Two-time Saturday Night Live host Shane Gillis is adding another hosting gig to his resume.
ESPN announced on Tuesday that they have tapped the comedian and Tires co-creator and star to host the 2025 ESPYS, or the Excellence is Sports Performance Yearly Awards. The awards show will air live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, in addition to streaming live on ESPN+. Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ will offer on-demand streaming of the ESPYS the following day (Thursday, July 17).
Per a press release from the sports brand, Gillis, who is also in the midst of his Shane Gillis Live comedy tour and co-hosts the comedy podcast Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, said that he is “excited to be at The ESPYS this year.”
“I like sports so this should be a good time,” he added.
Gillis follows in the footsteps of tennis pro Serena Williams, who hosted the 2024 ESPYS.
Meanwhile ESPN Vice President and The ESPYS Executive Producer Craig Lazarus praised Gillis as “not only one of the top comedians today, but also a huge sports fan, which made him an easy choice to host The ESPYS.”
“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,” Lazarus said.
Season 2 of Gillis’ Netflix comedy was released earlier this month, welcoming Thomas Haden Church to the cast as Phil, Gillis’ on-screen father. When asked by DECIDER how the opportunity arose for him, Church lauded Tires Season 1 as “very entertaining,” despite having a “shoestring budget,” noting that he “really thought they did a nice job for the resources they had.”
“And I think that Shane is becoming a superstar comedian, and I just really enjoyed the chemistry of the show,” he added, in part. “So then I read the scripts, and then I got on and started having conversations with John McKeever, who’s the showrunner and director. I really liked John’s energy, and they were willing to collaborate from the toes to the ears and it was awesome.”