Comedian Shane Gillis strolled onto the stage at ESPYS 2025 on Wednesday night to make people laugh, yet instead of getting laughter, he received more silence with occasional boos.
The 37-year-old Comedian opened the star-studded event at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles with barbs aimed at top athletes like Caitlin Clark, Shohei Ohtani, Simone Biles, and Megan Rapinoe, but most of the crowd didn’t seem amused. Many of his jokes landed with a thud.
While Gillis drew some chuckles with his roast of Patriots legend Bill Belichick and his girlfriend Jordon Hudson: “A bookie is what Bill Belichick reads to his girlfriend before bedtime,” followed by a fictional title, ‘The Little Engine Who Could But Needed a Pill First,’ the laughs were few.
Minutes later, members of the audience booed from the mezzanine, and Gillis responded with, “lighten up.” When he missed another punchline, he tried to cover it up with, “I didn’t write it.”
Gillis quips the Epstein joke ‘must have deleted itself’
{{/usCountry}}Minutes later, members of the audience booed from the mezzanine, and Gillis responded with, “lighten up.” When he missed another punchline, he tried to cover it up with, “I didn’t write it.”
Gillis quips the Epstein joke ‘must have deleted itself’
{{/usCountry}}Gilis spent several moments impersonating Donald Trump and took a swipe at the much-discussed Jeffrey Epstein files, joking: “Actually, there was supposed to be an Epstein joke here, but it must’ve been deleted. Actually, it probably deleted itself.”
He then shifted his crosshair to WNBA star Caitlin Clark. “When Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she’s going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most: fist-fighting black women,” he quipped.
By the end of his monologue, even Gillis seemed to realise he’d missed the mark. “Well, I see a lot of you don't like me and that's okay,” he said, closing out his set. “That went about as exactly how we all thought it was gonna go, I don't know why this happened.”
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ESPN had announced Gillis as the host of the 33rd ESPY Awards back in June. “I’m excited to be at The ESPYS this year, I like sports, so this should be a good time,” he said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.