Glaser, known for her controversial humour, has faced backlash for jokes about celebrities like Taylor Swift and Tom Brady.
Despite her edgy reputation, Glaser promises a toned-down performance at the Golden Globes, aiming to avoid offending anyone.
On August 28, 2024, the Golden Globes and CBS announced that comedian and actress Nikki Glaser would host the prestigious awards' 82nd outing on January 6 (NZT).
The famed Golden Globe awards are no stranger to hosts who push the boundaries of comedy, with celebrities such as JoKoy and Ricky Gervais both scrutinised for their efforts and jokes in past ceremonies.
But Glaser, the first woman ever to solo host the famed ceremony, is also no stranger to controversy.
The Not Safe With Nikki Glaser star has taken social media by storm with her brutal roasts, biting insult humour, and sex comedy, amassing more than a million followers on Instagram and dominating screens across the world.
Her latest stand-up special, Nikki Glaser: Someday You’ll Die, is also critically acclaimed and nominated for multiple awards including the Globes themselves.
From Taylor Swift body shaming to Tom Brady roasts, we take a look at how Glaser got where she is today and why she has the potential to be one of the most controversial hosts to date.
Nikki Glaser in no stranger to controversial jokes. Photo / Danny Feld
Who is Nikki Glaser?
Born on June 1, 1984, in Cincinnati Ohio, Glaser is the oldest of two girls and was said to be raised in a Catholic household.
After spending most of her childhood and schooling in Missouri, she graduated university in Kansas with a degree in English literature.
Glaser revealed that she initially wanted to be an actress but was “not very good” and decided to study English because she enjoyed AP English in high school.
It was during her university days that her passion for stand-up comedy became apparent.
Initially shy and quiet in high school, Glaser revealed she found her voice as she started to make friends.
“In college, I finally spoke up for the first time and that’s when I first heard, ‘You’re really funny, you should be a stand-up comedian, ‘” she told Revue in 2020.
“I was never told that before, so I thought, I’ll check that out. I started doing it and instantly knew it was the perfect thing. Not only was I naturally good at it - the first time I went on stage I had a good set - but it’s also something I cared about getting good at and wanted to commit all of my time to it”.
Eventually gaining prominence with her stand-up sets, she shifted to film work and podcasting.
From 2011 to 2014, Glaser hosted a podcast with comedian Sara Schaefer called You Had To Be There and starred in a number of small films and series until her big break with Comedy Central show Not Safe With Nikki Glaser.
The boundary pushing show ran for one season in 2016 and saw Glaser and a panel of comedians talk about topics about sex.
Her aptitude as a host has also shone through during her career, taking the helm of reality TV dating shows Blind Date (2019), FBoy Island (2021–) and its spinoff Lovers and Liars. She also hosted the reality show Welcome Home Nikki Glaser?
Sober since 2012 and now a non-smoker, Glaser told Maxim her private life was one of the drivers for her to stop the vices and credited the writing of British addiction author Allen Carr as help.
“I realised I had to quit drinking to have a real relationship - plus, I was having, you know, terrible hangovers”.
In 2021 she also opened up about her struggles with anorexia, revealing to The Unwind that it really took hold during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
“You might not look anorexic but you are - you can live like that. It’s even worse because no one can see it. So I was in the depths of an eating disorder when Covid hit and I had nothing else to look at,” she said.
Glaser is notably a long-time activist for animal rights and has been a vegan since 2016.
Why is she controversial?
A number of Glaser’s jokes have landed her in hot water, particularly those relating to other celebrities.
The comedian was forced to make a public apology to pop juggernaut Swift after clips of Glaser body shaming the singer appeared in Swift’s Netflix documentary, Miss Americana.
In the movie, the comedian can be heard making a joke about Swift being “too skinny” and that a person would have to “have a thigh gap to hang out” with the Cruel Summer hitmaker.
Glaser, who later told Billboard she spent thousands attending 22 of Swift’s Eras Tour concerts, later took to Instagram where she apologised for any pain she might have caused.
“I really have no need to post this other than to apologise to someone who seriously means SO much to me,” she said.
“I only got a couple death threats from die-hard Swift fans, which as one myself, I totally get … I just hope this somehow gets to her so she knows I’m sorry for any pain I caused her and that I’d love to be her friend someday (when I start modelling) and tell her how much her music has influenced my life and comedy”.
According to Daily Mail UK, when talking about her concert-going record, Glaser later labelled one Eras Tour fan a “gutter punk bitch” who gave off “twitchy, squirrel with, like, rabies behaviour,” on her Nikki Glaser Podcast.
The alleged woman mentioned eventually came forward publicly on TikTok, with commenters chastising Glaser for “bullying”.
Sports stars have also been the target of Glaser’s controversial jokes. At the 2024 Roast of Tom Brady broadcast on Netflix, the comedian took a dig at the Superbowl champion’s recent divorce from wife Gisele Bundchen.
“Tom Brady, five-time Super Bowl MVP, most career wins, most career touchdowns, you have seven rings − well, eight now that Gisele gave hers back," she joked, adding Brady’s “diet programme” was “so strict, but if you follow it exactly as he does, you too can lose your family”.
Brady, while generally good-spirited with the roast, admitted he wouldn’t partake again due to the way it affected his family, leading Glaser to think more carefully about the impact she had.
“[Maybe I] didn’t consider the backlash from his family and how would affect them,” she told Today with Hoda and Jenna.
Glaser also doesn’t shy away from edgy comedy, often touching on themes of rape, suicide and mental illness.
In one of her more controversial statements, the comedian said: “If I were to say right now, ‘Guys, I’m going to do some rape jokes,’ you might go, ‘Go back to the suicide stuff’”.
“But if I said, ‘But I can do these jokes, because I’ve been raped,’ you’d go, ‘Oh, thank God she was raped. Okay, good. I thought she hadn’t been raped. Thank God she was brutally raped. Now I can relax. I was nervous before.’”
Despite her previous faux pas and penchant for pulling verbal punches, Glaser told Yahoo! Entertainmentthat her Golden Globe hosting performance will stay away from ruffling feathers.
“It’s not gonna be watered down, [but] the tone will be different for this,” she said.
“I’m not gonna go so hard that anyone’s gonna be offended”.
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald’s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today.
