Nikki Glaser in Good Clean Filth Special, FBoy Island, Joe Rogan – The Hollywood Reporter

Moments in Nikki Glaser’s latest comedy special, Good clean dirt, she poses a hypothesis to her audience: If you had to perform oral sex on one of your parents, who would it be? It’s one of the most innocent tracks of the hour, which aired July 16 on HBO. But none of his new tracks will shock Glaser enthusiasts. She built a following for her ability to marry rude and clever. She also made her career out of it. Glaser recently starred in an E! Network reality TV (Welcome home Nikki Glaser?), hosts the HBO Max dating contest Boy’s Island and is even considering a sitcom. That she’s become much busier after a 2020 move to her hometown of St. Louis speaks to both her industry appeal and her restlessness.

Speaking from his hotel room on the Sunset Strip on a trip back in July for meetings and a few sets at LA’s beloved The Comedy Store, Glaser spoke about the enduring appeal of touring, anger on stage after-deer and why she took off her shirt (her bra remained) while performing at a ballpark.

You recorded this special a while ago, right?

I did it in November and it was supposed to come out in March. But I’m so bad at looking at myself, and I still wanted to edit it, so I had to tell HBO, “Sorry, I need an extension.” It was like writing to my professors at university: “My printer is broken! My computer froze! My grandmother is dead !”

Knowing what we know now, would you have liked to have looked more into the American history of surveillance of women’s bodies??

If I had shot it after the overthrow of deer, he would have had an anger – an anger that might have repelled some viewers more than it already repelled them. I’m glad there’s still hope that might not be there for me on stage.

You are touring a lot at the moment.

The comics simply put names on their tours to make them seem new. If we ever take a break, it’s because we’re doing a project that takes us off the road. We don’t know how not to say yes to concerts.

Many comics have said they are rethinking touring after the pandemic. Why not you?

Money is so ridiculous. Television money is beautiful and good. But when you start selling tickets in theaters and add two shows in one night. …I’m not a greedy person, but it’s money that gives you freedom. So, I do it for the money and because I don’t want to be forgotten. And it’s fun!

Let’s come back to this anger, how does it manifest itself on stage?

The day after deer knocked down, I was on tour with Bert Kreischer and a bunch of guys. The only other girl was the DJ. Bert takes his shirt off on stage every performance, and it’s hilarious. He’s a big hairy guy. So I took off my shirt as a tribute to him because all his fans were there. But what I was really thinking was, “I’m going to take off my shirt and fuck you if it’s distracting.” Fuck you, if it’s titillating. I really have a hard time with that. You can only take off your shirt if you have a body that is not sexually attractive. Trying to be sexy and funny at the same time doesn’t work. And if you’re trying to be sexy, you’re sad, you’re thirsty, especially if you’re 38. I think deer being knocked down is about women being punished for fucking other men and not about the guys making the rules. They want to be fucked, and they’re crazy about it. So they have to punish us bitches.

Your reality show gimmick was moving from Los Angeles to St. Louis. Abortion is now illegal in Missouri. Do you plan to stay?

I’m looking for an exit strategy. I love St. Louis, and I love not being in New York or LA and feeling this pressure that I feel when I’m here – constantly being outside, constantly working. But I’m really sick of all the things that a lot of people are sick of. It’s hard to be there [here]. And the problem is not the people who have the Trump flags. At least these people are honest and tell us who they are.

The season finale included a staged development meeting for a sitcom with showrunner Bill Lawrence. Do you want to act more?

Every comedian is supposed to have your stand-up, then you get your Seinfeld Where Everybody loves Raymond. I never wanted that. That’s a lot of waiting in a caravan. The only reason I agreed to do it was because Bill assured me we would do it with fun people. I see a lot of my friends, brilliant stand-ups, getting into scripting and…whoa! It does not translate. I’m just afraid of doing something stupid.

You host Fboy Island. How do you reconcile your ostensibly feminist point of view with hosting a dating show where half the men try to cheat on women for money?

I told the producers, “I have to be as in the dark as the girls about things. Because I don’t want to mislead them in any way.

Do you feel in conflict with the the fact that a self-identified player can get all the money and leave the women with nothing?

No way. I am a girl who often chooses Fboys, knowing that she is an Fboy. By the time they choose, the guy already identifies as a nice guy or a Fboy. They decided if they trusted him. So it’s really about trusting your instincts. Also, we took that first Fboy’s money and donated it to charity. Yes, there are situations where these women are designed to look silly, and we kind of celebrate the douchebaggery — but as a host, I can make fun of it all the time.

It kills me that you can’t just say “fuck boy”.

I say. There were so many times we had to stop filming, and a producer would say, ‘Nikki, you said ‘damn boy.’ We have to get it back again. We’re leaning into the name stupidity this season.

Your Wikipedia page makes a weird note of how many times you’ve done Joe Rogan podcast. In today’s hyper-polarized culture, would you continue?

I disagree with much of what he did, but should I continue now? Most likely. ‘Cause I was like, “What are you doing?” I feel like I could tell him that. I used to hate that “We have to bring the other side and listen to it” argument. But I think that’s the way to go, to find commonalities. And I’m sick of canceling people. I mean, I love it. There’s something about it that’s so delicious. There are people I desperately want to leave the company for the things they have done and said. But I’ve said things in the past that I don’t stand by. I want to go on and challenge these things in a playful way, coming from someone who is a friend. That’s how I rationalize. I may be completely wrong.

Your fondness for Taylor Swift comes back a lot in your act. Have you ever heard of her?
Only when she responded to my Instagram post, apologizing for talking meanly about her in the past. I’ll just wait for the universe to bring us together. Really, I don’t even want to meet her. It would take so much effort to calm me down, and I need her to focus on writing and living her best life.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

This story first appeared in the July 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.