Comedian Shane Gillis is back under the microscope -- with 'SNL' announcing he's hosting, it reminds some people of the racial epithets he used in his podcasting days.

Shane's known for his edgy stand-up comedy -- he's very popular on YouTube and Netflix -- and while he hasn't shied away from his past controversial humor, it's jarring to hear him dropping slurs in the middle of anecdotal jokes.

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Lorne Michaels and 'SNL' hired Shane in 2019, but fired him before he ever appeared on the show due to backlash over anti-Asian jokes he'd made on a different podcast.

The offensive content here comes from a podcast called "A Fair One," and Shane delivers some controversial jokes -- or at least the language was controversial ... as he unloaded the n-word, the homophobic f-word, and a particular Jewish slur, too.

Based on Shane's history with 'SNL' ya gotta believe producers know some of this material is floating out there on the internet.

When he got canned back in 2019, he apologized, saying ... "I'm a comedian who pushes boundaries. I sometimes miss. If you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad, you're going to find a lot of bad misses."

He also said he'd apologize to "anyone who's actually offended by anything I've said."

It's fair to assume, 'SNL' feels he's made amends, or evolved as a comedian ... because they've brought him back to host.

If you're familiar with Shane's standup specials, you know he tells plenty of racial and LGBTQ+ jokes -- but the podcast stuff feels even edgier. Definitely not the kinda language you'd expect in his 'SNL' monologue.

Sure, it's late-night programming, but NBC's censors are still up and watching!

We reached out to Shane's team ... so far, no word back.