Laugh: Shane Gillis - Beautiful Dogs
Gillis solidifies his position as one of the best current stand-up comedians on new Netflix special.
Four years ago, American comedian Shane Gillis’ life was turned upside down. Being selected to join the iconic Saturday Night Live program should have been the biggest moment of his career and setting him on a new trajectory, however before he could even attend a single table read or rehearsal, he was subsequently fired.
With isolated parts of jokes from his iconic Matt & Shane’s Secret Podcast that he hosts with fellow comedian Matt McCusker taken out of context, Gills was removed from the SNL cast. However, rather than being dejected and throwing the towel in, this seemingly only fuelled Gillis’ drive and creativity, soon launching the acclaimed sketch comedy web series Gilly and Keeves alongside writer, producer and comedian John McCkeever (that SNL have subsequently been accused of ripping off).
In September 2021, Gillis released his first comedy special, the awesome Shane Gillis: Live in Austin that put him on people’s radars all around the world, highlighting his likeability, hilarious mannerisms and delivery and commanding stage presence. After relentless touring (including an Australia visit in 2022 that I was lucky enough to catch) and honing his material, Gillis has now readied his second special - Beautiful Dogs, out now on Netflix.
Featuring a lot of material about Australia and the absurdity of a goth with an Aussie accent, Shane works his way through potentially inflammatory material in hilarious, self-aware manner, touching on the ideas of “foreign whites” being more audacious, talking shit about girlfriends heroic exes, the realities of trying to act out porn scenes with a partner and even the idea of furries in the military being the scariest type of soldier, the jokes in Beautiful Dogs constantly keep you on your toes with their twists and turns.
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Some of the funniest material stems from Shane’s well known interest in American history (that he hilariously flags as a warning sign for becoming a Republican if your a white dude in your 20s or 30s getting into history), detailing his experiences visiting George Washington’s plantation.With one of his best known impressions being his beyond spot-on Donald Trump, the special wraps up with some hilarious Trump quips while highlighting his unbeatable debate skills.
Weighing in at 50 minutes, Beautiful Dogs manages to do what many stand-up specials don’t - remain engaging and entertaining from the comfort of your couch and leaves you wanting more, in an age where many specials should probably be half their length.
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