Shane Gillis’s SNL return might be hypocrisy – but the show has done worse

This month, returns to with his head held high. The comedian and first-time host is less a prodigal son than a prodigal guy-you-met-at-a-party-once – Gillis was infamously hired and then fired by the popular NBC variety show . This was , after offensive jokes involving racial slurs he had made on a podcast the year before . Gillis’s return to the show, as its star for the week (alongside musical guest 21 Savage), represents a considerable eating of – and a smaller, markedly less humble slice of pie for Gillis himself, who once joked that he would shoot himself in the head on live TV were he ever to be invited back.