Award shows are boring for 99 percent of us. That’s why they hire comedians to make the night at least a bit enjoyable. No one wants to hear the musing of a linebacker or baseball player accepting an award. They’re athletes, not talkers. And Gillis didn’t fail to deliver. He joked about immigration, the WNBA, Trump and even pranked the audience by getting them to clap for his friend’s wife.

Here are his best five jokes:

5. “Shedeur Sanders had his jersey number retired at Colorado this year. People are saying it’s because of nepotism, because of his father. And it’s not, it’s because he went 13-12 over his career, and he almost won the Alamo Bowl.”

The jokes Shane Gillis made about Shedeur Sanders and Caitlin Clark at the ESPYs was solid gold pic.twitter.com/iwbOeFJweI

— Garrett Savage (@GarrettWSavage) July 17, 2025

4. “Joe Rogan wanted me to be here to host this award show so that I could capture Adam Silver because Joe thinks he’s an alien. Donald Trump wanted me to be here to capture Juan Soto for the same reason."

Shane Gillis NEVER hosting the ESPYs again OMG

“Joe Rogan wanted me to be here to host this award show so that I could capture Adam Silver because Joe thinks he's an alien…Donald Trump wanted me to be here to capture Juan Soto for the same reason."

pic.twitter.com/VW3bR2PcGp

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— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) July 17, 2025

3. “Donald Trump wants to stage a UFC fight on the White House lawn. The last time he staged a fight in D.C., Mike Pence almost died. Actually, there was supposed to be an Epstein joke here, but I guess it got deleted.”

Comedian Shane Gillis calls January 6th ‘staged’ and makes a Jeffery Epstein murder joke that has crowd ROARING at the ESPYS.

We control culture now. pic.twitter.com/8pwsYB7JAd

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 17, 2025

2. “Four-time WNBA All-Star Brittany Hicks is here. Give it up for Brittany, everybody. I’m just joking around; that’s my friend’s wife, I knew none of you knew WNBA players.”

Shane Gillis tricked the ESPYS crowd into believing his friend’s wife was a WNBA star

“4x WNBA All-Star Brittany Hicks is here. Give it up for Brittany, everybody. I'm just joking around; that's my friend's wife, I knew none of you knew WNBA players.” pic.twitter.com/uC5Ta7v7u1

— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) July 17, 2025

1. “There are no after-parties. You guys pigged out on the after-parties, and now we’re not allowed to have them anymore.”

Shane Gillis with the “Diddy Party” reference LMAOOOOOO

"There are no after parties….You guys pigged out on the after parties and now we're not allowed to have them anymore"

pic.twitter.com/PGgLr1mzFi

— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) July 17, 2025