Right-Wing Male Comedians Are Getting Absolutely Roasted With Hilariously Spot-On Parodies Of Their Jokes

When Shane Gillis returned to host Saturday Night Live for the third time earlier this month, he probably wasn't expecting his opening monologue to ignite quite this much backlash. Then again, given his history with the show, perhaps the bigger surprise is that anyone expected things to go smoothly.

This time, Gillis returned to familiar territory, making women the target of his comedy with a misogynistic take on their gym attire that reportedly earned few laughs from the studio audience.

But Schitt's Creek star Dan Levy wasn't about to let Gillis' remarks go unchallenged, delivering a blistering response to the comedian.

CNN captured Gillis' remarks and Levy's response:

Gillis' joke may have fallen flat, but Levy's response certainly didn't, drawing well over 1.4 million likes.

It's worth remembering that Gillis' first stint with SNL ended before it even began. In 2019, the show fired him after racist and homophobic remarks from his past podcast appearances resurfaced.

Among those who disagreed with the decision was SNL creator Lorne Michaels, who later reflected on the firing:

“He said something stupid, but it got blown up into the end of the world. I was angry. I thought, ‘You haven’t seen what we’re going to do, and what I’m going to try to bring out in him, because I thought he was the real thing.'”

Michaels hasn't publicly weighed in on Gillis' latest controversy. But as the longtime architect of SNL, his past defense of the comedian raises questions about the culture he's helped cultivate—and what the show is willing to excuse in the name of comedy.

Gillis is hardly the first controversial figure welcomed onto the SNL stage. Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Louis C.K., and Dave Chappelle have all hosted the show despite facing criticism of their own.

Meanwhile, two women who know the SNL stage firsthand weren't about to let Gillis have the last laugh. Former cast members Cecily Strong and Ego Nwodim turned his gym-clothes commentary into material of their own.

With a picture of her Pilates fit of leggings and colorful socks, Cecily captioned her InstaStory:

“On my way to Pilates in my new slutty ass orange shoes and rainbow socks. Might sell sex on the way not sure. PS there was gang rape at Cornell that maybe won’t count because the NY law says if you consent to drinking you consent to all that happens to you…”

Strong's sarcasm carried a much darker point about the treatment of women, sexual violence, and institutional accountability. Her reference was to allegations that a student was sexually assaulted by seven fraternity members at Cornell University in 2024, a case that has raised questions about the university's handling of sexual assault complaints.

Against that backdrop, Gillis' decision to ridicule women's workout clothes looks even more out of touch with the conversation surrounding women's safety and sexual violence.

And Strong wasn't alone in pushing back. Fellow former SNL cast member Ego Nwodim took a more playful approach, posting a gym selfie that made Gillis' insult the joke.

Nwodim's Instagram post delivered the comeback:

Beyond the SNL alumni, the backlash inspired a wave of satire aimed at the familiar routines of right-wing male comedians.

Social media user Madelaine Hanson got the ball rolling with a simple challenge:

The responses quickly turned familiar comedy tropes into the punchlines, mocking everything from jokes about women's bodies to complaints about political correctness.

Here's how social media responded:

Back at SNL, the response was divided. Kenan Thompson appeared more concerned that the controversy had overshadowed the episode's positive moments, though he suggested Gillis could benefit from a conversation about his material.

Here's Thompson's take on the situation:

Former cast member Dana Carvey defended Gillis' monologue as comedy, while David Spade observed that jokes tend to attract more criticism when they fail to get laughs.

Carvey questioned the uproar surrounding Gillis' material:

"I just didn’t understand the kerfuffle only because, to me, I just saw it as what we call — I’ll just say it — a joke."

While comedians and SNL veterans debate whether Gillis' remarks crossed a line, social media users have found a much funnier way to respond. By perfectly imitating the same recycled routines about women, masculinity, and political grievances, they've turned right-wing male comedy into the very thing it claims to do best—a punchline.