Who Is Shane Gillis? Everything to Know About His Controversial Career — Including His 'SNL' Firing

Shane Gillis continued expanding his career through stand-up comedy, podcasting and television following his 2019 firing from Saturday Night Live.

After being dismissed from SNL before even making his debut as a cast member, the comedian returned to the show as a guest host three times: in February 2024, March 2025 and October 2026. However, his third and most recent appearance sparked renewed backlash over his jokes about women, marking another contentious chapter in his history with the show.

Amid the latest criticism, here's everything to know about Gillis and his often controversial career.

Gillis was born in Mechanicsburg, Penn., on December 11, 1987.

After attending Trinity High School, he was recruited to play football at West Point but left after struggling with the team's demanding workouts. He then transferred to Elon University in North Carolina, where he spent a year practicing with the football team.

After being asked to leave Elon, he returned to his parents' home, attended community college and worked as a dishwasher. He eventually earned a history degree from West Chester University in Pennsylvania, where he began performing stand-up comedy at a local bar.

According to the New Yorker, Gillis worked as a Honda car salesman and taught English in Span before pursuing a career in comedy.

Gillis won the annual Philly's Phunniest Person Competition by Helium Comedy Club in 2016, according to the Philly Voice. The win helped him gain recognition beyond Philadelphia and caught the attention of comedian Dan Soder, who invited Gillis to join him on tour as his opening act.

In a 2019 interview with Decider, Soder defended Gillis, whom he described as "one of [his] best friends."

"My whole opinion is there's too many opinions," he told the outlet. "I think there's people that are very, very funny that sometimes can say the wrong thing or something can get misconstrued. And in the case of Shane Gillis, all of a sudden these people think he's just a racist, mean person. Man, I know that guy better. I guarantee I know him better than you."

Soder added, "And whoever is thinking this, I'm talking about whoever's reading this right now, that's like, 'I know Shane.' I know Shane, and he's a great person. And he made some mistakes and words that he chose, but he's one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life."

While pursuing stand-up comedy, Gillis also became friends with fellow comedian Matt McCusker.

The two eventually decided to launch the "Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast" in 2016, which Gillis' website brands as "the number one Patreon podcast in the world and consistently ranks in the Top 15 on Spotify's US Comedy Charts."

Alongside his career as a stand-up comedian and podcaster, Gillis has pursued acting and appeared in television comedies and sketch shows. He co-created and starred in Gilly and Keeves in 2020 before joining the cast of Peacock's Bupkis in 2023.

In 2024, he starred in Steven Gerben and John McKeever's Netflix workplace comedy, Tires.

Gillis also costars in David O. Russell's upcoming biographical film, Madden, which will hit big screens and Prime Video in November.

Gillis sparked dating rumors with TikTok creator Grace Brassel in July 2024 after they were spotted attending Christian McCaffrey and Olivia Culpo's wedding together.

They subsequently confirmed their relationship in a TikTok video. However, a source told People in November 2025 that they had broken up several months earlier.

The split followed speculation about alleged infidelity as Brassel shared a TikTok clip featuring Lily Allen's song about infidelity, "Madeline." Neither has publicly confirmed the buzz.

On September 12, 2019, SNL named Gillis, Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman as new cast members for Season 45.

However, just four days later, Gillis was fired from the NBC sketch comedy series following backlash over resurfaced recordings in which he used racial and homophobic slurs in some of his past work.

The funnyman's father, Phil Gillis, expressed his disappointment in a statement, saying, "He's worked 10 years at this, and he gets on the doorstep of something most people can only dream about in that kind of work, and now it's been taken away. (Shane) also has a lot of support from professional comedians from all over the U.S., because this is something they have dealt with, too."

Phil added, "Shane will be fine, I'm sure. He just won't be fine on SNL."

Shane also stirred the pot when he delivered his opening monologue at the 2025 ESPY Awards in July 2025.

At the time, he poked fun at several athletes and public figures, including Simone Biles, Shohei Ohtani, Megan Rapinoe, Caitlin Clark, Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson.

"Well, I see a lot of you don't like me and that's okay," Shane told the crowd. "That went about as exactly how we all thought it was gonna go, I don't know why this happened."

Shane once again found himself under scrutiny after his remarks about women sparked fresh controversy during his third SNL hosting appearance on October 10.

In his monologue, he commented on women's gym attire, saying they dressed "like w-----."

"Look, I'm sorry. There's no other way to describe it … Have you seen the shorts? They're like artificial bait-colored. And the wrinkles go, like, all around the cheeks and all combined at the b-------," said Shane.

He continued, "And don't look, You're not allowed to look. For real, don't look because they are filming… I'm in the background of ten Tiktoks right now going like..."

Shane's remarks drew criticism from several celebrities, including Jenna Bush Hager, Kathy Griffin and Maren Morris.

Schitt's Creek co-creator Dan Levy said he was "speechless that something like that can exist on live national television."

"Women wearing short shorts at the gym does not make them w-----. It makes the men calling them w----- misogynists. There's a difference there. By the way, I've seen more men's nipples at the gym than I've ever seen women showing their bodies off," he said.

Dan added, "And to be perfectly honest, more men need to be standing up in opposition to it because it's complacency that has created the environment with which women are sexually assaulted and it's a 'conversation' as opposed to a crime."

He further emphasized that men should take greater responsibility for addressing the objectification of women, arguing that their portrayal in the media can influence how they are perceived and treated by others.

"They are not objects. They are superior human beings to men, OK? And I'm sorry if this gets me in trouble with the internet, but f---," Dan concluded.

Shane has not publicly responded to the intense backlash surrounding his recent monologue.