Stand-up comedy 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. Since 2022, St. Louis has celebrated "Nikki Glaser Day" each year. For "Nikki Glaser Day" on September 1, 2025, Glaser was honored with a
St. Louis Cardinals bobblehead at
Busch Stadium.
Podcast and radio From 2011 to 2014 Glaser hosted a podcast with comedian
Sara Schaefer called
You Had To Be There. In March 2015, Glaser appeared on
Giant Bomb's life-advice podcast,
Danswers, talking about subjects such as her experience with co-host
Dan Ryckert at college. Glaser co-hosted the podcast
We Know Nothing with comedian
Phil Hanley and roommate/musician
Anya Marina.
We Know Nothing is a humorous relationship-based podcast that takes calls from listeners and attempts to give them love advice. Beginning in 2018, Glaser hosted multiple shows on Sirius XM channel 38 and on the
pop music channel 314. In February 2018, Glaser began hosting
You Up? With Nikki Glaser, aired on
Sirius XM's Comedy Central Radio. The show was dropped by Sirius XM on May 7, 2020, and continued as a podcast until its final episode on October 2, 2020. Throughout 2018 and 2019 Glaser appeared on the
Howard Stern channels on Sirius XM, including the roast of Ronnie the Limo driver and as a guest on the wrap-up show. On September 24, 2019, she was the feature guest with
Howard Stern for a full-length interview. Glaser appeared on
The Joe Rogan Experience on October 3, 2018; October 3, 2019; and August 20, 2020. The
Nikki Glaser Podcast was hosted by Glaser, featured theme music performed by Anya Marina and was co-hosted by fellow stand-up comedian Andrew Collin until Collin left the show in fall 2022. He was replaced by comedian Brian Frange. The first episode released on March 22, 2021. The final episode of
The Nikki Glaser Podcast posted on March 12, 2025.
Instagram Glaser has developed a substantial following on
Instagram, making her the 26th most followed woman comedian on the platform in 2022. Glaser regards maintaining a social media presence to be demanding work for comedians, describing it as "a television show that never ends."
Film and television Glaser played a small role in
Henry Phillips's 2009 film
Punching the Clown. She appeared as herself in
Jordan Brady's 2010 documentary
I Am Comic and its 2014 sequel,
I Am Road Comic. On January 29, 2013,
Nikki & Sara Live, a weekly television series hosted by Glaser and Schaefer, premiered on
MTV. The show was canceled on October 29, 2013, after two seasons. On April 19, 2013, Glaser appeared in the pilot episode of ''
Those Who Can't'', a television series originally created by Amazon Studios. Glaser's character was replaced by
Maria Thayer in 2015 when the series was picked up by TruTV. Glaser appeared on MTV shows such as
Money from Strangers, ''
Awkward. After Show. You're Welcome., and Failosophy. Glaser had a role in the Judd Apatow-directed film Trainwreck (2015) and I Feel Pretty (2018). On June 2, 2015, Comedy Central approved a sex-themed talk show hosted by Glaser, titled Not Safe with Nikki Glaser. The show premiered on February 9, 2016. The show was picked up by 4Music in the United Kingdom. The show was cancelled in November 2016. On September 5, 2016, Glaser appeared on the Comedy Central Roast of
Rob Lowe as a Roaster. She appeared on the Comedy Central Roast of
Bruce Willis'' on July 28, 2018. On September 12, 2018, Glaser was announced as one of the celebrities competing on
season 27 of
Dancing with the Stars. Her professional partner was
Gleb Savchenko. They were the first couple eliminated from the competition on September 25. On February 6, 2019, Glaser appeared in the third episode of the third season of the celebrity rap-battle competition show
Drop the Mic. She competed against fellow comedian
Brad Williams, winning the battle. In November 2019, the dating show
Blind Date was revived by
Bravo, with Glaser as the new host. On July 30, 2020, Glaser appeared as a panelist on
To Tell the Truth along with co-panelists
Joel McHale,
Oliver Hudson, and
Vivica A. Fox. This was one of her eleven appearances on the show from 2017 through 2021. Glaser is the host of
The CW comedic dating reality television series
FBOY Island and
Lovers and Liars. The former first aired on
HBO Max on July 29, 2021. Glaser's life was featured in the
E! reality series
Welcome Home Nikki Glaser?, which first aired May 1, 2022. Glaser appeared as herself in the 7th season of the
Netflix reality series
Selling Sunset. Glaser competed in
season eight of
The Masked Singer as "Snowstorm". After besting
Chris Jericho as "Bride" and
Adam Carolla as "Avocado" on "Comedy Roast Night" and
Linda Blair as "Scarecrow" and
Ray Parker Jr. as "Sir Bug a Boo" on "Fright Night", she was eliminated during the semifinals, where she finished in third place. In July 2023, Glaser appeared on
Celebrity Family Feud with her family. They competed against
Bebe Rexha and her family. On January 3, 2024, Glaser appeared with her dad E.J. on the first episode of
We Are Family, the game show hosted by
Anthony Anderson. In May 2024, she appeared on Netflix's
The Roast of Tom Brady. Since October 2024, Glaser has also appeared in the first season of
Are You Smarter than a Celebrity? hosted by
Travis Kelce. Glaser hosted the
82nd Golden Globe Awards on
CBS on January 5, 2025. She hosted the
2026 Golden Globes on January 11, delivering jokes about
Bari Weiss' editorialization at CBS News, the age of
Leonardo DiCaprio's girlfriends, and the
Epstein files.
Rolling Stone called Glazer's 2026 Golden Globes monologue a "master class in awards show monologues". ==Personal life==