Nikki Glaser is turned on.
That night, Glaser had a career-changing set.
After a series of (very funny!)
Tom also lost $30 million in crypto, Glaser said.
Tom, how did you fall for that?
(I did, Gronk grunted onstage.)
The crowd gave Glaser a standing ovation.
Suddenly, Glaser was everywhere.
She appeared onThe Howard Stern Showand the massive podcastSmartLess.
She began a 67-show theater tour of North America that will continue through June.
I desperately seek their approval.
At her career apex, Pitt probably now knows of Nikki Glaser.
Im just, like, not horny anymore, she says.
Sex for me is like playing tag.
As a kid, all you wanna do is play tag, or go on a playground.
I have no interest in that now as an adult.
Like, thats exhausting.
Since the special aired, you stopped being horny?
Yes, Glaser tells me.
Im craving that people cant get to me.
High expectations are producing high anxiety.
It feels like, Oh, no.
I tricked them, Glaser says.
One day recently, Glaser was crying to a friend.
Im just a fraud, she said.
And I didnt even write that joke that everyone is obsessed with and compliments me for all the time.
Because the goal was to be at this level.
And now Im here, and Im miserable?
Like, then I should stop and start a pet rescue.
Apparently getting everything you ever wanted is a good way to lose your desire.
Why is it someone so close to me?
Like, why didnt I get that?
And it was someone who talked about having kids someday.
(Such an incredible athlete.
This niche fostered enough fame to get Glaser ontoDancing With the Stars,but she only lasted one episode.
I just have to be myself.
Which means talking about the elements of her new status that elicit primal sensitivities.
Being onFBoy Islandwas a struggle at times, Glaser says, eating a chopped salad and drinking San Pellegrino.
(Glaser is vegan, sober for over a decade, and basically only drinks carbonated beverages.)
Glaser spent (and continues to spend) a lot of time and energy bridging her dysmorphic gaps.
You arent a model, she screamed at Glaser.
Youll never be one.
Glaser says, It was hard to hear, but it was also kind of nice?
As a woman, she says, You dont get to be funny and have self-esteem.
Youre not Martin Short.
I wish a car would hit me, she said in a recent voice memo.
The groups response: Thats so funny, write that down.
and hang up.)
Im ready for a challenge, she says.
Glaser looks happy for one of a small handful of moments all day.
Ill feel so good after I have accomplished it, she says, hopefully.
IT ANNOYS GLASER when people tell her she shouldnt worry about beauty or aging because shes like Joan Rivers.
Youre about jokes, not your looks, they tell Glaser.
And its, like, insulting to me and Joan, Glaser says.
We care about our looks too, clearly.
And thank God she didnt, because we got Joan.
Glaser is nervous about her final joke tonight it might be too much.
But Im kind of thrilled by the risk, because Joan said the most crazy things all the time.
She was constantly making people groan and saying things that were inappropriate.
Were in the green room of the Apollo, and Glaser is sorry, Nikki!
very hot in a tight Nineties-Versace-style black dress with gold cord detailing at the hips.
(Its just fillers and Botox so far, but Glaser is dreaming of a brow lift.)
Youre the next Joan Rivers.
Like when people tell me I look exactly like my dad stop telling women they look like their dad.
But surely, being compared to Joan, what a gift.
I want to make people laugh by speaking the unspeakable.
I want to turn pain into joy.
The audience tells her they like her and Glaser gets her dopamine hit, for now.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Hair byCOREY TUTTLE.
Photographic assistance byLAURA BREGMAN.
Photographed atTHE APOLLO THEATER.
