“Comedy Cannot Follow Music, Ever”: Shane Gillis Shares the Amusing Story Behind His New Orleans Pop-Up Show with Zach Bryan

In a new instalment of Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast, comedian Shane Gillis has shared how his pre-Super Bowl New Orleans pop-up show with Zach Bryan came about.

During the Super Bowl LIX weekend, Shane Gillis teamed up with the ‘Something in the Orange’ hitmaker for an intimate performance at New Orleans’ Saturn Bar, with Gillis offering up a comedic set before Zach Bryan reeled off a slew of hits.

In the new podcast episode, Shane Gillis explained to his co-host, Matt McCusker, the story behind that New Orleans show, revealing that, initially, Zach Bryan asked Gillis if he would go on second and close out the show, “Me and Zach Bryan did a show at a bar, which was very funny because Zach was like, ‘Alright, I'll go first, then you go on and do some stand-up’, and I was like, ‘Bro, that would be the worst possible show of all time. Comedy cannot follow music ever’. And he was like, ‘Alright, man’, he's like, ‘It's up to you. That's fine. That'll work’”.

Gillis went on, “So we go in, it's just a packed college [bar], just young kids...standing room only, the stage is like a rug on the floor...I went on, fair-to-middling - very fair-to-middling...And then [Zach Bryan] murdered it, and while he was killing it, I was like, ‘This is crazy. You thought I was going to follow that with like a jacking-off story?’”

Shane Gillis went on to recall how he injured himself following Zach Bryan's set, “At the end there was a small bar, and then in the backyard there was like a construction area, like in a muddy alley, which is where we went after, just hung out back there”.

Gillis light-heartedly expanded, “But from the exit of the bar to the back alley, there was like a pretty big drop into this construction area, and I literally got to the door, there were people behind me and I was like, ’Watch out! There's a very big drop here’, and I just stepped out and rolled my ankle. I literally looked at what was gonna happen, I was like, ‘Watch out, guys, you could get hurt on this’ - argh! Thank God I didn't fall down, I was so close to, but I really fucked my ankle up on that”.

Shane Gillis and Zach Bryan have been friends for a while now, with Gillis joining Bryan for the exhilarating ‘Revival’ finale during his Philadelphia Lincoln Financial Field show last year.

Both Shane Gillis and Zach Bryan are ardent fans of the Philadelphia Eagles, with the duo watching the Eagles’ unexpected victory over the reigning champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, following their pop-up show in New Orleans. While watching the game, Bryan shared a photo of him and Gillis meeting President Donald Trump, alongside the tongue-in-cheek caption, “the actual smallest man”, poking fun at the Oklahoma singer-songwriter's height compared to Gillis and Trump.

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