Comedian Shane Gillis stumbles awkwardly with jokes in SNL monologue

Shane Gillis is having trouble practising jokes, in a teaser for his Saturday Night Live hosting debut.

Alongside musical guest 21 Savage, the comedian will be headlining the upcoming edition of NBC's sketch comedy show.

Gillis is practising some of his gags for his monologue for SNL cast members Marcello Hernández and Sarah Sherman in the video that was made public on Wednesday, but they're not quite clicking.

“I went to an Amish wedding once. I was the only one there who could do the Electric Slide,” he says, getting an awkward laugh from Hernández and Sherman.

Gillis continues, “New Planet of the Apes is coming out. It’s going to be bananas.”

He then teased the idea of doing some crowd work by asking audience members, “Are you guys dating? Are you seeing each other?” Hernández and Sherman jokingly went along, saying, “Yeah!”

“Gosh, must be nice,” Gillis says, followed by an awkward pause. “I’ve been alone for a while.”

He concludes his jokes with, “Who likes impressions? And the crowd will be like, ‘Yeah!’ And then I’m like, you guys ever seen a horse and it’s like… [cue horse impression].”

After telling the SNL cast members, “That’s about it. I’m about done with that monologue,” Hernández responds in a questionable tone, “Great… I think it’s right there.”

Gillis is promoting the forthcoming event while standing next to 21 Savage and Kenan Thompson in another Saturday Night Live advertisement that was made public on Friday. In a particular video, the comedian matches the rapper's black sunglasses.

“We gonna talk about the sunglasses?” Thompson asks as Gillis responds, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. These are cool.”

Thompson continues, “Are you trying to be like 21 Savage?” but Gillis claims that he isn’t. The rapper proceeds to build the comedian’s confidence, telling him, “I think you look alright.”