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Shane Gillis had a lot of jokes on Wednesday as he hosted the 2025 ESPY Awards inside the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Not everyone was safe from Gillis, who fooled every attendee after claiming his friend's wife was a WNBA All-Star.
During his opening monologue, Gillis introduced four-time WNBA All-Star "Brittany Hicks" to the crowd, who obliged and gave her a round of applause. The comedian then laughed and took a shot at the audience and the league, revealing that it was Matt McCusker's wife, Brittany McCusker.
"Four-time WNBA All-Star Brittany Hicks is here," Gillis said. "Give it up for Brittany, everybody (cheers). I'm just joking around. That's my friend's wife. I knew none of you knew WNBA players (laughs)."
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It was an overall good night for Shane Gillis, who is one of the most popular stand-up comedians in the world today. However, there were some misses, including a Caitlin Clark joke that might have made some people in the audience uncomfortable.
Gillis started by praising Clark's game before a joke about both of them growing up in the Midwest and hitting a bunch of threes growing up. The comedian is from Pennsylvania, for those who don't know.
The "Tires" star followed it up by bringing up Clark and her recent incident with the Connecticut Sun.
"When Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she's going to work at a Waffle House, so she can continue doing what she loves most: fist-fighting Black women," Gillis said.
Clark went viral on Tuesday when she got into it with an official, who surprisingly didn't whistle for a technical foul. The Indiana Fever star suffered a groin injury late in that game and is in danger of missing the 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend.
Shane Gillis takes a shot at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's free-throw merchant allegations
As mentioned above, no one was safe from Shane Gillis' monologue and jokes at the 2025 ESPY Awards. Even reigning NBA MVP and NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander couldn't duck a "free-throw merchant" joke from Gillis.
"SGA is here," Gillis said. "Everybody sitting around him is in foul trouble."
SGA did get the last laugh after being named the 2025 ESPY Awards Best Athlete, Men's Sports. He beat out Josh Allen, Shohei Ohtani and Saquon Barkley for the award. On the women's side, Simone Biles won over A'ja Wilson, Gabby Thomas and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
