Pad up your funny bones; it’s Shane Gillis. The ham gene, war history, workouts vs. naps, and serious movies with serious actors. There’s nothin’ lake about it… on another tickling episode of SmartLess. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
Chapter 1: What is the key to a successful cold open?
You know what the key is to these cold opens? You just start talking and stuff just tumbles out of the mouth. It's halfway interesting. Go ahead. Will, give it a shot. Just start yammering.
Oh, man. Tax season this year really got me in knots. That's pretty good. Thanks, man.
That's pretty good stuff.
You think that's good? Wait till there's all new SmartLess. Nice. Welcome to SmartLess. Will, where are you? I'm at home now. I know. Why did you switch places? Because I was at my office because they were doing work here. Oh, that's right.
Oh, that's right. Remember the office, Sean? Yeah, that was extraordinary. Yeah, that lasted for just one recording. And now he's away from that work site.
You know, it's so funny. You just have such a funny thing. Don't make me go deep on this. Your thing about work. You think that you go to office. Hey, I'm actor Jay. My new role is work. Again, I grew up, I did everything I could to not do that. Right. You know what I mean? You don't want to sit behind a desk.
Yeah.
Right? That's my dad. I mean, God bless him.
Yeah, but we all sit behind desks during the day. Yes. Right? We did everything.
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Chapter 2: How does Shane Gillis feel about living in Austin?
No, no, no. Let's get to it. Well, he's a great guest, and I was about to get to it, and then I was thinking about you talking about shitting everywhere. But our guest, the only thing, he hasn't shit everywhere. everywhere. This guy has been making everybody laugh. That's another word for it. He's been making people shit themselves. He makes me shit myself laughing. He's so fucking funny.
He's such a great dude. I had the pleasure of kind of getting to know him over the last couple months. He's been very generous as I was going through the process on our film. And he has just been, his specials have been unbelievably well received. He's maybe the biggest touring comic out there. His show, Tires, is about to start second season on June 5th. He's a great writer.
He's an incredible stand-up. He's the funniest dude. Guys, it's Shane Gillis.
Shane Gillis, you're on Smart List.
Good morning. Hello. I love you. This is so cool.
Easy, Sean.
Easy, easy. Yeah, so funny. Hi, Shane.
Hi, Shane.
Hi, Shane. Where do we find you today? Are we at home? I am at home. I'm in Austin, Texas. All right.
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Chapter 3: What’s the story behind Shane Gillis's comedy career?
I don't want to rush a special.
When did you, when did you start? I love, I mean, you've got so much good stuff that you talk about growing up. I love all that stuff about going to Notre Dame games with your family. Yeah, that's my favorite. When you guys get in the van together and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've got such rich and your cousins and your, and your, you know, your family.
You've just got such great rich stuff. When, what was the first moment? This is like the question, like how did you start in comedy? But like, when did you start going like, oh, the stories that I'm telling about my family or the shit that's going on, people are laughing enough that I should go to a club and tell it in front of other people. Like, what was that?
Yeah, I was washing dishes at my friend's restaurant, and I always thought I was funny, and I just had no idea how to get into stand-up. And then one of the cooks was like, I'm going to go to open mic at the Harrisburg Comedy Zone tonight. And I was like, oh, you can just do stand-up? And he was like, yeah. So I went and I watched. And I thought everyone sucked. And I was like, I can do that.
And then I went back every week for like two months just watching. And then I finally got on stage and I fucking bombed. I was like, I don't have to write any material. I'm just funny. I just got up there and couldn't talk. It was crazy how bad it was. Right, right. Yeah. Stopped for a while after that traumatic experience, but I always still wanted to do it.
And then eventually I went back and really applied myself and tried and did it.
And were you studying to do anything else? Was this always the career plan or did this derail something else?
No, it wasn't really great. I was at Westchester University. I remember the first show I ever did. The first time I ever went on the road, it was a hotel outside of Pittsburgh in Mars, Pennsylvania. And it was in like a hotel lobby. And I bombed so badly that the club owner took me aside and was like, what are you doing with your life? And I was like, I'm a college student.
I'm studying to be a history teacher. He was like, why don't you just do that instead of stand-up? I was like, all right, man. I kind of took it to heart.
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