Let me preface this article by saying that being a Southerner, I can identify with Shane Gillis and I certainly get & appreciate his humor on some level. I also love dark humor, so almost nothing shocks me. Shane doesn’t even touch the surface of shock value in my opinion, and wouldn’t unless you’re a person who’s spent a lifetime getting participation trophies, looking for safe spaces & making ridiculous woke remarks about things you know nothing about.

I’ve watched 3 fairly-short videos of him, maybe 5 to 8 minutes each, and I watched the February 2024 SNL monologue thereafter. My initial impression of him still stands up after having watched all 4 videos, and I’m giving an objective opinion since I’m not a big fan of his, nor am I one of the woke people who disliked him before even watching him:

A) His style is a lack of style, and it’s working for him. He comes across as somebody who’s not a polished comedian or even has any experience at being on stage, like one of the veterans of amateur night in a southern small-town comedy club right before the strippers come onstage. Seems that a lot of people like that persona, and though I’m not one of those people, it makes him likeable to people who don’t like the typical standup comedian. He’s like a grunge comedian in a room full of hair metal comedians. You’d have to be about 50 to get that reference. I would like him more if he gets a little more polished. I don’t mind the act; he just seems too raw/amateurish in his delivery & mannerisms. He needs more confidence in his delivery & his act in general.

B) I have no problem with any of his material. He can say retard, cracker, gay, whatever, doesn’t rattle me one bit; in fact, I’d like to see him go darker on his material and really embrace being what he is, a straight-shooting southerner who embraces dark humor, as that’s a niche (instead of being like all the other comedians) & he’s successful doing it. The comedians who have ever been super-successful had a niche that no one else was doing. He’s like a darker (and smarter) Larry The Cable Guy. Yes, I know Larry is a fake persona for Dan Whitney & I’ve seen Dan’s standup before he became Larry & it was meh at best. He figured out that being Dan was getting him nowhere, and I’m hoping Shane will turn it up to 10 and be full-on Shane Gillis with no filtering ever.

C) If you don’t like his act, don’t watch it, but don’t try and shut him down & screw it up for those who want to watch it. Besides that, he’s not hurting anybody with his words, and the man has to make a living, and there’s plenty of people who want him to do his act just like it is with no filtering.

D) The quality of his material isn’t real good, but that will get better as he goes along, especially if he doesn’t let the woke comments get to him & he ramps it up. What I’m worried about is Shane becoming the next Andrew Dice Clay & getting run out of business by the woke crowd & letting it get to him like it did the Diceman.

So my thoughts are that he’s about a 6 out of 10, but has a lot of room to grow & get better & he should given time, and the woke crowd can kiss his ass if they don’t like his material. There’s enough people that do like him to keep him onstage indefinitely, and I’ll check back with him at some point in the future myself.