Comedian Shane Gillis recently dropped a bombshell revelation on the "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast: he was this close to getting Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman on "Saturday Night Live" earlier this season. But the appearance was scrapped after a major scandal erupted at Michigan involving former head coach Sherrone Moore.
"I tried to get him on SNL this year," Gillis shared. "And it was close. We were close to getting it done. I was talking to Lorne [Michaels] about it, and we were close. We were going to have him on Weekend Update, and then something happened at the Michigan program that became the biggest story in college football, and not Notre Dame, so we couldn't do it. For real. It was that week."
Freeman was slated to appear on the Dec. 13 episode's Weekend Update segment—just three days after Michigan fired Moore for cause, citing credible evidence of an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. The same day, Moore was arrested after allegedly breaking into the staffer's home and threatening to harm her and himself. The story dominated sports headlines for two weeks, growing even more troubling when The Athletic reported that Moore had been sending unsolicited Instagram messages to women in sports media since 2020.
In short, the moment Moore was fired, any chance for lighthearted college football content evaporated. The timing couldn't have been worse for Freeman's potential SNL debut.
Gillis has become an unofficial ambassador for Notre Dame football over the past two seasons, deeply embedding himself in the Fighting Irish community. He also has a unique history with SNL: he was famously fired in 2019 before his debut episode aired—a decision Lorne Michaels later said was forced on him by NBC executives—only to return as host in February 2024 and again in March 2025.
Given Gillis's deep ties to both Notre Dame and 30 Rockefeller Plaza, this likely won't be his last attempt to get his favorite team's head coach on the SNL stage. For now, fans will have to wait and see if Freeman ever gets his chance to shine under the bright lights of Studio 8H.