Comedian Shane Gillis — who was fired from “Saturday Night Live” in 2019 — returned to host the show Saturday and was featured in a sketch that ribbed former President Donald Trump and also featured a rare “SNL” jab at President Joe Biden.
Gillis portrayed everyday loser Gordon Dwyer in a faux trailer for “White Men Can Trump” that was supposedly made by “Newsmax Studios.”
In the comedy bit, his character “can’t catch a break” and is seen failing at work, at home and on the basketball court with his buddies.
But then Dwyer hits the locker room at the gym and a box falls out of his locker. Upon opening it, he finds a pair of golden Trump sneakers. And once he puts them on, his life makes an about-face toward instant success.
Amusingly, it isn’t that he is suddenly good at basketball, in his love life or at work. Instead, the magical Trump shoes give him the confidence to repeatedly say he is good at all these things, repeating it so much that people begin to believe him whether it is true or not.
Gillis’ character suddenly starts sporting a Trump-like blond hair combover, and even after he misses the basket with his friends on the court, he straightforwardly insists, “I didn’t miss, it went in.” And his friends start to buy the claim, all because of Dwyer’s “winning is a state of mind” attitude.
He explains that the shoes “give me the power to say I’m good at basketball and then double-down on that until people actually start to believe it.”
While the skit comes off as a good-natured jab at Trump’s usual verbal bluster, it ends with a somewhat sharper poke at Biden.
After portraying the GOP presidential candidate as a winner — whether deserved or not — it concludes with another character supposedly wearing Joe Biden sneakers that cause him to fall flat on his face.
White Men Can Trump
from Newsmax Studios pic.twitter.com/VIZSATx4Wj— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) February 25, 2024
The skit comes on the tail of Trump’s surprise appearance at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia this month.
The former president unveiled his “Never Surrender high-tops” at the event. The shoes, which retail for $399 a pair, were billed as “President Trump’s official sneaker” and have American flag logos around the top of a shimmering gold body.
🚨Trump has GOLD Sneakers on stage
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 17, 2024
After Trump unveiled the shoe line, the entire inventory of one thousand pairs sold out in “under two hours,” according to Forbes.
Many were amused by the “SNL” skit.
Laughter is healing. It will eventually be what Unites our country again.
— Craig Chamberlin (@CraigChamberlin) February 25, 2024
There’s a lot going on there. But to say the least, the shoes are driving them crazy. Which is wonderful.
— Rich Hoffman (@overmanwarrior) February 25, 2024
SNL actually put together a genuinely funny segment here.
Just goes to show you can make Trump jokes without needing to go full-blown TDS.
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) February 25, 2024
Gillis was a surprising host for “Saturday Night Live.” He was fired five years ago after cancel culture warriors discovered some race-based jokes and decidedly non-woke comedy bits from his past and raised a fuss about them on social media.
The comedian barely held back in his opening monologue, ribbing the show for firing him and joking that he really doesn’t have any material he can do on live TV even as he went right on reeling off some off-color jokes.
