Hi. My name is Joe Camerota. I’m kinda a nobody. I’ve passively tried to keep it that way. And judging by what happened to Shane Gillis, that’s probably a good move.

If you Google me, the most you’ll find is an advertisement for a mic I used to host at the Q.E.D. Comedy Theatre in Queens, NY. I didn’t make the mic advert, Jake Vevera and Amy Liszka, the previous hosts, made it without asking me. And since I love them, I didn’t object after they showed me. I got fired from hosting that mic for smoking weed on stage, sorry Kambri, again, my bad (Kambri is the owner of the Q.E.D., she’s good people).

I’ve been doing Stand Up Comedy for 8 years now, and I tend to be my own worst enemy when I put myself out there too much (like writing an Op-Ed), so I rarely do. But I can explain to you why Shane Gillis was wronged in being fired from Saturday Night Live, and you can show this article to anyone who does Stand Up Comedy, and they’ll validate all I mention in this Op-Ed.

There are three levels to underground Stand Up Comedy. Mics, Shows, and Featured Club Spots. Mics are of course open mics, Shows are shows produced by independent producers (these take place at bars, theatres, and even Comedy Clubs). And Featured Club Spots are spots booked by the Clubs themselves. Once a comedian has achieved this last level, it tends to mean that they have been “passed” by the Club aka, they are now a Club regular.

Famously, The Comedy Store in Los Angeles hires open mic comedians to work the doors of the Club. These open mic comedians know to let any comedian, from an Open Micer to Dave Chappelle, into the Club for free. And these doormen know who is a comedian from the mics, shows and Clubs. Once inside The Comedy Store through this way, all comedians, from open micers to the famous, mingle. And as long as you don’t act malicious or star struck, you get to hang out. This system creates the ability for nobodies to spend time with somebodies and increases the chance that genius will be discovered and facilitated. It also creates the closest thing to a meritocracy that there is, because Stand Up Comedy is the one art where fame can’t be contrived, people either laugh or they don’t.

This system pioneered at The Comedy Store has moved to other Clubs in LA and has become the normal at Clubs and Stand Up scenes throughout the country. Every Stand Up scene has the local Clubs that become the churches that all comedians aspire to give service at and hang with comedians they love when they come through.

Now what is important about this system is that the comedians in this underground Stand Up scene, from open micers to famous people, are the most diverse grouping of folk you have ever seen. In New York alone, this community includes a Transgender Orthodox Jewish Women (Sup Dana Friedman, go see her shows at the Duplex, they are awesome). A cripple by the name of Chris Crespo (He prefers the term cripple). And even a Syrian Refuge named Misho Sakur. All of whom are all hilarious and beautiful inside and out. The Stand Up Comedy Community is truly the “Island of Misfit Toys”.

I started doing Stand Up Comedy in Los Angeles. From LA, I moved back to the east coast five years ago. Once back, I took a day job working for my family’s business in New Jersey and became active every night in various Stand Up scenes (the New York City Stand Up scene, the New Jersey Stand Up scene, and the Philadelphia Stand Up scene). Because of my job, I was one of the few comics with a car, and so I traveled to perform and hang. The New Jersey scene chooses the Stress Factory in New Brunswick as the Club to rally around, as that Club in New Jersey sees the most famous comics come through, and in Philadelphia, Helium is their Club of note.

Years ago, for a while, I used to go down to Philadelphia one night a week, usually on Thursday nights, and that is where I first met Shane Gillis. At the time, the most popular open mic in all of Philadelphia was every Thursday night at a place called the Raven Lounge. Every comedian in the Philadelphia scene came to the Raven Lounge for this mic. The mic was hosted by multiple comics each week who would look at the sign up list and create the mic order by what would make the best show. The mic had two halves with an intermission after the first two hours because that’s how many comedians there were waiting to go up. And it took multiple hosts and up to five hours to complete the mic each week.

This mic was so popular that comedians would have to stand outside the performance space due to the amount of regular audience members. Famous comedians knew of the mic and would crash the mic to do sets. These famous comedians would go up immediately upon arrival if they wanted. For Instance, I myself got bumped one night by Mark Normand.

The best spot on the Raven Lounge mic was the last spot on the first half, and that spot each week, belonged to Shane Gillis. Long before America knew the name Shane Gillis, the comedians of Philadelphia looked at him as an undiscovered treasure that they could lift up for America to see. And the comedians of Philadelphia were as diverse as any group of comedians I’ve known, and they loved Shane, because he was and is the BEST.

