American conservative political commentator and media host Ben Shapiro recently commended comedian and actor Shane Gillis for his gig at the 2025 ESPY Awards on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. According to The Guardian, the 37-year-old presented his opening monologue as a host in front of a crowd of sports superstars and celebrities at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.On Thursday, July 17, 2025, Ben Shapiro took to YouTube and praised Shane for his ESPY Awards ceremony gig on Wednesday night. Talking about it on his The Ben Shapiro Show, the political commentator said:“I just want to say not all comedic heroes wear cape… Well, somehow, someway, Shane Gillis, who is incredibly politically incorrect, who is willing to go all the way to the edge on his jokes and who, yes, probably has some rather conservative leanings... was hired to be the host over at the ESPYs. And because I just enjoyed the living hell out of this, I wanted to share it with you because it is really great and indicative.”Calling Gillis “one of the most famous comedians” in the country, Ben Shapiro further noted in the video:“By the way, the fact that if you are a comedian who is not of the radical left, people on the left get very angry at you. They won't they won't laugh at you. They kind of leave you hanging. But Shane Gillis just doesn't care. And that's what makes him unbelievably charming, I have to say.”Ben Shapiro jokes Shane Gillis’ ESPY gig might have cost his hiree their “job”On the July 17 episode of The Ben Shapiro Show, the 41-year-old media host discussed the best jokes that were presented by Gillis at the 2025 ESPY Awards on Wednesday night. Calling ESPY a kind of “silly” award show organized by ESPN to give trophies to rich and famous athletes, Ben Shapiro praised the comedian for taking shots at famous people.“Full props to Shane Gillis for doing the thing that nobody at ESPN wanted him to do. And whichever GM decided that Shane Gillis was going to be the host of the ESPY doesn't have a job today. But you know what, sir or madam, hats off to you. Excellent pick. Well done, Shane Gillis.” View this post on Instagram Instagram PostNotably, Ben Shapiro played a video of Gillis taking a jab at the WNBA player Caitlin Clark. The media host noted that this joke was “too edgy for 2025, but perfect for Richard Prior set in 1977” and further commented:“Even the crowd couldn't help but love that one. Wow. Shane Gillis just going there. That of course, is a riff on the fact that the WNBA has basically turned into a hockey game with Caitlin Clark being bullied about by various members of the WNBA contingent, mostly black, supposedly because she's being favored because she's white or something.”Besides Caitlin Clark, as per Billboard, the comedian also joked about Jake Paul, Shedeur Sanders, Aaron Rodgers, Jeffrey Epstein, Brittany Hicks, and more. Meanwhile, according to Marca, Gillis, who starred in the Netflix series Tires, also referenced Donald Trump, Shohei Ohtani, and the late Norm Macdonald during his ESPY monologue.