Shane Gillis returned to Rockefeller Center’s Studio 8H on Saturday, October 10 for his third time hosting “Saturday Night Live.”
As viewers witnessed, one part of the show went wildly off-script when Gillis inadvertently dropped an F-bomb on live television.
Dr. Seuss Sketch
During a sketch spoofing the Dr. Seuss classic “Green Eggs and Ham,” Sam I Am (“SNL” cast member Andrew Dismukes) is pressuring the book’s protagonist (Mikey Day) into sampling some green eggs and ham.
Early in the sketch, the son of Day’s character, played by host Gillis, enters the scene and tells Sam I Am to back off.
“Hey, what the hell is wrong with you? My dad said he doesn’t like them. Walk away,” says Gillis in the sketch.
“Bro, it’s a non-starter. He said he doesn’ [expletive] …” Gillis adds, immediately realizing what he’d done and covering his mouth as he continues the line: “Jeez! — like ’em.”
The sketch then goes on without any further profanity, but Day ad-libs some dialogue that references the accidental F-bomb.
“Zachary’s the one who’s going,” Day says. “I want you out of this house. You’re a loser, and you said a bad word!”
At the end of the sketch, Gillis can be seen mouthing the words, “sorry about earlier.”
‘Sorry About Earlier’
The rest of the episode continued without incident, with no more unexpected profanity taking place.
During the traditional goodnight segment at the end of the show, Gillis gathered with the cast and musical guest Rosalía on the main stage, where he acknowledged his slip of the tongue.
“And sorry about earlier,” Gillis says before thanking the cast and musical guest.
A Unique History with ‘SNL’
Gillis has a somewhat singular relationship with “Saturday Night Live.” Despite being invited to host three times, he was actually hired as a member of the cast back in 2019, but was fired before the season premiere when an old podcast resurfaced in which he used ethnic slurs and homophobic language.
The backlash that ensued led NBC to cut ties with him, and Gillis was axed before the season began.
However, that wasn’t the end of his story. Gillis wound up parlaying the notoriety of his “SNL” firing into an huge online following.
That led to a standup special for Netflix, which garnered such high viewership that he subsequently launched his own Netflix sitcom, “Tires,” which debuted its third season in August 2026.
He was then invited back to host, the first time in the show’s half-century history that a cast member who’d been fired before ever making it on the air had returned to hosted the show — three times, no less. Meanwhile, Gillis’ popularity was cemented even further when he set a Guinness World Record for attendance at a comedy show.
Another Legendary ‘SNL’ F-Bomb
Perhaps the show’s all-time most notorious F-bomb took place during the disastrous 1980-’81 season of “Saturday Night Live,” when the original cast exited along with series creator Lorne Michaels.
During a sketch spoofing the “who shot J.R.” storyline on TV hit “Dallas,” cast member Charles Rocket casually remarked, “I’d like to know who the [expletive] did it.”
There were serious repercussions when NBC executives believed that Rocket’s profanity was not accidental, but purposeful.
Ultimately, that single word resulted in Rocket being fired, “SNL” producer Jean Doumanian ousted, and Michaels eventually returning to put the show back on track.
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‘SNL’ Host Apologizes After Dropping F-Bomb on Live Television: ‘Sorry About Earlier’