Who influenced Nikki Glaser, and what came after

Every connection with its receipt

Nikki Glaser's comedy fuses confessional sexual candor with the surgical cruelty of the modern roast dais — a combination built from the Joan Rivers lineage, the New York roast-battle circuit, and her Midwestern St. Louis upbringing. This mix maps the stand-up forebears she grew up studying, the pop-cultural obsessions that feed her act, and the younger comics now working her template.

The Kynda mix for Nikki Glaser

• Key Influence · Jesus Is Magic by Sarah Silverman (2005). Glaser has repeatedly named Silverman as the comic who showed her a woman could say the filthiest possible thing with a sweet delivery and let the dissonance do the work. Silverman's persona — wide-eyed, singsong, detonating taboo material about sex and bodily function — is the direct template for Glaser's early club act and for the deadpan smile she wears while delivering her most obscene roast punchlines. ADDITIONAL CONTEXT: filmed concert film by Liam Lynch.
• Influencia Obscura · Elephant in the Room by Patrice O'Neal (2011). The roast-dais craft Glaser practices was codified by the New York comics who made Comedy Central's roasts an art form, and O'Neal was its most feared practitioner — a man who built jokes about gender war and sexual honesty with a heavyweight's patience. Glaser has spoken about studying roast tape obsessively; O'Neal's unflinching command of an uncomfortable room is the hidden technical ancestor of her dais work.
• Local Roots · The Original Kings of Comedy by Cedric the Entertainer (2000). St. Louis is a small comedy town, and Cedric is its most successful export — a reminder that Glaser's hometown produced touring headliners long before she started open mics there. Glaser began performing in St. Louis clubs while still in college at the University of Kansas, working the same Midwestern rooms that shaped Cedric's crowd-work instincts and his insistence on playing to the back of the house.
• Beyond the Medium · 1989 by Taylor Swift (2014). Glaser is among the most publicly devoted Swifties in comedy, discussing the albums at length on her podcast, attending Eras Tour dates, and building bits around the fandom. Swift's method — converting private romantic humiliation into mass-audience confession with specific, named detail — is structurally the same trick Glaser performs with her sex life, and the parasocial intimacy Swift pioneered is the currency Glaser's podcast runs on.
• Peer · I'm Your Girlfriend by Whitney Cummings (2016). Cummings and Glaser came up through the same Los Angeles club and roast ecosystem, both built reputations as dais assassins, and both host confessional podcasts about dating and self-sabotage. Cummings has featured Glaser on her show and the two have appeared together on roast-adjacent panels; this special shows the shared register of brutal relationship candor delivered with total technical control.
• From the Canon · Bangin' by Nikki Glaser (2019). Her first Netflix hour is the clearest statement of the sex-forward persona she spent a decade refining in clubs — explicit, technically precise, and structured so the filth doubles as autobiography about body image and self-worth. It consolidated the voice from Not Safe into a touring headline act and set up the credibility she cashed in on the roast daises a few years later.
• Key Collaborator · Historical Roasts by Jeff Ross (2019). Ross is the roastmaster general who has built and cast Comedy Central's daises for two decades, and Glaser's roast appearances — Rob Lowe, Alec Baldwin, Bruce Willis and the Netflix Brady special — all run through his orbit and his Roast Battle format. This series showcases his craft as the architect of the modern insult set, the form Glaser inherited and then perfected on live television.
• Legacy · We Ride at Dawn by Hannah Berner (2024). Berner moved from reality television into stand-up on exactly the Glaser model: unfiltered sex and dating material, a podcast-first audience, and a persona built on saying the thing other women won't. She has been open about Glaser as a benchmark for the current generation of women headlining on candor, and her Netflix hour lands squarely in the lane Glaser's specials opened.

What influenced Nikki Glaser

• Sarah Silverman. Glaser says she used Silverman's perspective when she began writing jokes. (also via Good Clean Filth, Jesus Is Magic) “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?'” (Wikipedia)
• Conan O'Brien (1963). Glaser is identified as claiming O'Brien as an influence. “actors and comedians who claim O'Brien as an influence include Mindy Kaling , [ 226 ] Pete Holmes , [ 227 ] Seth Meyers , [ 228 ] Nikki Glaser” (Wikipedia)
• Allen Carr. The article says Glaser credits Carr's writing in her recovery. “She has abstained from alcohol since 2011, and also stopped smoking. She credits the writing of Allen Carr in her recovery .” (Wikipedia)
• Jesus Is Magic by Sarah Silverman (2005) “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.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (themoviedb.org)
• 1989 by Taylor Swift (2014) (musicbrainz.org)
• Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler (2008) (openlibrary.org)
• Sex and the City by Darren Star (1998) (themoviedb.org)
• Don't Start with Me by Joan Rivers (2012)
• Midlife Vices by Greg Giraldo (2009)
• Elephant in the Room by Patrice O'Neal (2011)

