Every school has its token celebrity (think — UT Austin and Matthew McConaughey).
Because Notre Dame is such a national brand, we have no shortage of public figures who resonate with our culture. By now, I hope everyone has seen that picture of Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez repping ND visors … That being said, a lot of our most famous supporters have aged out of the public relations duties formerly expected of them and deserve to enjoy Notre Dame football from home, if they so choose (Dick Vitale and the late Regis Philbin come to mind).
One of Notre Dame’s many perks for alumni and students is its name recognition. Interestingly, as the school becomes more selective (and expensive) every year, we are producing fewer alumni. In turn, the ratio of Notre Dame alumni to the broader fanbase is mismatched. So, who is maintaining Notre Dame’s prominent reputation regarding both academics and athletics, who is preserving our traditions and most importantly, who has proudly elected to live up to love thee as much as we do?
In comes Shane Gillis. Notre Dame’s most outspoken (literally, he’s a comedian for a living) non-alumni celebrity fan. In his recent set opening the Zach Bryan concert, Gillis fondly recalled visiting campus as a child with his father. His sentiment regarding those visits felt genuine. Although sandwiched between his dad passing out from drunkenness and adolescent boy angst, Notre Dame higher-ups and students alike should feel comforted by his palpable love for Our Lady’s University.
Yet, unsurprisingly, the reviews were all over the place. As with any comedian on the scene these days, we tend to consume only the brand of humor that matches our sensibilities exactly, which I would argue goes against the entire point of comedy, but I digress. Nevertheless, Gillis is a very particular genre of funny, the kind that I have endearingly labeled “dad bod humor.” And no, I will not be elaborating further.
For the sake of my review and to protect everyone else’s bias besides my own (you chose to read this extremely opinionated piece), I decided to leave my interviewees anonymous. As I was reflecting on my concert experience from my office in Duncan Student Center, I forced participation upon two separate undergraduate students. Both came with mixed feelings surrounding Gillis’s inclusion in the Zach Bryan concert extravaganza.
Student one remarked: “I definitely found it funny, but I spent most of the set surprised at the content given the venue! Super cool, nonetheless, to have such a big name in the comedy world here in South Bend.”
All of his jokes were teetering the line of outright inappropriate … but then again, has there been any documented standup comedy that doesn’t poke fun by insulting some group for some reason?
Student two approached the discussion differently: “I thought Shane Gillis’ opening for Zach Bryan was really refreshing — it struck the perfect balance between edge and wit, with just the right amount of inappropriateness for the occasion. I think his shtick really resonates with eccentric Irish Catholic families with a deep, sometimes obsessive, love for Notre Dame football.”
More interesting analysis for me to ruminate over. Despite being raised Catholic and attending a religious grade school, he cites adversity from his Catholic school upbringing and the infamous “Catholic guilt” complex in many of his past sets. Much like another famous (formerly) Catholic comedian, John Mulaney, Gillis is not a typical role model for inspiring priests or human resource officers in the audience, but he can definitely still speak to his own personal experience with faith. Maybe WE resonate more with Shane than we care to admit, and maybe his satirization of the American Catholic experience is hilarious because it is rooted in partial truth …
Love him, or hate him. Think he’s funny or think he’s crass. All I know is that any publicity is good publicity these days, and he has made South Bend his stage and Notre Dame, his favorite audience.