“I see a lot of you don’t like me and that’s okay,” Shane Gillis told the crowd of sports superstars and celebrities at the 2025 ESPY Awards on July 16. Spoken like a true comedian.
Even before the stand-up star’s monologue was over, the internet was awash in shocked posts about his jokes — and the cameras at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles showed plenty of double takes in the audience — but from a pure comedy perspective, Gillis killed way more than he missed, and his onstage moments brought an energy and tension to a production that was filled with many canned acceptance speeches that were oddly free of emotion.
When a joke didn’t land or drew a mixed response — there were some boos in the crowd — Gillis sometimes claimed he hadn’t written it. But given his unapologetic comic style, he might have been tweaking another comic, Jo Koy, who blamed his writers for the many jokes that bombed during his monologue at the 2024 Golden Globes.
Throughout the ceremony, which included performances by Clipse, Busta Rhymes and GELO, Gillis — who hails from Mechanicsburg, Pa.,(about a two-hour drive from Philadelphia), namechecked his favorite NFL team, the Eagles, with, “Go Birds,” and late in the production went all out when comparing the team to the other nominees for the best team ESPY.
“I bet you guys think, as an Eagles fan, I’m going to trash all of the other nominees. Far from it,” Gillis said with his trademark wait-for-it grin. “I think this race is wide open,” he said before comparing the team to the other candidates and one that was not. “One of the nominees for the best team this year is the Dallas Cowboys. No, I’m joking, obviously. Dallas sucks,” he said, uttering the chant usually heard at games between the Eagles and their decades-long rival. “Only real teams are up for best team.”
The Eagles did take home the best team award, as well as the best play and best NFL player honors for running back Saquon Barkley and his mind-blowing reverse hurdle over Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jarrian Jones last season.
Gillis’ boosterism was not lost on the Eagles’ offensive tackle Jordan Mailata, who accepted the best team award and dubbed the comedian the team’s “sixth offensive lineman” — which, if it wasn’t a joke, could have been.
For those who didn’t catch the awards, here are Gillis’ 10 best jokes in descending order. And while the saying goes that if a joke needs to be explained, it’s not funny, background is included for those who don’t follow sports.
