Patterico's Pontifications

9/18/2019

About Shane Gillis and His Dismissal from SNL

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:57 am



So there’s this fellow Shane Gillis, and unless you have been living under a rock (and if you have been living under rock, do you have an extra room?), you know he was hired as a comedian on the unfunny show Saturday Night Live, and then this tweet happened:

And then he was unhired. Here’s how it’s portrayed at “The Cut”:

Later in the day, however, a clip from Gillis’s podcast, Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, was surfaced on Twitter by freelance writer and comedy reporter Seth Simons. In it, Gillis and co-host Matt McCusker make a series of racist comments about Chinese people and use racist, mocking accents. Early in the first clip, Gillis says, while referring to Chinatown, “Why do the fucking ch*nks live there?”

That is not true, as anyone who actually watches the clip can see. In response to the podcaster musing on how Chinatown started, and saying: “I wonder how that started. They just built one fucked-up lookin’ building and people were like: ‘All right, no one’s said anything…'” and Gillis responds: “‘let the fuckin’ Chinks live there, huh?'” I put Gillis’s quote inside two sets of quotation marks because Gillis is characterizing/quoting what he thinks people were saying when Chinatown in New York was founded, you know, in the 1800s.

Which is not to say that the “humor” in the clip, which is not my style of humor, does not rely on stereotyping Asians. It does. The two repeatedly mock Asian accents. You can’t do that, unless you’re Donald Trump, in which case it’s OK. Or unless you’re Seth MacFarlane, who does this kind of thing routinely on his show Family Guy.

Hey. Maybe the out-of-work Gillis can get himself a job as a writer on Family Guy.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

62 Responses to “About Shane Gillis and His Dismissal from SNL”

  1. Gillis is a hack. He would have fit right in. Cancel culture strikes again!

    Gryph (08c844)

  2. Good point about the inconsistency. And being unfunny, he should’ve fit right in.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  3. I found it more remarkable that it took them 44 seasons to hire an Asian cast member.

    Dave (1bb933)

  4. Yes that show makes you recall the promise of fridays, where julia dreyfus and michael richards were on.

    Narciso (df3ce3)

  5. ‘Comedy reporter’ lol so stupid. AKA sifter of past transgressions.

    Chappelle is right. If they find something they can cancel you with, they will. Although I’m kind of surprised that they went after Gillis NOT because he supports Trump or once made a donation to a verboten cause etc but apparently just because he’s just famous enough to need his Woke bonafides blessed. And I agree Gillis was ‘in character’ for what he thought average Joe would say, very reminiscent of that recent deal with the energy(?) official and anti-semitism.

    Also, Chappelle does a cheap Chinese caricature in his recent Sticks And Stones routine, which is another example of a Cancel Culture Fire Drill except when Hollywood and woke media went after him (for pointing out all sorts of Woke hysteria) everyone said FO. IIRC Chappelle’s recent gig was rated 11% by critics and 99% by audience at RT. It’s moved a bit because they were getting roasted.

    If you haven’t seen Sticks And Stones I highly recommend it. I guarantee you will be offended (what with is up to you) and you will laugh your a** off

    And lol at finding a way to get Trump in there. I knew you wouldn’t let me down.

    harkin (58d012)

  6. This jerk wouldnt know funny if it sat on him:
    https://muckrack.com/seth-simons

    I admit the second bit made no sense.

    Narciso (df3ce3)

  7. Patterico I think you’re missing a key element.

    I see it like this; Comedy can easily be offensive. Any time you put on a comedy show that involves insulting or hurting the feelings of other people you’re making a value judgement about comedic value vs. amnt of offense. I guess SNL figured his comedic value just wasn’t high enough and Seth McFarland’s is.

    So the standard isn’t “You can’t mock Asian people in a tired way with racist tropes.”

    The standard is “If you’re going to mock Asian people in a tired way with racist tropes you better be really successful and/or hilarious.”

    Not saying I agree with the way SNL made the balancing decision in these cases. But it’s their call to make, and it’s my call not to watch.

    Time123 (d1bf33)

  8. You couldnt get a carlin or a pryor or a murphy now (chapelle is testing that point) hannah gadsby just stop it.

    Narciso (df3ce3)

  9. They havent funny for at least a decade, why start now,

    Narciso (df3ce3)

  10. So a show that is not very funny dumps a comic who is not very funny for making a not very funny joke?

    I think the last time I watched SNL, John Belushi was on…

    kishnevi (9ce8ca)

  11. and unless you have been living under a rock (and if you have been living under rock, do you have an extra room?)

