American comedian, actress, and television host Nikki Glaser is the first woman to independently host the Golden Globes, and she deserves it more than ever. Glaser, now 40 years old, started her career in comedy roughly two decades ago at the age of 18. She has had many jobs in the Hollywood industry, the most obvious being stand-up comedy. However, she has also had several opportunities as an actress, podcaster, radio host, and television host. When she first started, she didn’t have much life experience to use as inspiration. Being that her humor was more personal than observational, she fell to Sarah Silverman, another known comedian and actress, for inspiration.
Glaser’s humor, as she explained in her interview with CBS Sunday Morning, “Is a little dark and a little dirty,” which is fitting as it similarly matches Sarah Silverman’s humor. During the beginning of Glaser’s career, she was struggling with an eating disorder and alcoholism. This limited her social and personal life, causing her to draw some inspiration from outside of what she knew. For Glaser, Silverman was her first true role model for what she dreamed of becoming. This formed her idea of writing for someone else or through someone else to help her overall content-creating process.
Glaser found out she was hosting this year’s 2025 Golden Globe Awards while she was watching The Bear with her boyfriend, Chris Convy. She received a phone call from both of her agents, and after all, two agents almost always mean good news. They called asking if she would be okay pushing back an intense surgery she was planning on having, to do at the Golden Globes instead. It was an automatic yes for Glaser. Her agents went into how much she’d get paid and she screamed, “I get paid?” because for her, “It was just like a no-brainer.” Glaser loves what she does and joked that she’ll, “Spend my money just trying to stay hot to stay in this business.” Her pure passion for what she does is refreshing and allows audiences to connect with her personally.
For any comedian, there’s a set of nerves that automatically come along with hosting the Golden Globes. Glaser felt differently, however, commenting, “I know this is crazy, but I just know I’m going to nail it. Maybe I won’t nail it in some people’s eyes but will have nailed it in my eyes.” This highlights her values of self-fulfillment rather than seeking others’ approval. Glaser is committed to making sure, “There will be no part of me that goes, ‘Oh I wish I would have just worked a little bit harder.’” After months of testing skits out with audiences, she is confident it will be a hit because if people are already enjoying the content, and the celebrities aren’t there to laugh with them, it has to be good.
This is especially true after the controversy around the 2024 Golden Globes. Last year Jo Koy hosted the Golden Globes and was met with harsh backlash and criticism from audiences at home. Glaser commented on Koy’s past performance in an interview with Variety, detailing how, “It taught me the importance of contextualizing yourself to the room as a comedian.” She pointed out that not everyone will know who she is, and that affects how they receive a joke. As Glaser examined Koy’s performance she explained that, “He’s a guy that kills harder than anyone I’ve seen kill before—to his audience. So I think he thought that would be the vibe there. And it was a little naive.” She took that criticism to heart and dedicated herself to, “Making sure they’re introduced to me before I start making jokes about them.”
Nikki Glaser has raised the standards for hosts to come. She orchestrated her performance with grace, and she is getting the recognition she deserves from all across the board. The difference between this year’s performance and last year’s performance also doesn’t go unnoticed as a critic from The Hollywood Reporter praised Glaser’s performance by saying it was a, “Tremendous improvement over last year’s event.” Jo Koy’s off night he described after hosting The Golden Globes left countless women speechless, ironically proving the Barbie movie’s criticism of gender roles. Which just goes to show that Barbie is not just a plastic doll.
