Gethard, one of the comedians singled out by Gillis, said in an interview that Gillis called him Friday morning to apologize.

“He definitely let me know that he felt he had crossed some lines,” Gethard said. “He’s certainly got a lot of fish to fry today, so the fact that he took some time to do that today, I give him credit.”

Even so, Gethard said, there were lessons that Gillis and other, less experienced comedians could learn from this incident.

“You don’t necessarily need to record and release all your thoughts as you’re figuring out your voice,” he said. “Allow your unfiltered thoughts to stay at open mics for a while. Maybe you don’t need to put everything out into the world.”

Gillis, for his part, tried to offer some context for his past remarks. On Thursday night at The Stand, a comedy club in Manhattan where he often appears, Gillis was invited onstage by another comedian to address the controversy, according to Cris Italia, an owner of The Stand. Gillis told the crowd he had been playing a character during the podcast, and that he did not himself think of Chinese people that way, Italia said.

In a Twitter post published late Thursday night, he described himself as “a comedian who pushes boundaries,” adding, “I sometimes miss.”