A couple months before she taped her special, Nikki Glaser had a bad night at a comedy club. After killing with jokes about anal sex, the next comic on the lineup proceeded to dedicate his entire set to talking about how disgusting she was for doing so. She later learned he felt what she was doing was “easy,†a word often thrown at women comedians who talk about sex. It’s something that she’s had to deal with her whole career, since she knows there are men in comedy who think sex jokes are the only reason she’s successful. That’s despite the fact that actually it has been a hindrance and prevented her from being seriously considered for a certain late-night TV gig.
People want to see entertainers do what they are gifted at; as Glaser put it on this week’s episode of Good One, “Do you want to see Paul McCartney do a badminton demonstration?†What some call “easy†out of jealousy is actually what is natural, organic, and special about Glaser. She has long observed the disconnect between how important sex is to people and how hard it is for people to talk about it. And because she’s missing the piece of her brain that says stop when she feels uncomfortable, Glaser believes it is her duty to get dirty. It’s through the prism of sex that, on her last two specials (2019’s Bangin’ and Good Clean Filth, premiering July 16 on HBO), she is able to talk about equally difficult subjects like consent and loneliness.
On Good One, Glaser discusses coming to terms with who she is as a comedian, figuring out how to talk about pedophilia in her act, and whether or not she’s going to quit stand-up. You can listen to the full episode below, and tune in to Good One every Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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