    Actually, until you posted this I had never heard of this Gillis person. Unfortunately, the only extra room in my house is filled with extra furniture, books, etc. No room for a person to sleep there….

    kishnevi (9ce8ca)

  12. “and unless you have been living under a rock (and if you have been living under rock, do you have an extra room?)”

    We do have a lovely rock waterfall that runs into the pool and it has a cave the water falls in front of that could nicely accommodate a hammock. Splendid view!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  13. The comedian Jimmy Yang plays a very funny Chinese character on Silicon Valley, complete with a heavy accent which the California-born Yang is spoofing. But naturally Yang joined on the dog-pile on Gillis, so I’ve lost a measure of respect for him.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  14. it’s just garbage, but what’s second city turning out these day, or the groundlings,

    narciso (d1f714)

  15. My favorite part, though, is how all of the lazy intellectuals who earlier this month were so up in arms about Dave Chappelle’s new Netflix special because Chappelle is not on board with the wokedy-woke crybully agenda are now trying to say that the problem with Gillis’s comedy is that it is lazy and “doesn’t challenge or make the listener think.” You know, after criticizing Chappelle because he didn’t stay safely in the progressive bubble.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  16. 9. Narciso (df3ce3) — 9/18/2019 @ 8:55 am

    They havent [been] funny for at least a decade, why start now,

    They haven;t been truly funny sicne their second seaso, but there are occasional funny bits.

    Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71)

  17. Patterico, this can all be distilled down easily in today’s oikophobic ethnocentric culture: everyone is guilty of some kind of statement or action worthy of shaming by this New Elite and their incredibly doctrinaire view of reality.

    Everyone.

    So the New Elite—the New Clerisy?—gets to decide who to overlook, and who to attack.

    It’s more “Nineteen Eighty Four” than “Brave New World.”

    Simon Jester (4f47d7)

  18. Tosh.0 is still on the air.
    Jeselnik is still doing his act.
    South Park is on the air.
    Last CC roast I watched was pretty offensive. (-!:

    If you want to laugh at offensive jokes you have options.

    List is limited to offensive stuff that makes me laugh.

    Time123 (22f35b)

  19. When the Chappelle cancel drones were attacking recently, there was a hilarious article in Vice on what sort of comic people should be watching, Simon Amstell.

    https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/j5y8nd/simon-amstell-set-free-netflix-online-humour-generation

    Prepare to be slayed.

    harkin (58d012)

  20. It is “1984” and the proles still do not know they are proles. Just the first page.

    Not that I am giving myself airs as a member of the Party. I am one of the proles living under a rock, that’s all.

    nk (dbc370)

  21. The Wayans Brothers used to do “Men on Film” movie review skits that I often found hilarious. They made fun of gay men “when I first saw the title [Die Hard], I thought it was a love story”. Totally inappropriate now.
    I think Lorne Michaels whoo once said that comedy always has to “bring the funny”
    Go to YouTube and find Bill Burr video where he comments on black/white culture. Go to sites where black people review Burr’s comedy and react to it. Most find it funny.

    The “comedy” I dislike the most is of the type done by Colbert and Maher. Its not funny.

    steveg (354706)

  22. I kept hearing how hilarious Bill Burr is but I’ve yet to be entertained. He’s not a non-comedian like Trevor Noah or Samantha Bee, he’s just someone whose style just fails to register, like Mindy Kaling or Dane Cook.

    “The Wayans Brothers used to do “Men on Film”

    Great stuff. My sis used to always mimic the way they pronounced ‘Dick Butt-kiss’ on their Super Bowl halftime special.

    harkin (58d012)

  23. note woke enough for snl, but enough for a times fact checker, gina cherelus,

    yes dane cook what’s the point,

    narciso (d1f714)

  24. speaking of getting dismissed. the voters of israel just did that to the racist crook netanhayu!

    lany (0ca2a9)

  25. A NYTimes fact checker who promotes cancel culture just got PWNED.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/RobProvince/status/1174156826650271745

    What’s that German word again…..?

    harkin (8f010c)

  26. Schadenfreude.

    Narciso (df3ce3)

  27. This dudes got a ton of support and will land on his feet. Netflix special? count on it. He will have the last laugh. Cancel culture sucks.

    JRH (52aed3)

  28. “I kept hearing how hilarious Bill Burr is but I’ve yet to be entertained.“

    I agree. I watched about 20 minutes of the Netflix thing and while there were a few chuckles, there weren’t enough to sustain my interest. On the other hand, Chappelle had me laughing hard.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  29. Network televsion community vs. film community; standards & practices, etc.

