't care. I want to do stand-up
I kind of hated SNL at that point because every time every sketch was like
You know, you know what it is. Yeah, and then I was like, I'll never fit in
there
And then when we when you go to audition
It's just you just wait your turn in a green room and they keep you there extra
long for like two or three hours
To like make you nervous. Really? But I knew I was certain I was never gonna
get it and I really wasn't nervous
I was in there fucking dipping hanging out
And then they were like, alright, it's your turn to go
But that's when the nerves hit like you walk in and you see the main stage
because that's what you audition on is like the stage
Wow and it's a totally empty studio the whole room is empty except for a table
of like writers and
Producers and Lorne Michaels and then you go on and they're like three two
Go do five minutes Wow in front of just a camera right now you're doing stand-up.
I did stand-up Wow
I did five minutes of stand-up. That's all and then I
Ran into Michael Che that night and I was like I was so nervous
Like I was so nervous when I was auditioning that I had to like hold the mic
against my chin because my hand was fucking shaking
There's no one in the room. You just have to do stand-up for five minutes to no
one. That's so weird
It was so we and then you're not supposed to look at or acknowledge the table
of writers and producers or whatever. Why they have rules?
They have rule they have rules that your agents tell you
They never told you any rules. So your agent says do not look at the writers.
Yeah, they're like don't even acknowledge them
Pretend the rooms full just go and everybody was like they're never gonna laugh
the table Lauren all them
They're not gonna laugh first thing. I said they all started laughing. I was
like
I was supposed to not acknowledge them, but you know, I was doing stand-up. Do
you remember what you said?
No, I don't
Genuinely, you just just did a bit. Yeah, I was just yeah, I was nervous
But as soon as they started laughing, I was like and then went back to you know,
I mean
I was like looking at him I could see they were laughing and you I was told the
whole time no one's gonna laugh
They were laughing. I was like, oh fuck. I did pretty good. Ran into Che that
night. I was like I sucked. I was nervous
He was like now you were that was good then
A couple days later you get a call back and you go into the office and you meet
everybody and you walk around and talk to everybody
And the people I was with that were also doing that then you go into Lorne
Michaels office to meet him
So the three people I was with they all went in
Slowly met him left one guy didn't even get invited in they just sent him home,
which is fucked up
They invited him to the call back and then we're like no never mind Wow and
then
They kept me there for an extra like hour by myself and I was just sitting
there like oh fuck. I got this
Like I'm gonna be on it like this is I can't believe I got this I wasn't even
excited
I was just like this is wild
This is fucking nuts and then I go in to meet with Lorne and he's he's the man.
He's a nice guy
And he was like I'm gonna use you, but I don't know how
They like all that shit and then
Time passes and I figured they were gonna ask me to be a writer
Because that's usually how it goes. Yeah, usually you work on the show to
experience what the show's like
But I don't know. I didn't want to be a writer by all accounts. That place is a
den of fear everybody. Yeah a den of thieves
You hear Jim brewers account of the the climate in that place. Yeah, and it's
horrific. Yeah, they're all stealing from writers
They're stealing from performers if you're a writer and you submit your
packages the the higher-up writers will steal your shit
According to brewer. Yeah, if you submit a package they own that package even
if they don't hire you
I know that so if you have some great premises
They decide they're just gonna take your premises and not hire you they they
own all those bits. Yeah, it's crazy
I mean, yeah, I don't I don't I don't I don't care about writing
I didn't want to be a writer, right? So I was like if even if they offer me the
writing thing
I was like I don't want to take it
I think I would have at the time, but anyway, they they asked me to go straight
to cast
So I was like yeah, I'll definitely do that
Lorne calls says hey, we want to use you on the show
We're gonna announce it tomorrow
He was like do you have anything?