Peers and kindred spirits

• Brian Frange. Glaser hosted the Not Safe companion podcast with Frange. “We We all worked on Not Safe, which is the show that I hosted on Comedy Central, and and we had the not Safe podcast, which was the companion podcast to the show.” (The Nikki Glaser Podcast)
• Judd Apatow. Glaser acted in Trainwreck, directed by Apatow. “Judd Apatow continues his streak of showcasing the feature talents of comedians with a new untitled edgy romantic comedy he’s working on with Nikki Glaser at Universal Pictures.” (Deadline)
• Gleb Savchenko. Savchenko was Glaser's professional dance partner. “Meet Nikki Glaser and Gleb Savchenko - Dancing with the Stars - YouTube” (Dancing with the Stars)
• Anya Marina. Glaser and Marina co-hosted We Know Nothing. “Anya has another veneer update. Brian shares an irrational fear about wearing a wedding ring and also how he was molested as a 12 year old and only discovered it as an adult. Nikki had a session with a new therapist and so far so good.” (The Nikki Glaser Podcast)
• Dan St. Germain. Glaser hosted the Not Safe companion podcast with St. Germain. “We We all worked on Not Safe, which is the show that I hosted on Comedy Central, and and we had the not Safe podcast, which was the companion podcast to the show.” (The Nikki Glaser Podcast)
• Andrew Collin. Collin co-hosted Glaser's podcast. “Nikki’s life is a total whirlwind right now, so we’re dropping just one pod this week—and it’s a juicy one with Brian Frange, Sean O’Conner, and Andrew Collin in the studio!” (The Nikki Glaser Podcast)
• The Natural Lines. Glaser's filmography credits her in a Natural Lines music video. “Since she never hesitates to tell me what she really thinks, I thought it made perfect sense for Nikki to portray my therapist in the video.” (SPIN)
• Dan Monahan. Glaser and Monahan are credited as co-writers of the song. “Dan Monahan—our co-writer and producer on the track who I work with a ton—built a loop in Pro Tools, and we were all humming and singing.” (Roland Articles)
• Tim Convy. Glaser and Convy are credited as co-writers of the song. “When we work on Ludo and the Nikki stuff, it’s like, “Let’s write a great song that’s a little extra clever and has some laughs along the way.”” (Roland Articles)
• Matt Pond PA. Glaser's filmography credits her in a Matt Pond PA music video. “Music video credits Year Title Band Notes 2021 "Pillar of Salt" Matt Pond PA 2022 "Monotony" The Natural Lines” (Wikipedia)
• Brad Williams. Glaser and Williams performed against each other on Drop the Mic. “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.” (Wikipedia)
• Phil Hanley. Glaser and Hanley co-hosted We Know Nothing. “Glaser co-hosted the podcast We Know Nothing with comedian Phil Hanley and roommate/musician Anya Marina .” (Wikipedia)
• Sara Schaefer. Glaser and Schaefer co-hosted a podcast. “From 2011 to 2014, Glaser hosted a podcast with comedian Sara Schaefer called You Had to Be There .” (Wikipedia)
• Matt Pond. Pond explicitly says he had been working with Glaser. “All the while, I’ve been working with Nikki Glaser” (SPIN)
• Ari Findling. Glaser says she was on the road with fellow comedian Ari Findling. “So I was on the road this weekend with Ari Findling your best friend Andrew and you introduce me to and we were just like every time we would ever be like like he'd be like, hey,” (The Nikki Glaser Podcast)
• Sean O'Connor. Deadline identifies Glaser and O'Connor as co-writers of the planned film. “The sell-out stand-up and WGA award winner who wowed as the host of the Golden Globes last January will star in, produce and co-write. Judd Apatow will produce, and Sean O’Connor will co-write the romcom.” (Deadline)
• Historical Roasts by Jeff Ross (2019) (wikidata.org)
• Mad Men by Jon Hamm (2007) (themoviedb.org)
• Mostly Sex Stuff by Amy Schumer (2012) “She has acted in the Amy Schumer comedy films Trainwreck (2015) and I Feel Pretty (2018) and has appeared on shows such as Inside Amy Schumer and A.P.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• I'm Your Girlfriend by Whitney Cummings (2016) “Fans of the show appreciate Cumming's regular guests, including Nikki Glaser who has featured in multiple episodes, creating the impression of a "highly relatable friendship." In September 2023, Cummings claimed that she was owed over $3…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Country Grammar by Nelly (2000) (musicbrainz.org)
• The Original Kings of Comedy by Cedric the Entertainer (2000) (wikidata.org)
• Irresponsible by Kevin Hart (2019) (wikidata.org)
• You're Welcome by Bert Kreischer (2017)
• Quarter-Life Crisis by Taylor Tomlinson (2020)

Who Nikki Glaser influenced

• We Ride at Dawn by Hannah Berner (2024)
• Natural Selection by Matt Rife (2023)