    The cast’s the thing at SNL and lots have been fired over the decades for a variety of reasons. The old adage at SNL is ‘anybody can host’– Steve Forbes… Donald Trump, John McCain… Edwin Newman [a personal favorite] and the famed Miskell Spillman, who hosted the one and only ‘anyone can host’ show. Some are asked back; others, not. ‘Hosts’ do get banned from SNL, too:

    https://www.ranker.com/list/-banned-snl-hosts/best-of-snl

    Sketch comedy can be uneven- and that’s the burden the writers must carry- but as SNL moves into their 45th season on the NBC television network, it clearly remains profitable. And when one starts to find it consistently unfunny, it’s likely you’ve aged out of their target audience. You won’t see the sort of ads that run during network newscasts on SNL- unless they’re parodies.

    ‘South Park’ isn’t exactly Shakespeare, either- but their 23rd season on air is about to begin. And ‘The Simpsons’ doesn’t exactly promote wholesome ‘family values’ either– but it’s Murdoch’s “Red Network” which profits most from the MacFarlane shtick: Fox.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  30. After its first few seasons, SNL couldn’t hold SCTV’s jock.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  31. South Park is better than 98% of what’s out there. You get the odd weak episode but they manage to keep it funny by not giving a rat’s a** who they take on.

    Plus this crazy messed-up world keeps giving them fresh material and I guess they still can produce an episode in two weeks to deal with recent idiocy.

    harkin (8f010c)

  32. rip sander vanocur,

    narciso (d1f714)

  33. Other people who get away with this stuff: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

    https://time.com/5680759/justin-trudeau-brownface-photo

    Kevin M (19357e)

  34. After its first few seasons, SNL couldn’t hold SCTV’s jock.

    Never said by Brett Kavanaugh at any time. Ever.

    Kevin M (19357e)

  35. I do feed pigeons sometimes, so here goes: Israeli general elections are like Tennessee Republican primaries e.g
    conservative v. mo’ conservative. Worst case is an Israeli Duterte.

    urbanleftbehind (2641dd)

  36. Bill Burr comes across as forced whiteguy, like Santorum or that tool from the other thread reverse-cooning on CNN.

    urbanleftbehind (2641dd)

  37. I kept hearing how hilarious Bill Burr is but I’ve yet to be entertained. He’s not a non-comedian like Trevor Noah or Samantha Bee, he’s just someone whose style just fails to register, like Mindy Kaling or Dane Cook.

    I think he’s hilarious.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  38. The problem with SNL isn’t that they fired someone, its that they didn’t fire EVERYONE. Starting with out-of-touch old man Lorne Michaels. SNL for the last 10 years has been truly, amazingly horrible. You have to go all the way back to the 1990’s to find anything truly funny or someone truly talented. The 1980’s were bad for SNL, but the last 20 years have been awful. But since NBC makes $$$ off the show – no matter what – it won’t change.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  39. I find very few stand up comics funny. I’ve been dragged to too many “Comedy Shows” where some funny man gets up and everyone (Mostly all drunk/high) scream with laughter as the Comic talks sex, drugs, and men vs. women. With of course, plenty of profanity, which causes the audience to scream with even laughter. Someone said beep or beep or even beep-beep. Cut to tears coming down cheeks. Or talks about Whites vs blacks. If Black, the N word – will again cause howls of laughter.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  40. Family guy should hire Shane.
    LOL when i listen to Bill Burr. Been along time since a comic has made me LOL.

    mg (8cbc69)

  41. “NL for the last 10 years has been truly, amazingly horrible.”
    “But since NBC makes $$$ off the show ”

    Why do you hate capitalism?

    Davethulhu (fe4242)

  42. Its a more selective audience, i camt ascertain how good his material is, but you lookat what the punk celebratesn

    Narciso (68a66e)

  43. I think he’s hilarious“

    I admit the sample size is small. When the libs were attempting to cancel Chappelle there were more than a few comments that both Chappelle and Burr were really bringing and it I hadn’t even heard of him. So I went to A few clips of Burr and after about 4 or 5 minutes I switched each off cause all I saw was emotion over content.

    Maybe you can provide a link or two where he’s not just ranting about how crazy something is without injecting humor.

    And do you like Chappelle?

    harkin (dc1411)

  44. I see much more consistent funny on Twitter than I do on most comedy routines:

    The Daily Beast
    @thedailybeast
    Third instance of Justin Trudeau in face-darkening makeup surfaces
    __ _

    Michael A. Lewis
    @MichaelALewis73
    ·
    Replying to
    @thedailybeast
    Blackface, the word you were looking for is Blackface.

    _

    harkin (dc1411)

  45. Doug Powers
    @ThePowersThatBe
    “Third instance of Justin Trudeau’s spray tan machine malfunctioning surfaces.” #Journalism
    __ _

    mattjeh
    @mattjeh
    “Third instance of Justin Trudeau’s history of working as a chimney sweep surfaces.” #Journalism
    __ _

    I Hate The Media 🇺🇸
    @ihatethemedia
    Brown man bad….

