Not all comedic heroes wear capes.

Shane Gillis — who was on SNL and canceled on SNL before he ever did an episode, then was rehabbed because we now live in the post-cancel culture era — has become one of the most famous comedians in the country. 

Somehow, some way, Shane Gillis, who is incredibly politically incorrect, who is willing to go all the way to the edge on his jokes, and who probably has some rather conservative leanings, was hired to be the host at the ESPYs.

I just enjoyed the living hell out of this, and I wanted to share it with you because it is really funny and indicative of the fact that if you are a comedian who is not of the radical Left, people on the Left get very angry at you.

They won’t laugh at you. They leave you hanging. 

But Shane Gillis simply doesn’t care, and that’s what makes him unbelievably charming.

The ESPYs are typically an exercise in pandering. Because ESPN is a left-wing network, they go out of their way to play into left-wing social tropes. 

Shane Gillis didn’t do that. Instead, he started taking shots, and a bunch of people caught strays. 

Gillis on 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.”

That was a riff on the fact that the WNBA turns into a hockey game when Caitlin Clark plays because she’s bullied by various members of the WNBA contingent, who are mostly black, supposedly because she’s being favored by the league for being white.

Even the ESPY crowd couldn’t help but love that joke.

That wasn’t even his best WNBA joke of the night. The next one was an all-timer: “Four-time WNBA All-Star Brittany Hicks is here. Give it up for Brittney, everybody,” which was followed by tepid applause. “I’m joking around. That’s my friend’s wife. I knew none of you knew WNBA players.”

ESPN, of course, has a pretty large stake in the WNBA doing well. Thus, Gillis taking an enormous dump on the entire league is pretty spectacular stuff. 

He also launched a really good immigration joke as well: “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, and Donald Trump wanted me to be here to capture Juan Soto for the same reason. It’s an alien joke. Who booed up there? Shut up.”

What was funny about this is that people seemed a little bit uptight about it. That’s not even a right-wing joke. It’s not clear where his sympathies lay in that joke, but people are just so used to left-wing humor that the fact that the joke was not a left-wing joke left them absolutely puzzled.

Gillis also did a January 6 joke and an Epstein joke. He said, “Donald Trump wants to stage a UFC fight on the White House lawn. The last time he staged a fight in D.C., Mike Pence almost died. You don’t have to do that … I didn’t write it. Actually, there was supposed to be an Epstein joke here, but I guess it got deleted. Probably deleted itself, right? Probably never existed, actually. Let’s move on as a country and ignore that.”

It’s worth checking out his full set. He did end with a fitting tribute to Norm Macdonald, who told an O.J. Simpson joke at the ESPYs long ago that basically got him canceled from ESPN.

“There’s one thing I want to say before I get out of here, and this is a dumb joke,” Gillis said. “You guys aren’t gonna like it, but it was just a Norm MacDonald joke that I loved when he hosted the ESPYs, and I’m gonna do it now: ‘Travis Hunter won the Heisman Trophy this year. 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.’”

Full props to Shane Gillis for doing the thing that nobody at ESPN wanted him to do.

Whichever general manager decided that Shane Gillis was going to be the host of the ESPYs doesn’t have a job today, but you know what, sir or madam, hats off to you. 

Excellent. Well done, Shane Gillis.

WASHINGTON — White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt celebrated news Thursday that multiple hospitals have halted their transgender procedures for children, telling reporters that President Donald Trump “wants to protect the innocence of children.”

Leavitt highlighted news that the largest provider of so-called “gender-affirming care,” the Center for Trans Youth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, is closing in response to the Trump administration’s promise to cut federal funding for institutions that are transitioning children.

That program is one of a number that are shutting down or halting the irreversible treatments for children — Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center “paused” puberty blocker and hormone replacement therapy for children, according to policy documents covered by a local outlet.

Asked by The Daily Wire during the White House press briefing on Thursday if the nation should expect to see more closures, Leavitt responded: “The president spoke a lot about this issue, which is a political issue, but also really a cultural issue that impacts children and families. He talked about it a lot on the campaign, and I think he was quite surprised by the uptick we were seeing in the embracement by the Democrat Party when it comes to the chemical castration and mutilation of young, innocent bodies.”

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 17: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt calls on reporters during a press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on July 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“The president made it a very early priority to sign very strong executive orders to cut off the funding for any hospital or any medical facility in this country that provides such barbaric procedures,” Leavitt stressed. “And, as a result of that strong policy and the president’s strong common sense position on this issue, we’ve had such an overwhelming response, which is great for children …”

The White House press secretary then listed off a number of these hospitals that have halted their transgender programs for children.

“Phoenix Children’s Hospital has stopped providing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to minors,” she said. “In California, Stanford Medicine ended sex change surgeries for minors. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is closing its center for Trans Youth Health and Development surgical program. In Illinois, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago stopped sex change surgeries.”

“Again, let’s think about what we’re talking about here,” Leavitt told the assembled reporters. “Sex change surgeries for minors. These are barbaric practices that no children, no child, innocent child should have to endure.”

“The president wants to protect the innocence of children, and I know the vast majority of Americans support him in that effort,” she added. “This is a wildly popular and common sense endeavor this administration has taken, and we’ve seen many of these medical institutions have followed through with the president’s executive orders, but we’ll continue to take further action on this important issue.”

President Trump’s bold executive actions are protecting American children from irreversible chemical and surgical mutilation and the facilities that offer these barbaric services are shutting down as a result.

Thanks to President Trump, gender ideology insanity is over. pic.twitter.com/ZvXALDaQae

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) July 17, 2025

In an X post following the briefing, Leavitt again celebrated the news, tweeting: “President Trump’s bold executive actions are protecting American children from irreversible chemical and surgical mutilation and the facilities that offer these barbaric services are shutting down as a result.”

“Thanks to President Trump,” she added, “gender ideology insanity is over.”