PHOTOSWho Is Nikki Glaser? What to Know About the Comedian Before She Hosts the 2025 Golden Globes
Nikki Glaser will be the first woman to host the Golden Globe Awards solo.
Nikki Glaser Is From Ohio
Nikki Glaser was raised Catholic.
Golden Globe Awards 2025 host Nikki Glaser was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1984. She grew up in St. Louis, Mo., and attended Kirkwood High School.
She first attended the University of Colorado Boulder before transferring and earning a degree in English literature from the University of Kansas.
Nikki Glaser Started Her Career as a Stand-Up Comedian
Nikki Glaser reportedly fell in love with comedy after watching Julia Louis-Dreyfus on 'Seinfeld.'
At 18, Glaser started pursuing a career in the industry as a stand-up comedian. She later competed on the Last Comic Standing, where she managed to reach the semi-finals.
Reflecting on the early years of her comedy journey, Glaser told Revue, "I signed up for a comedy show on campus, so I gave myself a deadline. Then, I just sat down with a paper and pen and wrote. Looked around me and observed. Paid attention to conversations I was having and topics I was interested in. Now, I don't sit down with a pen and paper ever. I just live my life and if I say something funny, I jot it down in my phone. I never really construct jokes anymore, they just happen onstage now."
She Got Her Big Break in 2009
Nikki Glaser was also inspired by Sarah Silverman.
Before making it big, Glaser cemented her empire through a 2009 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She received an invitation to perform a set after Paula Abdul dropped out, but she was asked to deliver a two-year-old routine.
"I grabbed my roommate's laptop and then I'm searching through the DVDs [for the right set], like throwing them, and then I see it!" she revealed in 2022. "And so I get in the car... I literally have five and a half minutes to watch this five-and-a-half-minute set and memorize it."
She Joined 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 27
Nikki Glaser said Taylor Swift was her dancing inspiration.
Outside her career as a comedian, Glaser has also taken on side hustles on TV.
In 2018, she joined Dancing With the Stars and shared the stage with her professional dance partner, Gleb Savchenko. However, they were eliminated immediately on the second night of the show.
Glaser also previous appeared on The Masked Singer.
Nikki Glaser Participated on 'The Roast of Tom Brady'
Nikki Glaser toured for a decade as a road comic before scoring her big break.
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After appearing in Netflix's Tom Brady roast, which aired in May 2024, Glaser opened up about the project being something "that changed my [her] life forever."
"I did not know the magnitude of it. I knew that it was going to be a big moment of my career, but I didn't know that it would be the linchpin that I'll always reference that point as before and after the roast," she told People in September 2024. "In terms of my career, it feels like it's changed that drastically and I'm glad that I took it as seriously as I did. I didn't know it was going to be such a big deal, but I knew it'd be a big deal, so I just prepared so hard."
Glaser also shared how she prepared herself for the show, explaining, "I just put everything I had into it so that no matter what happened, I could say, 'Well, at least I did my best.' That's just how I approached it."
Nikki Glaser Also Appeared in Films and TV Specials
Nikki Glaser's 'Nikki Glaser: Someday You'll Die' is nominated for the Best Stand-Up Comedy Performance at the 2025 Golden Globe Awards.
Over the years, Glaser has appeared in different films and TV specials, including Punching the Clown, Trainwreck, Punching Henry, Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe and Welcome Home Nikki Glaser?, to name a few.
She Is a Podcast and Radio Host
Nikki Glaser has nearly two million followers on Instagram.
According to her Instagram page, Glaser is currently hosting "The Nikki Glaser" podcast.
She previously appeared on other shows, including "The Debaters," "We Know Nothing" and "You Up? With Nikki Glaser."
Nikki Glaser Said She Had Cosmetic Procedure Plans Before Her Golden Globes Gig
The Golden Globes tapped Nikki Glaser to host the 2025 ceremony in August 2024.
In a December 2024 broadcast with CBS Mornings, Glaser revealed she postponed her plastic surgery plans to prepare for her hosting gig at the 82nd annual Golden Globe Awards.
"So, for January 2025, I was going to possibly have, like, a brow lift or some kind of really invasive surgery that I've been, you know, looking into getting," she said, adding her two agents called her about the job.
She continued, "You know it's good news because when it's bad news, they just make one person do it 'cause no one wants to do that. And they're like, 'So, this operation, is there any way you could push it 'til maybe the second week of January?'"
Nikki Glaser Struggled With Alcohol Misuse in the Past
Nikki Glaser will hold her Alive and Unwell Tour this year.
Since December 9, 2011, Glaser started her sobriety journey after struggling with alcohol misuse for years.
According to the comedian, she stopped her consumption after she began experiencing frequent blackouts and a draining hangover.
"I was like in the shower, in the fetal position, thinking, 'This is how I should feel if I’m dying.' I really don’t want to feel this bad unless I am on my way out," she revealed during a 2019 appearance on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.
