Courtesy of Nikki Glaser.
Nikki Glaser
Nikki Glaser got COVID for Christmas, but it’s not stopping her from marking 2022 down as a pretty darn good year. The second season of FBOY Island was released. Her special, Good Clean Filth, hit HBO. Her reality show, Welcome Home Nikki Glaser?, all about moving home to St. Louis, premiered. She kicked off a nationwide tour this fall. Plus, Jerry Seinfeld fangirled over her. So, all in all, Glaser is doing alright.
Next on her to-do list is a night of laughs at Stifel Theatre (her first-ever visit…she thinks) for New Year’s Eve. We caught up with the jet-setting Glaser, who was on her way back home for the holidays from L.A., to talk all about her big 2022, resolutions for the year ahead, and what audiences can expect from her on NYE.
First of all, how would you rate your 2022?
I'm feeling pretty good, actually. It's been a good year. I got a lot done. I did FBOY Island season two, my reality show on E! premiered, and my HBO special premiered. Both of those things I taped in 2021, but I just did a lot of work. I embarked on this new tour. It's been a constant flow of work and trying to balance life and try to have a life in St. Louis, as well as keep my profile noticeable and stay working in L.A. and New York as much as possible, too. So, you know, the industry doesn't forget about you. I’ve also been doing my podcast four days a week, I had vocal chord surgery, I did The Masked Singer. Yeah…it's been, it's been a lot . But it was a good year. It's not ending that strong because I have COVID right now. I’ll be well by the time I do my [New Year’s Eve] show, but I'm missing out on a bunch of work that I just came up to L.A. to do. So not the best ending to the year.
Oh no! That’s not an ideal way to head into the holidays.
I’m sure there’s a hidden bright side, but right now I'm just like, Ugh, God. I had one more job for the end of the year. And St. Louis is a great place to live, because it's just so close to both New York and L.A. and so equidistant, and Southwest has such great flights. But, you know, I've flown like seven times in the past week, and you can only take so much. So I'm a little bit flown out and a little bit tired of sitting in a seat for four hours. But if that's the worst thing about my life, I have a pretty great life.
I used to fly back and forth from Baltimore to here every two months or so, and that felt like a bit much to me. So you're definitely holding up better than I would.
Yeah, it’s just a lot. I obviously love a fast-paced life, but as you get older, it starts to catch up with you for sure. Just sitting that much is a lot. But it's been fun, and I'm honestly so looking forward to not having to travel anywhere for my New Year's Eve show. One of the greatest parts about performing in St. Louis is that it's just a car ride down the street. And that's so rare because I tend to fly everywhere, and especially winter travel makes you nervous that you're not gonna make it for a gig. So there's just not much to worry about with this gig. It just makes me feel so at ease in every aspect.
Tell me a little bit about the New Year's Eve show. Why did you want to do this at Stifel?
I've always tried to do a New Year's Eve show in St. Louis, and the timing has just never been right. Venues have always been either booked up by the time we tried to make it happen, or it hasn’t been the right timing. I've always had to leave right after Christmas, and it's always so bittersweet because New Year's Eve is a part of the holiday. You're not supposed to go back to work really and get back to it until like January 2nd or 3rd. So it's always been like me traveling right after Christmas to go make it to some gig.
In terms of Stifel, it’s really just the next place to go.I went from starting out at the St. Louis Funny Bone, then eventually did my first theater tour. The Pageant was in that run of shows, which was a huge accomplishment just because I'd seen so many shows there and it just seemed like such a far-off dream to ever perform there. After that, it was The Factory last September. And now Stifel is the next big venue in the list of ones to work your way up to. So, you know, Enterprise Center, here I come…eventually. But [Stifel] is obviously historic and so beautiful, and it just feels like the right place to be for the holiday season. It’s ornate and historic and larger than life, so it just feels like the perfect venue. And I've never been there before! This is my first time even as a patron. I've never even stepped foot there. I've only driven past it, so I'm very excited.
What a great space to spend the holiday. I also grew up here and hadn’t been to Stifel until maybe a year and a half ago. It’s an amazing theater.
I don't know how I've never been there. I might get there and be like, Oh yeah, I saw the Counting Crows here in ‘99! But it just isn't ringing a bell for me as a venue I've been to before. So I'm excited that my first time there will be performing. It might lessen the magnitude of it for me, which sometimes can be a little overwhelming when you have attributed so much worth to a place. You feel a little bit like—I get to perform here? Do I really deserve this? So I think never having been there is going to make it easier for me to feel like I deserve to perform in such a place.
Can you tell me anything about what you have planned for this show? What can people sort of expect on New Year's Eve?
