Nikki Glaser

Nicole Rene Glaser (/ˈɡleɪzər/; born June 1, 1984) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She has had four television stand-up specials, hosted numerous award shows, and performed at numerous televised roasts. Previously, she hosted the television talk show Not Safe with Nikki Glaser, which premiered on Comedy Central in 2016. She starred in the 2022 reality show Welcome Home Nikki Glaser? on E! She hosted the reality TV dating shows Blind Date (2019) on Bravo and FBoy Island (2021–2023) on HBO Max and The CW and its spinoff Lovers and Liars on The CW. She also hosted the 2025 and 2026 Golden Globe Awards, which made her the first solo female host in Golden Globes history.

She has acted in the Amy Schumer comedy films Trainwreck (2015) and I Feel Pretty (2018) and has appeared on shows such as Inside Amy Schumer and A.P. Bio. She has competed in competition shows such as Dancing with the Stars (2018) and The Masked Singer (2022). She has also participated in the roasts of Rob Lowe (2016), Bruce Willis (2018), Alec Baldwin (2019), and Tom Brady (2024). She has received nominations at the Critics' Choice Television Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Grammy Awards, and Primetime Emmy Awards.

Glaser was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Julie E. (née Burke) and Edward J. Glaser. She has one sibling, a younger sister, Lauren. She was raised as Catholic and has Irish and German ancestry. Glaser spent most of her childhood living in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood, Missouri. She graduated from Kirkwood High School and briefly attended the University of Colorado Boulder before transferring to, and graduating from, the University of Kansas with a degree in English literature.

Glaser started performing stand-up at age 18. Her first jokes were written in college. She recalled in an interview: "I remember it. I was a freshman in college and everyone in my dorm took over the cafeteria as like a study hall. I went in there and instead of studying I just looked at them, judged them and tried to think, 'What would Sarah Silverman say about these people?' I didn't know how to write jokes — I just knew the stand-ups I knew. I wrote from the perspective of my favorite stand-ups because I didn't know what my perspective was yet."

Glaser performed stand-up on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan, and two seasons of the reality series Last Comic Standing. Her first feature stand-up special, Perfect, aired on Comedy Central on April 9, 2016. Her second special, Bangin', premiered on Netflix on October 1, 2019. In 2024, she performed at The Roast of Tom Brady which aired live on Netflix.

Since 2022, St. Louis has celebrated "Nikki Glaser Day" each year. For "Nikki Glaser Day" on September 1, 2025, Glaser was honored with a St. Louis Cardinals bobblehead at Busch Stadium.

From 2011 to 2014 Glaser hosted a podcast with comedian Sara Schaefer called You Had To Be There. In July 2013, Glaser performed on the radio show The Debaters, debating the 'Early to Bed' adage. In March 2015, Glaser appeared on Giant Bomb's life-advice podcast, Danswers, talking about subjects such as her experience with co-host Dan Ryckert at college.

Glaser co-hosted the podcast We Know Nothing with comedian Phil Hanley and roommate/musician Anya Marina. We Know Nothing is a humorous relationship-based podcast that takes calls from listeners and attempts to give them love advice. From January to October 2016, she hosted the companion podcast to her Comedy Central show Not Safe with Dan St. Germain and Brian Frange. Each episode, they discussed sex and relationship issues as well as apples. Beginning in 2018, Glaser hosted multiple shows on Sirius XM channel 38 and on the pop music channel 314. In February 2018, Glaser began hosting You Up? With Nikki Glaser, aired on Sirius XM's Comedy Central Radio. The show was dropped by Sirius XM on May 7, 2020, and continued as a podcast until its final episode on October 2, 2020.