Background and career
Nicole Rene Glaser (; born June 1, 1984) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She has had five television stand-up specials, hosted numerous award shows, and performed at numerous televised roasts, gaining significant popularity for her set on The Roast of Tom Brady. 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 the aforementioned roast of Tom Brady (2024). She has received nominations at the Critics' Choice Television Awards, Golden Globes, Grammy Awards, and Primetime Emmy Awards. She was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world in 2026.
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.
