Despite her success at celebrity roasts and comedy specials, comedian Nikki Glaser revealed at the TIME100 Summit on Wednesday (April 23) that there was one joke she told during the 2025 Golden Globes on Jan. 5 that she worried went too far.
“I didn’t say anything that was like, calling anyone ugly or fat,” she told TIME deputy editor Kelly Conniff in New York City. “I think I get a reputation of being mean because of the roasts. I’m hired to be mean for those. [At] the Golden Globes, it’s not my job to ruin their night.”
However, she conceded she was initially concerned enough about a quip aimed at Selena Gomez’s fiancé, producer Benny Blanco, that she ended up texting Blanco to get his permission to go ahead with the line.
“I said that ‘Selena Gomez is here because of Emilia Pérez and Benny Blanco is here because of the genie who granted him that wish.’ And looking back, I’m like, that could [seem] mean, because everyone’s like, ‘He’s not attractive enough for her,’” she said. “For me, I’ve never looked at them and actually thought that. I feel like she won too. I think he’s really cool. So, because that joke didn’t actually come from a mean place, I felt like it was OK for me to say.”
Still, she was concerned enough about it that she texted him. “I got his number. I said ‘You don’t know me, but I’m hosting this thing, and I hear you’re going to be there. Can I say that you’re there because a genie granted you a wish?’ He was like, ‘That’s hilarious; let me run it by Selena.’ We were all just waiting in the writers’ room. He said ‘Selena thinks it’s great.’ So they gave me permission. It was actually Jimmy Kimmel who told me if you’re worried about a joke and how it’s going to go over, just ask them.”
The fact that Glaser reached out to Blanco to get his permission to tell a borderline-mean joke shows her character. And the fact that Blanco gave her to the go-ahead to tell a joke at his expense shows his.
Gomez was nominated for three awards at this year’s Golden Globes: best supporting actress, motion picture for Emilia Pérez as well as two awards (acting and executive producing) for Only Murders in the Building. She didn’t go home with a Globe, but she went home with something better – a partner who is secure in himself and has a good sense of humor.
Glaser was the first woman to host the Globes solo and has already been hired to lead the awards show again in 2026.
At the TIME event, she said that she sensed that the audience this year was unsure of how hard she was going to go in her humor. “When I first walked out, I knew the energy was like ‘We don’t know what she’s going to do. We’ve seen her do the Tom Brady roast most recently’ – that’s kind of where I popped for most people. In retrospect, I looked back at how terrified they all looked because they were like, ‘She’s going to roast us! She’s going to be just as mean as she was to Tom Brady.’ So, I heard from a lot of them that they were really, really scared. I wish I would have known that. I would have done something to defuse that a little bit.
“Next time is going to be a lot more fun because I think they know the tone that I have now. I go [for jokes], but I’m not going to embarrass you. And if you laugh, I’m only going to make you look good because you’re going to look so relatable laughing. It’s one of the best ways for an untouchable kind of celebrity on a pedestal to look normal.”
Here’s a link to Glaser’s 17-minute conversation at the TIME100 Summit.