You want us to check out like they have people that vet you right, but they
they're not used to people having podcasts
Right, so they'd have to go through honey would they go through your Facebook
your Instagram your Twitter
I was just like I'll just delete all that shit
I don't care delete it all right, but I was like I also have a podcast and they're
like yeah
What's that and I was like, I don't know I say like gay and retard a lot
They're like oh, that's fine. Don't worry about it
so I was like all right, we'll see and
So the day they announced it it's a it was it was cool. It was very cool
You hear from everybody you've ever grown up with they're all like holy shit
What just like I can't believe you're on this and then so that lasted for about
like three hours before an article came out
That was like here's what this guy says
There's a clip of me saying something
You know unsavory stuff. Yeah, but talking shit. It was it was the one podcast
we ever
filmed
That's the one they used
Wow
And it just happened it and it was funny too because people like man
They really had to dig to find this I was like that's probably like three
minutes in
One podcast online it was three minutes in
Well, it's what we were saying earlier. That's what podcasts are and that's
what comics do a lot. We talk shit
It doesn't mean you really mean those things
But the idea today is that talking shit is not real. They want to take out of
context
Phrases and sentences that you've used and put them in quotes and make you look
like a monster. Yeah
Yeah, for sure
It was only one article that came out. No, there's a good few and so many
articles
I wasn't I think I was number one on Twitter for like three straight days Wow
just getting fucking eviscerate read it all
Yeah, I've read all oh no. Yeah, everybody was like stop reading car. I still
read comments
I read every comment why I don't know oh
It's fucked up and it's crazy too because I'll read like 90 good ones and then
one bad one one bad one will fuck you up
Just depends which one it is right. You know, I'll get called like
You know fat retard constantly. I'll be like yeah, whatever I could walk
through that no problem, but then there'll be one that's like
He's nervous like something something where they get you where they they know
you. Yeah, like he laughs at his own jokes on every podcast
It's like fuck do I shit?
right
anyway, so I get
all that stuff comes out and
It was funny. This is funny. I went into
Lauren's Lauren Michaels office and he was talking and I was convinced I was
getting fired
like I knew I was getting fired
Cuz if they didn't get me on that, there's so much more so much worse and
So he was talking to me and he was like no we think we can
He's like if we just get you to the first episode like people will see you're
not a piece of shit person right just talk
and I was like whatever I'll do
if I just
If I get fired here, whatever, I'll just go do Joe Rogan next week, and I'll be
fine
Anyway, I thought that was funny. No what I was like
I
Know you thought I literally thought that oh, okay. Yeah, I thought it'd be
funny
Well could have been funny. Yeah, I was booked up though. No, it's fine. It was
just funny to truly
That was a conversation. I actually had really in one Michaels office in the
middle of that. That's hilarious
It was I was in pure fucking
terror yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but
Cuz I remember somebody contacted me like to have you on and I was like I don't
have any room like for a long
I could do like an emergency podcast, but I'm like let me let this dude ride
this out. Yeah, and then we'll do one eventually truly
Glad that that did not happen because I would have come in emotional. Yeah,
come in like guns blazing
What happened to me isn't fair
And I never felt that way like the whole time I was like I kind of get it when
someone gets really canceled you need perspective
Yeah, you need you know what? It's like it's like you need that venom to work
its way through your system and then you develop a
Certain amount of immunity to the actual moment. Yeah
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, it was it ended up being a good thing
So when Lauren pulls you in the office and says we just have to get you to the
stage
We just have to get you to an episode then what happens?
It just it just kept it just kept steamrolling like it never it didn't dissipate
at all like it kept being like no
You guys need to fire him and I get it
That's where the fun is yeah
The fun and going after someone is not going after someone and then no
consequences that makes them sad
Yeah, what makes them happy so then get you fired. Yeah
And that's yeah, they did a good job. Yeah, good job. Yeah, and it's fine. Look
the whole gun
Here's why it's fine your sketches that you're doing. What is it Gillian Keeves?
Yeah, those are the best fucking comedy sketches
That are on the internet right now. Thank you. I'm not bullshitting the only
thing that's at the same level is Kyle Dunnigan shit
Kyle Dunnigan the shit he's doing
Because he's got a massive advantage with that face swap though and he's so
good at these impressions. He's amazing
He's have you seen the new thing that Dunnigan is doing? He's the the the
fucking what is it?
He does a Fresh Prince takeoff with Biden. What is it called? Yeah, Fresh
Prince of DC. Yeah, something like that Fresh Prez
Yeah, dude, it's it's tear
Jerking his Bill Maher. Oh my god. It's incredible new rule. Yeah, it just oh
my god
And it's there's something about it that it's almost got like a South Park-esque
quality to it because it looks so fake
But it's obvious. It's like it's like these things like look how bad the