Comedian Nikki Glaser is preparing to host the 2025 Golden Globes by testing her monologue at various stand-up shows in Los Angeles. Glaser has been actively honing her material in front of live audiences to perfect her opening act. “I have nine shows between now and Sunday because I want to keep testing out jokes, and I want to keep getting the monologue in the most perfect place it can be,” Glaser said at the red carpet rollout for the Globes at The Beverly Hilton.
Glaser’s upcoming shows include sets at The Comedy Store, Hollywood Improv, and The Ice House Pasadena. These are in addition to the various other stand-up shows where she has already tested her Globes material in recent months. “It’s been a really collaborative process,” Glaser said.
“I go on stage, and I just say, ‘Hey guys, do you mind if I run my set?’ And everyone’s so excited. They feel like they’re part of this interesting, kind of secretive process because they are.”
Glaser revealed that she tells her test crowds, “If you laugh at a joke and then you hear that same joke on Sunday night when you watch the Globes, you can literally be like, ‘I told her to do that joke,’ because you did.”
Sunday’s show marks Glaser’s first time hosting the Golden Globes. Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner of White Cherry Entertainment return as showrunners for the second year in a row.
Nikki testing jokes in L.A.
“Having done many, many award shows and working with many hosts, Nikki is determined and Nikki is really putting in the homework,” Weiss said. “And that is what is gonna make this night really successful right from the get-go.”
Glaser was announced as the host in August 2024 following her standout performance during the Tom Brady roast.
She is preparing for her HBO special “Someday You’ll Die” this year. When asked about her initial reaction to being asked to host the show, Glaser said, “I thought, ‘They made a good decision.’ Because I know what to do to make it great. I know the amount of work that goes into it.
I take it very seriously.”
While Glaser is counting on her test audiences to keep her Golden Globes jokes a secret until Sunday, she revealed that there’s one star she plans to call out during the show. “I can’t not talk to Timothée Chalamet, because he is just such a moment,” Glaser said. “I loved him in ‘A Complete Unknown’ so much.
I want to give him his flowers for that performance and I don’t know if I’ll be able to talk to him at the afterparty, so being on stage might be my only chance to be like, ‘Dude, you were so good in that.’ So if the only way for me to say that is to tell a joke, I will then tell a joke, because I have to let him know. That’ll be fun.”
The Golden Globes air live Sunday on CBS and stream on Paramount+ at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.