    _

    harkin (58d012)

  46. I’m tuning in but only if they do it as a cell phone commercial.

    harkin (58d012)

  47. Downwind of that article, another linked article shows Middleditch rightfully calling the Aziz Ansari let-down-easy-beej uproar a bunch of b.s. . Just goes to show you these youngins’ are as depraved as CK and Maron.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  48. This comedy routine is better than anything I’ve seen on SNL since ‘more cowbell!’ (disclaimer: I only know about more cowbell from the Internet response, not because I’m a regular viewer).

    https://mobile.twitter.com/hiitaylorblake/status/1174051319046389760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1174051319046389760&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Falthouse.blogspot.com%2F

    harkin (58d012)

  49. Now the wquestion some people miht e asking:

    Why “brownface?”

    well, maybe you could that in Canada, it’s brownface.

    Or maybe that’s because he was not playing anyone of African descent (and, when you get to it, his character really shouldn’t have had dark brown skin.)

    He dressed up as Aladdin back in 2001, when he was a teacher at a private school (the West Point Gey Academy in Vancouver, British Columbia. This was during an “Arabian Night’s gala, and he also wore a white turban and white, Arab-style robes. And a picture was taken and this was put a yearbook.

    But now it ha been published in TIME Magazine, and, susequently, in many newspapers.

    When this came out, Justin Trudeau added that, while in high school, for a tslent show. he had dressed up in what I gies you coild call blackface to sing “Day-O’ (also known as the Banana Boat song, made famous by Harry Belafonte in 1956 and also in the movie “Beetle Juice” in 1987, whc=ich is about a year or so before that talent show took place.

    Sammy Finkelman (2e9ec5)

  50. That should be “West Point GREY Academy”, Sammy! I thought it was bad enough Lane Tech kids of the generation after nk’s would call neighboring Gordon Tech “G_y Tech”.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  51. Trump has withdrawn the nomination of his nominee to head FEMA because of charges about him getting into a fight that the FBI says are unsupported. (or unsubstantiated)

    Or wss there something else coming?

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/us/politics/trump-fema-nominee-pulled.html

    Sammy Finkelman (2e9ec5)

  52. 53. I know. It’s one of my typos. But it’s Grey with an “e”

    I also didn’t close parenthesis – twice!

    (The close parenthesis shoud be after “British Columbia” and after “1956”

    And I left out the letter “b” in “subseqently.” And the “s’ in “has” An

    And I left out the word “in” before “a yearbook.”

    And talent is “tslent” the frst time.

    And I spelled, or typed, “guess” as “gies” and “could” as “coild”

    And hit the equal sign instead of the backspace in “which” so it came out “whc=ich”

    and, at the beginning, “question” has a “w” before the “q” and I have “miht e asking” instead of “might be asking”

    And “well” at the start of a sentence should be capitalized. And the word “say” should be between “could” and “that”
    I see all this after I send it.

    Sammy Finkelman (2e9ec5)

  53. David Burge
    @iowahawkblog
    I predict, by the end of the day, this will become a “teaching moment” requiring mandatory sensitivity training for all Canadians, with the exception of Justin Trudeau
    __ _

    TheCanadianRealist
    @TheCDNrealist
    Replying to
    @iowahawkblog
    Don’t worry, the media conglomerates he gave a $600 Million bailout to and the State Funded Broadcaster that he wants to increase funding to will surely be as hard on him as they would a Conservative.

    ..

    harkin (58d012)

  54. What is it about progressives that pushes them toward costume enthusiasm and skin color change?

    Colonel Haiku (796ffc)

  55. 40… I was lucky enough to see Robin Williams (at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach in ‘77) do stand-up right before he hit it big. He was sooo funny. Richard Lewis was funny… Richard Belzer was very funny in the early 80s.

    The last comedian I saw live was Bill Hicks (RIP… he opened for Devo at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano) in December of ‘88. That guy was seriously twisted, but had you laughing despite his outrageousness.

    I like the “clean” comedians more than the foul-mouthed.

    Colonel Haiku (796ffc)

  56. And Jim Breuer is very funny… and clean.

    Colonel Haiku (796ffc)

  57. oh yes, he was very dark, but pretty good,

    https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/shane-gillis-trump-funniest-president-see-get-shot-first-stand-up-after-snl-axing

    they might hire him back now,

    narciso (d1f714)

  58. Gillis was supposedly the guy SNL hired because they thought he’d connect with conservatives.

    And he would… with a certain strain.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)


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