Nikki Glaser making Hollywood history as host of this year's Golden Globes
Published in Entertainment News
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nikki Glaser is not the first woman to host the Golden Globes. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have tag-teamed the gig four times in recent years.
But on Sunday, the Missouri comedian and University of Kansas alum will make Hollywood history as the first woman to host the show on her own. CBS will broadcast the ceremony — the “awards season’s most raucous room,” says Variety — at 8 p.m. ET Sunday.
Glaser, who is 40, could also take home an award. She is a first-time nominee for her newest HBO comedy special, “Someday You’ll Die.”
The Golden Globes audience will witness the humor Glaser began sharpening in Kansas City comedy clubs while studying at KU in nearby Lawrence. She graduated in 2006 with a degree in English.
She had a huge 2024 capped by her viral performance on Netflix’s “The Roast of Tom Brady,” after which she got tapped for the Golden Globes.
“Buckle up,” she told her Instagram followers last month.
Guaranteed there will be no repeat of last year’s Taylor Swift fiasco, when host Jo Koy told a joke at Taylor Swift’s expense in his opening monologue.
The “big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift,” the comedian joked.
Swift was in the audience and cameras caught her steely-eyed reaction to the jab. She was nominated that night for cinematic and box office achievement for her Eras Tour concert film, but lost to “Barbie.”
Swift is not expected to attend Sunday’s ceremony. But no one should be surprised if Glaser name-checks her a few times, or possibly takes the stage at some point wearing an Eras Tour costume.
Glaser, who still lives in St. Louis, is a passionate Swiftie who attended 22 shows on Swift’s record-breaking tour, which ended last month.
“I just feel like she is The Beatles, in terms of a once-in-a-lifetime performer, artist, and songwriter talent, and I would’ve killed to see The Beatles live, so I just need to capitalize on this while I can,” Glaser told Vogue over the summer.
“Also it’s the most fun thing that I’ve ever done. Initially, when she announced the tour, I wanted to go to as many as possible, but I was kind of embarrassed by how much I like her — I’ve been mocked for it by my family and friends.”
Twenty-two shows was a lot of concerts to shoehorn into her own busy comedy tour schedule, Glaser admitted to Vogue.
“I’m also on tour, so I would do a show Thursday in a city, fly to a different city Friday, do a show, fly to a different city Saturday, and then Sunday I would always find whatever Sunday show she was (doing) and fly to go see her. I would fly my mom out, and she went to 10 of the shows with me,” Glaser said.
Given what happened to Koy at the Golden Globes last year, Variety asked Glaser if she plans to mention Swift in her monologue.
“Not unless it’s a very favorable way,” Glaser said. “She was at the Golden Globes last year — I would have loved for her to be in the audience this year. I’m hoping this turns into a gig that I can do multiple times, and I can perform for her, because I’ve watched her so many times.”
Glaser told “Extra” she plans to use Swift’s music to pump herself up for the hosting gig.
She’d use “...Ready for It?” for a walk-up song if she could, she said.
“I might even walk out as she does on ‘Reputation,’” Glaser joked, apparently referencing the snake-themed bodysuit Swift wore on tour. “Nobody wants that from me, but I think that’ll be echoing in my head.”
Glaser was an early supporter of Swift’s romance with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. She gushed about both in a TikTok video after spotting Kelce at one of Swift’s shows in Amsterdam in July
“We’re on our way out early and we just spotted Travis sprinting through the halls to get backstage,” she said in the video. “I’ve met him before (but) I didn’t have time to say anything but, ‘We love you, Travis.’ And we do.”
Glaser got to know Kelce when she taped several episodes of the game show he hosted, “Are You Smarter than a Celebrity?” (which debuted in October).
Born in Cincinnati and raised in suburban St. Louis, Glaser has a lengthy resume that includes an E! reality sitcom, “Welcome Home Nikki Glaser?” as well as two HBO comedy specials, game show appearances, several “Comedy Central Roast” appearances and “The Nikki Glaser Podcast.”
She’s been preparing for the Golden Globes by trying out material at comedy clubs around Los Angeles, where she’s been staying in the days leading up to the show.
On Thursday, as she helped roll out the Golden Globes red carpet, she told The Hollywood Reporter she wasn’t done yet with the homework.
“I have I think nine shows between now and Sunday, because I want to keep testing out jokes and I want to keep getting the monologue in the (most) perfect place it can be,” she said.
“Not every host does that. I’m lucky enough to be a comedian who can go and find these rehearsal spaces in front of a live audience, and I trust my audience members to not leak jokes or tell anyone. And we have enough jokes that even if they do, I’ll be OK.
“I go on stage and I just say, ‘Hey guys, do you mind if I run my set?’ And everyone’s so excited. They feel like they’re part of this interesting, kind of secretive process, because they are.”
She’s also gleaned advice from former Golden Globes hosts, including Ricky Gervais, a five-time emcee.
“I talked to Ricky Gervais early on. He gave me some great advice of, ‘Just be yourself. Don’t think you’re one of them. You’re not one of them. You’re a comedian, so remember that,’” she told Extra.
“Seth Meyers, Tina (Fey) and Amy (Poehler) all reached out to me. Jimmy Kimmel gave me great advice… Jimmy Kimmel said if you’re worried about … making a joke about someone, like, will they be cool with it, ask them, like, reach out to them. And that was an instinct, but it was really great to get validation.”
She told Variety she’s got “Wicked” in her sights for a few jabs, but as a Swiftie she will be careful not to cross too many lines with the movie’s fans.
“It has that ‘Eras Tour’ energy — I want to respect the fandom and not trash it, because as a Swiftie, there is no joke you can make about Taylor Swift that is OK to me,” she said. “I relate to people who love ‘Wicked’ that much. But it’s so nice to have ‘Wicked,’ because everyone’s seen it.”
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