It’s going to be my regular style of comedy. I think this set is definitely less sex-focused than people probably associate me with. But it definitely is still my honest, sometimes dark, sometimes absurd, taste of comedy. It's all material that has never been seen in any of my specials or on any TV performance. And it's all stuff that I'm just really excited about and have been developing since I taped my last special two Novembers ago. I'm really excited because it's also at a time in the tour where it feels like now I'm just hitting my real stride. The material is still fresh and really fun to me, but it's also worked out enough that it's at a really good place where it's almost ready to be filmed for a special. It also hasn't lost its luster, and I'm not bored of it yet. This is always the best part of the tour to come see me in, this point where I'm not nervous about the material. I know it works, and I have kind of a structure to the show that I'm really proud of. It's just like my musings on life and being a woman who's thinking about having kids, what it would be like to have kids, my dating life, the state of the world…there's something in it for everyone. But it's irreverent, it's honest, and it’s packed with jokes. So it’s just a great night out. And then also I do meet and greets after the show, so it's really fun for me to get to meet fans and family and friends who are there afterwards.
Who are you bringing along with you for this show?
My best friend, Anya Marina, she's a musician who could be performing there in her own right. She's opening for me, and my boyfriend's brother, Tim Convy, who is on The Courtney Show is opening for me as well. So we have comedy and music opening for me, and then I'll come out and do like an hour to 90 minutes of comedy. Then afterwards I do a meet and greet, and it's not just like a typical meet and greet where it's like you just file in a room and just stand behind me as I sit in a director's chair and you can't make eye contact with me. I am very approachable and like to talk to people and take pictures and give hugs. It's just a good way to connect with my fans. It's always something that I wished I could do with the people that I'm fans of and want to go see. And I think that you get to a certain level of celebrity and you become very hands-off with your fans, and I'm just trying to keep that connection going as long as I can. As cheesy and cliché as it sounds, I really am nothing without people who support me like this. I'm very appreciative, and I just think it's a fun night out for New Year's Eve.
It sounds like it! New Year’s Eve plans can be so stressful and weird.
I think people struggle to have something to do on New Year's Eve. It's stressful, especially after the holidays. You've just done so much socializing, so much hanging around other people, that a night out at a show with your partner or even alone is just a treat for yourself. You can kind of sit back and just listen and laugh and let go. You don't have to think about anything. I think holidays can be so stressful, and comedy is such a great de-stressor. It's not like music, where your mind can kind of wander and go back to worrying about your life. You have to focus when you listen to comedy. So it kind of keeps you from thinking about your troubles for a good hour and a half, and you just get to laugh, which is obviously so good for you.
So I feel like it's just a gift to yourself to treat yourself to a comedy show, even though it might not seem like a New Year's Eve activity. I think it's like the perfect thing, and you're out before midnight! We're not going to ring in the new year together. You can go home and do it in your own way. You'll beat all the traffic. You won't be out when it's dangerous to be driving. It's an early night, but you'll feel like you really did something, and it's a fancy night out, so you'll feel like you did something special. And you'll just have a great time. I really kind of guarantee it, like that Men's Wearhouse guy.
It sounds like a really fun lineup. I got to see Tim at Punk Rock Christmas a couple weekends ago, and it was such a good time.
Oh yay! I was in L.A. for that, but it looked so fun! My boyfriend got a mohawk at that show.
We tried to convince a friend of mine to go up there, but he wouldn’t do it. But he did agree to get one for New Year’s if we still donated to charity, so that’s coming up soon.
That’s so awesome. I’m thinking of starting a charity for girlfriends of guys who have gotten mohawks for charity. All the money goes to our emotional support because we have a boyfriend who has a mohawk at the age of 42. But really, it was so cool and fun. I wish I could have been there.
Who would you recommend your show for?
I always encourage people to go alone to my shows. I think so many people that don't have friends—either they don't have friends or they don't have friends who can figure out a way to get away from their kids or get a babysitter—they miss out on going to do things because they're just so worried about how awkward they'll look. But I encourage people to go to comedy shows alone, because no one cares. I encourage people to go alone to my shows so much that so many people go alone. I also offer free meet and greets to anyone who goes alone. All you have to do is DM me on Instagram and tell me your full name and that you're going alone to my Stifel show and I'll grant you a free meet and greet, because I think it's so cool for people to take a chance that they wouldn't normally do. I want to encourage people to get out there and do stuff, even if you don't have someone to do it with.
I love that. As somebody who goes to things alone pretty often both for work and for fun, I've gotten used to it, but it’s so weird when you first start doing it.
