Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson were not spared from Shane Gillis’ opening monologue at the 2025 ESPY Awards.
The comedian, 37, took the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 16, and poked fun at the couple’s 48-year age gap after making a joke about Shohei Ohtani‘s former interpreter’s gambling scandal.
“Shohei is a once in a generation talent. No one has been able to do what he does at so many positions: pitcher, hitter and bookie. A bookie is what Bill Belichick reads to his girlfriend before bed time,” he quipped. “They do, they read The Very Horny Caterpillar, The Little Engine That Could But Needed a Pill Fist and of course the classic Goodnight Boobs.”
After getting a few laughs from the audience, Gillis clarified that he wasn’t “trashing” Belichick.
“First off he’s 73 years old and he’s dating a h0t 24 year old and people are criticizing him. What happened to this country?” Gillis said. “We used to be a great country. He won six Super Bowls. He’s dating a hot 24-year-old. Maybe if you guys won six Super Bowls you wouldn’t be sitting next to a fat ugly dog wife.”
Following a mixed reaction from the crowd, Gillis admitted he should have cut that part of the joke.
Belichick and Hudson weren’t the only targets of Gillis’ speech. The stand-up also came for Aaron Rodgers and his controversial status on the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Aaron Rodgers did not take the vaccine because he thought it would be bad for him and then he joined the New York Jets,” he quipped. “Maybe he wasn’t right about everything.”
After completing his monologue, Gillis poked fun at himself.
“Well I can see a lot of you do not like me and that’s OK,” he teased. “That’s it for me. That went about as well as we all thought it was going to go.”
ESPN announced in June that Gillis — who is currently on an international stand-up comedy tour and has starred on the Netflix series Tires since May 2024 — would be hosting the 2025 awards show for the first time.
“Shane is not only one of the top comedians today but also a huge sports fan, which made him an easy choice to host the ESPYs,” Craig Lazarus, ESPN vice president and ESPYs executive producer, said in a statement at the time. “We are thrilled to work with him to create an entertaining show celebrating this year’s best moments in sports and are excited to see what he’ll do on stage.”
Gillis, for his part, added, “I’m excited to be at the ESPYs this year. I like sports, so this should be a good time.”
Earlier this week, Gillis offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse at his preparations for the hosting gig.
“I’m excited about it,” he said during his Monday, July 14, appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “I’ve still got a lot of work to do. I’ve got to figure it out.”
Gillis also shared how the experience differed from anything he’s done in the past.
“I’ve never done a thing where it’s somebody else writing jokes, and they hired writers and they’re like, ‘Here’s the jokes,’ and they’re, like, self-deprecating for me,” he explained. “So I’ll be at home and I’ll get an email and it’s like, ‘Hey, I’m Shane, I’m hosting the 33rd ESPY Awards, I’m a big, fat dumbass.’ And you’re like, ‘Wait, who wrote this? Which one of you guys wrote that one? I’m not saying that.’”
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