Comedian Shane Gillis spared no one in his ESPY Awards opening monologue on Wednesday night, roasting everyone from Caitlin Clark to Aaron Rodgers to President Donald Trump to Mets star Juan Soto — and everyone in between.
The star of the Netflix show “Tires” drew some laughs — and boos — in his introduction that ended with an homage to the late comedian Norm Macdonald, who hosted the awards show in 1998.
In the same vein as Macdonald, Gillis kicked off his own hosting duties with a biting monologue.
Gillis’ jokes spanned across a wide variety of topics and at times made the usually buttoned-up crowd uncomfortable — even drawing jeers from the balcony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
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His joke about University of North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick and girlfriend Jordon Hudson seemed to land the best with the crowd.
After making a bookie joke about Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, he pivoted to Belichick.
“A bookie is what Bill Belichick reads to his girlfriend before bedtime,” Gillis said on stage. “They read, ‘Very horny caterpillar.’ ‘The Little Engine That Could But Needed A Pill First’ and of course, the classic, ‘Good Night Boobs.’”
However, other jokes seemed to divide the audience.
“Joe Rogan actually wanted me to be here to host this award show so that I could capture Adam Silver because Joe thinks he’s an alien,” Gillis joked at one point. “And Donald Trump wanted me to be here to capture Juan Soto for the same reason.”
One person from the upper level of the venue audibly booed the joke.
Jokes about WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark also were met with some hesitation, saying that he and the Fever sensation are similar because they’re “both whites from the Midwest who have nailed a bunch of 3s.”
“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 continued.
And he poked fun at Aaron Rodgers’ tenure with the Jets and the future Pro Football Hall of Famer’s reluctance to get vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Aaron Rodgers did not take the vaccine because he predicted that it would be bad for him and then he joined the New York Jets. So maybe he wasn’t right about everything,” he said.
Gillis ended his monologue by referencing an old Macdonald joke that he used when he hosted the ESPYs — taking aim at O.J. Simpson.
Gillis reworked the joke to fit into 2025.
“Travis Hunter won the Heisman Trophy this year,” he started off. ”He’s the first defensive player since Charles Woodson to win the Heisman. Congratulations, Travis Hunter, winning the Heisman, that’s something they can never take away from you. Unless you kill your wife and a waiter, in which case, they can take that away from you.”
Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/16/sports/shane-gillis-savage-espys-monologue-took-aim-at-everyone/