In 'By a Thread' and this interview, the comedian tackles the bizarre fallout from the Rider Cup gaffe that put her in the crosshairs of the manosphere: "Men don't want women in their spaces."

As the comic takes her largest tour to date through the U.S., she's brought her viral characters with her and sharing a bit more of herself than she was once comfortable with.

This week, Robby Soave and Christian Britschgi discuss the federal government's raid of Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C., residence and question the temporary pause of U.S. intelligence support to Ukraine. Next, the boys exchange mishaps—Robby lost his phone, and Christian had a bad experience at a local restaurant—before decrying the Pentagon's idea to livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter. Next, Christian gives a rave review for the new movie Primetime, and Robby shares a positive reaction to Greta Gerwig's first trailer for The Magician's Nephew. Finally, they wrap with some cultural commentary, striving to answer the age-old question of whether or not women dress like "whores" at the gym.

0:00—The politicized raid on Omar

12:40—U.S.-Ukraine dynamics

26:55—Do not lose your phone.

39:10—Christian might leave a two-star restaurant review.

46:00—Livestreaming the Fort Hood shooter's execution was a grotesque idea.

53:20—Christian wholeheartedly recommends Primetime.

1:02:40—Robby enjoyed the trailer for The Magician's Nephew. 

1:10:10—Shane Gillis' Saturday Night Live monologue

The post Ilhan Omar vs. DHS, Russia vs. Ukraine, Shane Gillis vs. Women appeared first on Reason Magazine.

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© Illustration: Fatima Ruiz

Shane Gillis is an actor and comedian. He first came to my attention in September 2019, when he was hired to be a new cast member on Saturday Night Live—and then abruptly fired after it was revealed that he had (gasp) told offensive jokes. (SNL creator Lorne Michaels subsequently said that the network forced him to fire Gillis, and he thought the whole controversy was stupid.)

Since then, Gillis's career has really taken off, to the extent that he has repeatedly returned to SNL as a guest host. He did so again on October 10, delivering a monologue in which he made the following observation: "I haven't been to the gym in so long, I didn't know women just dress like whores now."

Shane Gillis' monologue! pic.twitter.com/ky6fVtWBx9

— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) October 11, 2026

Some people are really mad about that joke, including the actor Dan Levy, who called Gillis a misogynist and implied that this sort of joke was emboldening men to treat women as objects—and to sexually assault them.

"It's complacency that has created the environment in which women are sexually assaulted," said Levy.

He was not the only one to make this claim. On The View, Sara Haines echoed Levy's criticism and said that such language—the word whore in particular—was demeaning.

"I'm not saying a joke makes an assault, but it makes it much easier to look at another human as an object," she said.

This is unpersuasive.

I might understand why people would take offense if Gillis consistently singled out women for unrelenting abuse. When it comes to humor, context is everything, and a harmless joke can come off as mean-spirited if it seems targeted.

But in that very same monologue, Gillis denigrates men, gay men, his sisters, and himself—repeatedly. He admits that he's fat and ugly. That's the basis of the humor. It does not suggest that he has some problem with women or enjoys laughing at their expense and solely their expense. He's doing observational comedy, and no one is spared, not even Gillis. He even makes a joke about how he might unintentionally come off as threatening to women, because he's a big ugly guy.

It would be weird if women wearing skin-tight clothing at the gym was for some reason an off-limits subject for comedians. Why? It's OK to insult men's appearance, but not women's? Is that really the standard? Of course not.

Indeed, it is trivially easy to find examples of liberal-coded comedians (Gillis is one of those right-coded, anti–political correctness, Joe Rogan types), mocking the appearances of specific women. Jimmy Kimmel's recent monologue went after Katie Zacharia, the Trump administration's new press secretary, for her looks. Kimmel insinuated that she's a dumb blonde who was picked just because she's attractive. He even showed a photo of her at the gym, dressed semi-provocatively!

You know how the left is trying to cancel Shane Gillis for his SNL remarks about women at the gym, well, Jimmy Kimmel puts up a picture of Katie Zacharia at the gym, "Oh, wait, just kidding. This is the new press secretary, former Newsmax commentator Katie Zacharia, seen here,… pic.twitter.com/ANYeqhfVev

— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) October 13, 2026

Was Kimmel inviting sexual violence against Zacharia? Of course not. It would be ludicrous to pretend that this joke was somehow out of bounds.

The same goes for Gillis, though.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that Gillis's brand of humor just isn't a good fit for SNL, which has become a show by liberals, for liberals, and aimed at skewering the Trump administration. That's fair enough: Personally, I didn't think the Gillis monologue was particularly funny, though I am well-accustomed to consuming SNL in stone-faced silence. I find about 99 percent of the skits are cringe and humorless. It's not for me.

But I do object to the assertion that a one-off joke about the way women dress is out of bounds. I thought we all agreed that Woke 1 was crazy?

The post The Shane Gillis <i>SNL</i> Backlash Is Really Stupid appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Comedy clubs are begging for taxpayer bailouts, the BBC is censoring classic sketches and Muslim activists are trying to ban John Cleese. British comedy is becoming less funny by the day, says Steven Tucker.

The post The Tragedy of British Comedy appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

First off: This isn’t a Rick Moranis profile. I know you want it to be—we all want it to be—but it’s not. Maybe one day we’ll get the deep, rich look at a man who’s beloved by millions of comedy fans but who also stepped out of the public eye more than 30 years ago. Until then, there’s the fact that Moranis will be part of next year’s Spaceballs sequel, and as such was game enough to show up at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend (where, predictably, Hall H chaos ensued). Anthony Breznican was there, shadowing the proceedings. Read it at ludicrous speed, obviously.

Even in this holding area, Moranis is already getting a sense of the excitement building around him. Among the first people to have their socks knocked off is Clerks and Mallrats filmmaker Kevin Smith, the moderator of the presentation and a Comic-Con stalwart for decades. “I came for the panel because of Rick Moranis,” he tells me, invoking the name of the actor’s beer-swilling duo with Dave Thomas from their SCTV days. “Jay and Silent Bob doesn’t exist without Bob and Doug McKenzie. Having him at Comic-Con is like having geek royalty here. You’re talking about a dude who, for most of us, was there as we grew up. He was part of the fabric of the culture since we were kids.”

What moves the star of Jackass to risk his life for our entertainment? This “very serious investigation” involves interviews with friends and family, a surf trip to Malibu, a gag with a fake raccoon, and a stop at In-N-Out:

He nosed the car into the drive-through line, drawing stares as he nosed—some for the vehicle, some for the driver. Mostly male stares. A teen-age boy stepped up to the passenger window and leaned in to take his order.

“One hamburger with tomato, lettuce, and mustard,” Knoxville said. “Fries, please. And a cup of water.”

“Onion?”

“No, sir.”

The teen-ager squinted. “You look familiar. Are you famous, by any chance?”

“Actually, completely by chance!” Knoxville improvised.