You have to get over the hump. That's what I want them to do with this show. Just do it once, and then you'll see it's not so bad. But I think so many people just are miserable because [they won’t do things alone]. Even if you do have friends, which I do, sometimes you just can't get them to get away. So like, even if people don't have friends, we won't know. It’s fine. We'll just assume all your friends are busy. And it's hard to make friends! So if you don't have friends, no judgment either.
This being the last What We’re Talking About of the year, I wanted to talk a bit about New Year's feelings in general. You’ve had so many big projects this year–what’s your best memory from 2022?
I met Jerry Seinfeld two weeks ago, and he is a huge fan of mine. That was probably something that has changed my life significantly, because I'm someone who suffers with a lot of self-doubt and a lot of imposter syndrome. And when someone that you look up to so much that has influenced your life so much sincerely tells you that you've “got it.” Like you don't really get to question it anymore. So I found that since then I've just felt really emboldened by his endorsement of me. It's given me a lot more confidence. So that was like a really significant moment in my life, mostly because I just didn't even want to meet him because I didn't want to bother him. I just thought, you know, he doesn't know who I am. But he requested to meet me. We were performing in the same venue in different showrooms at this casino in Atlantic City, and he requested that I come by his green room to meet him after our shows. And I did. And he was very enthusiastic, like he was fangirling a little bit, like I was a member of One Direction. It was really nice. And I thought he was joking at first because his enthusiasm was so different from what I had ever seen out of him. But it was real and it really made me feel good in a way that, you know, no amount of like praise from my family or friends could ever do. Unfortunately, sometimes you just need to hear it from your heroes. Then also I would say, you know, Taylor Swift's new album, Midnights, has been a huge bright spot for me, as well as living in St. Louis and getting to spend a lot more time with my nieces and nephews that my sister made and put into this world, getting to know them and seeing them grow up. Those have been my best times.
I think if Jerry Seinfeld tells you that you're good, you actually don't get to have imposter syndrome anymore. Those are the rules.
I really feel that way. I thought there was nothing that could ever take away my imposter syndrome, because even Conan [O’Brien] has been a fan of mine. And even though Conan is another one of my number ones, I just know him to be a very effusive, congenial, kind person. So I couldn't really believe him. But with Jerry, you're like, Jerry Seinfeld doesn't need to be nice to anyone. I've never seen him be fake to anyone. Not that Conan is fake, but as a talk show host, you have to put on airs a little bit. So it was just really remarkable. Anytime I have self-doubt now I kind of just go like, Okay, Jerry Seinfeld says you've got it. You can't doubt that. It's just done.
On the other side of that coin, is there anything from the year 2022 apart from, you know, pre-holiday COVID, that you would rather forget?
Even though FBOY Island was a huge success, HBO has decided not to continue with it, so we have to find a new home for it, so there's a slight delay there. That was a bummer. What else…you know, just friendships that have changed. I went through a breakup. Luckily my boyfriend and I got back together, but going through a breakup was not fun. There's been some definite lows of losing friends just to changing relationships. Any kind of change always kind of rattles me. But that breakup in July was pretty sad and devastating. And now losing out on a Super Bowl commercial that I was filming because I got COVID—and I kinda have a stuffy nose, but no other symptoms—is probably the biggest bummer of my 2022.
Do you have any big resolutions going into 2023?
I would say I'm trying to practice more self-acceptance. I've started saying a mantra to myself. “I approve of myself, I approve of myself, I approve of myself.” All day, every day, whenever I feel bad. That has really helped. So just more self-love, self-care. Also more, um, more quality time with my niece and nephew. Particularly my niece, because I just have a soft spot for getting messaging through to young girls. Even though she's just 4, I know what it was like to be a young girl. So just spending more time with my niece and trying to give her that kind of self-confidence as she gets older. And not comparing myself to others as much is another goal— just working on my envy and my comparing and despairing, which can only go away if I'm thankful for what I have. So just upping the gratitude a lot more. And also snacking less and like trying to have wholesome meals with friends….I started singing this year, too, and so I think I want to just sing more and write songs. I'd like to write a couple songs this year, which has been something that's been very difficult for me to even start to do because it's too sincere.
If you had to offer people one piece of advice going into the new year, what would it be?
I would say be nice to yourself. That's it. Like, forgive yourself, because you're doing your best. Anytime you eff up, it's not like you're trying to. You were trying your best. So be gentle with yourself. I think a solid piece of advice is to reference a picture of yourself as a little kid a lot. And just think of yourself as that kid, and be nice to that little kid. Because that's really who you are. No one is perfect, and we're all trying our best. So be nicer to each other.
