Meet Shane Gillis: The controversial comedian behind the hit Netflix comedy sitcom Tires

You might have seen the new Netflix comedy sitcom Tires pop up on your homepage this weekend, which was both directed and stars controversial comedian Shane Gillis in one of the leading roles. Shane funded the show himself, and whilst the first season only has six episodes, Netflix has already approved a second season of the show.

In the Netflix comedy, Shane Gillis plays the role himself in Tires alongside fellow comedians Chris O’Connor, Kilah Fox, and Stavros Halkias and Andrew Schulz making a guest appearance. And whilst Shane has already made a somewhat controversial name for himself in the comedy world, he’s one of the most successful modern day comedians, but who exactly is he? From his previous controversies to his insanely successful podcast, here’s everything you need to know about the comedian.

He was fired from SNL in 2019 after using anti-Asian slurs during his podcast

SNL just fired comedian Shane Gillis over his racist remarks, just days after he was hired.

A video showed Gillis mocking Asian accents + using slurs. It surfaced as SNL hired its 1st full-time Asian cast member, Bowen Yang.

Gillis said it was a failed attempt at risky comedy. pic.twitter.com/cDZYmy1zoT

— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 16, 2019

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Shane got into some hot water in 2019 after he made some “racist” and “homophobic” remarks which led to him being fired as a Saturday Night Live cast member before he even started the job. The comedian was fired just days before the season premiered after a clip of him using anti-Asian slurs on his podcast went viral on Twitter. Shane imitated a Chinese accent by using the word “nooders” instead of noodles as well as saying: “Let the f*cking ch**ks live there” when talking about Chinatown with his co-host Matt McCusker.

A spokesperson for the executive producer of SNL Lorne Michaels told NBC News: “We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as a comedian and his impressive audition for SNL. We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable.”

In a now-deleted tweet, Shane shared his thoughts on the comments he made saying: “Of course, I wanted an opportunity to prove myself on SNL, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction. I respect the decision they made.”

His podcast is one of the most successful on Patreon

 

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A post shared by Shane Gillis (@shanemgillis)

Shane co-hosts a podcast with fellow comedian Matt McCusker and despite controversy, it is currently one of the most popular channels on Patreon. The podcast has almost 90,000 paying subscribers, meaning Shane and Matt are earning $237k to £609k per month on the platform, according to Graphtreon.

He has a successful partnership with Netflix

Via Netflix

Alongside producing and starring in Tires, Shane Gillis has released several successful comedy specials on Netflix, with more in the works. He released his first Netflix comedy special called Beautiful Dogs in 2023, had another sold out Netflix performance earlier in May and has another stand-up special premiering in 2025.

Tires is available on Netflix now – For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes about the sitcom like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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Featured images via Instagram.