A comedian who auditioned with Shane Gillis says "red-state appeal has been a thing that SNL has been looking for since Trump got elected"

Vulture

An anonymous comedian spoke to Vulture about Saturday Night Live's audition process, saying: "I started hearing the term 'red-state appeal' a few years ago only in regard to SNL." The anonymous comedian auditioned at the same time as Gillis and didn't recall any vetting process. "Red-state appeal has been a thing that SNL has been looking for since Trump got elected," the anonymous comedian said. "I imagine it’s because they want to appeal to people in the middle of the country who they feel they’ve alienated with all their left-leaning political sketches. It’s just something that I’ve heard from comedians and reps. It’s a term that has gotten thrown around a bunch in the last couple years (in regard to SNL). I imagine that’s why they’re always trying to go for the 'bro' — the guy with the brown hair and the, you know, the face. (Laughs.) They’re really hoping, I guess, that they’ll be able to do some stuff that appeals to Middle America or the South. They think of the South and Middle America as stupid racists, I guess. Maybe that’s kind of harsh, but this is a constant problem in Hollywood: The people who make things think their audience is stupid, when in reality they’re not. And as far as Shane goes, I met him just in the hallway before the audition, and he was a really polite, nice guy. He didn’t hang out with everybody as much … There was a big group of people hanging out in the hallway, and he was mostly in his green room hanging out."