“Saturday Night Live” star Michael Che shared his reaction after the show’s host last weekend, Shane Gillis, sparked a backlash with a joke about women’s clothing in his opening monologue.
Gillis was criticized when he joked that women dress like “whores” at the gym.
“I haven’t been to the gym in so long,” Gillis said on the Oct. 10 episode of “SNL.” “I didn’t know any women just dressed like whores now. Look, I’m sorry. There’s no other way to describe – did you see it? I saw it. The shorts. Did you see the shorts?”
Che appeared on TODAY on October 15 to promote his new Netflix comedy special, “Michael Che: Shot in Minnesota,” out now.
“It’s not a morning special but it’s really fun,” he told TODAY’s Laura Jarrett.
In the interview, Laura also asked Che about his Instagram post from earlier this week referencing Gillis. He wrote: “I have to do more press this week to promote the special. I wonder what all the f—— questions are going to be about. Thanks so much Shane.”
“How do you feel about what happened this week with Shane’s opening monologue? » asked Laura. “You saw the reluctance.”
“It’s comedy. It’s like you think it’s funny and some people don’t think it’s funny,” he responded.
“Did you laugh at what he said?” » asked Laura.
“I was actually at the cue cards, thinking about what I was going to say that was going to piss people off, so I didn’t even see it until the next day,” he responded.
When asked what he thought of the joke when he saw the monologue, Che replied: “Honestly, I didn’t think about it. »
Negative reactions to Gillis’ monologue were swift, receiving criticism on social media and from some celebrities, including comedians Ego Nwodim and Dan Levy.
TODAY.com reached out to Gillis and “Saturday Night Live” for comment on the monologue but did not hear back.
Che told TODAY that some writers see the opening monologue before the show “if you’re not working.”
“There’s so much going on. It’s really hard to see what everyone is doing, especially for me. I’m not what they call ‘good at my job,’ so I don’t pay attention to it,” he said.
“That’s why I’m focusing on updating, because it’s not something I’m natural at, so I really, really have to work at it,” he added. “I have to study it.”
Che was also asked about “SNL’s” joke-swapping tradition, in which he and fellow “Weekend Update” co-host Colin Jost write lines for each other to read aloud for the first time live. Laura pointed out that jokes can be intense.
“That’s why I can’t criticize anyone for swinging and missing, because I definitely swung and missed too,” Che said. “I try to keep this heat out of me.”
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