Shane Gillis’ monologue at the ESPYS last week received decidedly mixed reviews from those in the sports world. The crowd at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles certainly didn’t know how to react to Gillis’ style of comedy, making for some awkward moments as the standup hit a number of his punchlines.
Fortunately for Gillis, while a lot of the ESPYS crowd might not have received his jokes favorably, one celebrity was wholeheartedly supporting him: Busta Rhymes.
Speaking about his ESPYS monologue on the latest episode of Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, Gillis explained how he frequently looked over at the prolific rapper throughout his performance for positive reinforcement.
“The one person laughing my entire monologue was Busta Rhymes,” Gillis revealed. “And while I was up there I kept, like, looking over to be like, ‘Yes. Yes. Yes.’ I don’t care how badly this is going, just seeing Busta Rhymes like,” Gillis said mimicking Busta Rhymes’ laugh, “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
During the podcast, Gillis also defended a WNBA joke that some found controversial. In his monologue, Gillis said, “4x WNBA All-Star Brittany Hicks is here. Give it up for Brittany, everybody.” The audience, of course, clapped, before Gillis said, “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
“I knew they would clap. I would have clapped. Anybody on earth would clap,” Gillis said on his podcast. The comedian also acknowledged that the same joke likely would’ve worked on other sports leagues. “You could’ve hit ’em with a couple other sports. You could’ve been like, ’10-time All-Star, NHL legend Matt McCusker,’ and they would’ve been like, ‘For sure,'” Gillis said, referring to his co-host.
Merits of that joke aside, Gillis was clearly facing a crowd that wasn’t entirely on board with his set. Except for Busta Rhymes, that is. The two apparently met in Gillis’ green room after the rapper performed. And now, the ESPYS has spawned an unlikely celebrity friendship.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.