Not long after I first met Shane, he won “Philly’s Phunniest”, the yearly competition at Helium Comedy Club, where the winner becomes a Club feature aka gets passed. Shane won in 2016, he then started opening up for famous comedians at the Club. It was from here that Shane was discovered. These famous comedians he was opening for encouraged him to move to New York City with the offer to vouch for him at the best Clubs. Shane became passed at the best Clubs in New York City soon after his arrival, and immediately, the entire New York City Comedy Community wanted to know him because he KILLS! From the New York City Clubs, Shane went on to be featured in the Just For Laughs New Faces this year.

Again comedy is the closest thing that we as a people have to a meritocracy. People either laugh or they don’t. People discovered Shane Gillis because he’s good. People found Shane Gillis the same way they find clean water. People are driven toward the good. And now this is the most important part, and my point, Shane Gillis is kind, he is the kindest human being you will ever meet. He is a Teddy Bear with a smile for anyone who has a smile for him, ANYONE, of any race, gender, and creed. What apparently some people don’t fully understand is Shane Gillis is not a racist, Shane Gillis is a daredevil. Shane Gillis is not Hitler. Shane Gillis is Evil Kenevil. And there’s a difference.

I’ve read a lot of articles that have questioned the vetting system of Saturday Night Live regarding Shane, I assure you that the vetting system that properly vetted and birthed Shane Gillis is the exact same system that properly vetted and birthed Leslie Jones and Melissa Villasenor. I remember years ago, being in LA watching Leslie Jones, at the time, a nobody to America, KILLING on The Comedy Store stage yelling at white men that they aren’t good enough to take care of her. And people cheered. Leslie’s comedy was raw and edgy back then, because at the time, it was underground comedy, and she had nothing to lose.

Underground comedy, like any underground art, is over the edge and REWARDS recklessness! I’d love to see the Eminem tracks that got rejected for his first album, I imagine some of them are horrifyingly un-PC, but that is what underground art is at times. Underground art is un-PC, sometimes horrifyingly so, because the life of an artist until validation is rejection and poverty that manifests into anger, that is then alchemized into art. And under a proper system, the best are pulled from the underground, legitimized, and their reckless art becomes curated for the public. Leslie Jones got a chance to go from an extremely angry and hilarious black woman on the stage of The Comedy Store to one of the greatest performers in Saturday Night Live history, because we gave her art and anger the chance to go through this alchemical process. And we all ended up with a woman that we as Americans cherish and love because we were open to this process.

Shane Gillis, like all great comedians, is a parody of what he grew up around. He grew up in Central PA, outside of Harrisburg. This is a part of the world where people (mostly white) work 12 hours a day as farmers, mechanics, truckers, miners, and factory workers. And it doesn’t feel good to work 12 hours a day doing back breaking labor, only to come home and turn on the TV, and have liberal news pundits call you an asshole. That’s maddening. And hilarious. Shane Gillis was the individual who saw the hilariousness in that situation and decided to parody it. And those folk working 12 hours a day, like all humans, need a comedian to parody them in order to quell their anger. I tell you that in killing the court jester of that kingdom, you are killing a saint that is one of your only hopes to better communicate with that world.

Four, five months ago, I saw Shane in Greenwich Village and he invited me to join him for a beer before he went up at The Fat Black Pussy Cat, a famous comedy Club in New York City. He told me that he had been recommended to the Club, and that tonight was his first night performing there. I joined him for a beer and we talked about comedy. He told me that his favorite comedian is Norm MacDonald. I love Norm myself.

When I first heard the news that Shane had gotten onto Saturday Night Live, I smiled from ear to ear for two reasons. One, every time any comedian makes it, it validates that the rest of us aren’t trying in vain. And two, I pictured Shane hosting The Weekend Update every week, just like Norm MacDonald did. I can assure you that if Shane Gillis had gotten a chance to host The Weekend Update, a third of the jokes Shane would have written would have been tossed out as too edgy by the NBC Standards and Practices, as they maybe should be. But those jokes that Shane would have written, that would have made it through Standards and Practices, just barely, would have been gold and hilarious. And all of America would have enjoyed the alchemical process of a great artist on a great show.

Keep your head up Shane, and remember, people will find you the way they find clean water, because you’re good.

Joe Camerota is a Comedian and a spectator of life.