Is Kam Patterson Already Trying to Get Fired From ‘SNL’?

The best thing that ever happened to Shane Gillis was getting fired from Saturday Night Live — and it looks like both Kam Patterson and Lorne Michaels were taking notes. 

Gillis, who never got to show up for his first day of work, was fired from SNL after fans dug up podcast appearances on which the comic dropped homophobic and racial slurs. Then Gillis, who most of America had never heard of before the controversies, landed stand-up specials, Bud Light commercials and his own Netflix series, as well as two hosting gigs on Saturday Night Live. 

When comedians beg to be canceled, this kind of notoriety-fueled success is what they’re after.

Now Michaels has hired young stand-up comic Kam Patterson. Like Gillis, he made his name in the Austin-centric, manosphere podcast world. And like Gillis, fans had no problem finding examples of Patterson throwing around gay slurs like he was tossing bread crumbs to pigeons in the park.

But 2025 SNL is a very different place from 2019 SNL. Six years ago, those homophobic comedy bits came as a surprise to the powers-that-be at NBC. No one can claim ignorance about Patterson’s bits, in which Kill Tony-style outrageousness is the brand. Why is it okay now when it wasn’t okay six years ago? Let’s just say the 2020s have been kinder to slur-slinging comics than the #MeToo 2010s. 

It’s easy to understand why Michaels wanted Patterson. He’s hitched his wagon to Gillis for a while now, claiming he never wanted to fire the guy and bringing him back year after year. Plus, hiring a Gillis or a Patterson gives him plausible deniability when conservatives accuse SNL of a woke bias. A little something for everyone, is one way to look at it. Pandering to the Joe Rogan crowd is another.

But why does Patterson want in? He’s confessed on his social media accounts that he’s a lousy actor and could use a few lessons. Even those sincere admissions come with problematic punchlines that would have gotten a cast member fired just a few years ago.

And now comes word via LateNighter that Patterson is already calling in late for work. “They wanted him to start on Sept. 12, but he wants to push it to the 22nd,” Patterson’s father told Orlando Weekly. “We should know soon.”

Who gets a job at comedy’s most venerated institution and asks for a week off before he even starts? That’s Patterson, who’s still slated to perform stand-up dates on September 11th through 13th in Las Vegas and September 18th through 20th in Buffalo. It looks SNL has already caved.

If you’re Patterson, what do you have to lose by throwing your weight around? If you get more freedom than other cast members, great. If not, even better. Go ahead and drop a few profanities on the season opener while you’re at it. If Patterson is the next Gillis-style comic to get fired from SNL, he’ll no doubt have suitors ready to cash in on the bad-boy infamy. If making TMZ headlines leads to specials, commercials and streaming sitcoms, a pink slip could be Patterson’s smartest career move.

Plus, you know Michaels would book him to host SNL in Season 52.