Tim Allen‘s Shifting Gears sitcom found a creative way to poke fun at Ryan Reynolds.
During the Wednesday, January 28, episode of the hit ABC series, Matt (Allen) reunited with his son after Sam (Luke Macfarlane) returned from his job with the navy. Sam struggled to tell his father that he was trading the army in for a career in acting — but Matt ultimately came around.
“It is the dumbest thing I have ever heard,” Matt quipped. “But who knows, you might get cast as the guy who is really in the Deadpool costume. While Ryan Reynolds is getting his feet done in his trailer.”
Shifting Gears, which also stars Kat Dennings, Seann William Scott, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, Maxwell Simkins and Barrett Margolis, isn’t the only show to recently throw shade at the actor. NBC’s St. Denis Medical featured a blink-and-you-miss-it comment about Reynolds’ looks in an April 2025 episode centered around an annual fundraiser where Bruce (Josh Lawson) attempted to win the Dancing with the Caregivers competition.
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Bruce wasn’t thrilled, however, when Serena (Kahyun Kim) downvoted him as one of the judges.
“I don’t believe in giving 10s,” Serena shared in a confessional. “Ten means you can’t imagine anything better.”
She continued: “Like, Ryan Gosling is the hottest man alive but is he a 10? No. He’s a nine. Ryan Reynolds is a six.”
Reynolds, 49, took on the role of Deadpool in 2016. He has continued to bring the titular character to life in Deadpool 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. The third Deadpool picked up six years after Deadpool 2 as Wade (Reynolds) attempted to live a normal life but was pulled into a new mission that forced him to team up with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).
Deadpool & Wolverine reunited Reynolds and Jackman, 57, in their Marvel roles for the first time since 2009.
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“My feeling is that character works very well in two ways, one is scarcity and surprise,” Reynolds shared during Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series in December 2024 while talking about the success of Deadpool & Wolverine. “It had been six years since the last one [2018’s Deadpool 2], and part of the reason is that it swallows my whole life. You can’t take your hand off the stick all the way through development, through postproduction into marketing and promo, and then, you kind of [stop].”
Following the success of Deadpool & Wolverine, Reynolds announced his plans to write a new movie reuniting him with Jackman and director Shawn Levy. “I’m spending the year writing,” Reynolds told Variety in 2024. “I’m writing a movie for myself, Hugh and Shawn to do that is not Marvel.”
In addition to Reynolds and Jackman, the third Deadpool film starred Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Aaron Stanford and Matthew Macfadyen.
Shifting Gears airs on ABC Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Hulu.
