Shane Gillis Says Zach Bryan Asked Whether He Wanted To Go On First Or Second During Their Notre Dame Show

Yeah, probably wouldn’t want to follow “Revival” with a comedy set.

Zach Bryan played one of his few shows of 2025 last night with a sold-out concert at Notre Dame Stadium, which featured openers Dermot Kennedy and…comedian Shane Gillis.

Zach and Shane seem to have become good friends, no doubt thanks to the fact that they’re both diehard Philadelphia Eagles fans. Ahead of the Super Bowl earlier this year, the two superstars of their respective crafts performed a surprise pop-up show at a bar in New Orleans, and Gillis has appeared onstage with Zach a couple of times, including a show in Philly last year.

Now, the idea of having a comedian as an opener for a concert may sound odd, but when you have a chance to get a guy like Shane Gillis, who’s one of the biggest names in the comedy world, open a show for you, you’ve gotta take it. And Gillis is also a Notre Dame fan himself, so it just made sense that he would appear at the home of the Fighting Irish.

But during his set, Gillis said that Zach actually gave him the choice between going on before Zach’s show or closing out the night.

Now, I’m as big of a Shane Gillis fan as there is, but I’m pretty sure it would be a terrible idea to have a comedian go out AFTER the concert to cap off the night. You’ve got all the energy from the show, everybody’s fired up, and then you just have to sit there while a guy (even one of the funniest comedians in the world) tells jokes about Trump and Down Syndrome? Yeah, seems like it would be kind of a buzzkill.

And Shane said that he agreed it was a terrible idea for him to go last:

“This is Zach’s idea. Before this Zach was like, ‘Do you want to go first or second?’ I was like, ‘First.’ Can you imagine if we finished Zach Bryan and I was like, ‘Hey, you guys ever jerk off?’

It’s insane. He thinks, ‘It’s cool, it’s a stadium.’ I was like, ‘You can’t do stand up.'”

Shane also recalled a fan asking the Zach Bryan subreddit whether it would be ok for his 10-year old son to watch his stand up set…something that even the comedian said wasn’t a good idea:

@greatamericanbarscene

Shane Gillis just performed at his first stadium #shanegillis #zachbryan #notredame

♬ original sound – greatamericanbarscene

Now, Shane’s a comedian, so who knows whether Zach ACTUALLY offered to go on before Shane. It may have just been something Shane pulled out because it sounded so ridiculous. But either way, I definitely think they made the right decision on the order for the show.

And I also kinda want more artists to bring comedians out on the road as their openers. Chances are I would be more likely to get to my seat for a comedian I like than an opener that I’ve never heard of.

I mean, getting to hear Shane Gillis do his Trump and Biden impersonations before the show? Sign me up.

@n_bearbower

Plz ignore my giggles #shanegillis #notredame #zachbryan #comedy

♬ original sound – Natalie

And of course, Shane did end up joining Zach for “Revival,” so he kinda closed out the show anyway.