Q&A with Nikki Glaser on not drinking, funny people and analyzing her level of fame

Nikki Glaser’s The Good Girl Tour comes to the Steven Tanger for the Performing Arts on Sunday, March 5. Tickets are still available through tangercenter.com.

Comedian Nikki Glaser works all the time. Her 2022 stand-up special Good Clean Filth is still running on HBO, as is “F-Boy Island,” the dating show she hosted. She’s got her own podcast, is in high demand on roasts and talk shows, and she recently appeared as Snowstorm on “The Masked Singer.” Her relentless touring schedule brings her through the Triad this week.

Does the industry still treat women in comedy as like a separate thing, like a ladies’ auxiliary or some sort of sub-group?

I think so. I’ve always looked at it as a hindrance and a benefit to my career. I think that because there are so few of us, it’s always good to be something that’s more rare. I relate it to female cops and female Uber drivers and construction workers. And there’s more women doing it all the time, because girls are being empowered to be funny.

I hate when people say women aren’t funny, but at the same time I have benefited from stupid people who think women aren’t funny, because I am funny. I never looked at myself as a woman comic, but I was never one to run from that label. Male comics and I relate to each other the same way male comics relate to one another. But there is also a sisterhood of comics that men cannot get in on.

Your material is pretty raw, but a lot of comedy is raw. What’s different about your stuff?

I always used to be okay with being labeled ‘blue” — that’s where the woman thing comes into play. I am personified as a raunchy comedian because it’s rare for a woman to talk the way I do. I think of it as honesty — the things that we’re all thinking but not saying. I dabble in honesty, not filth.

I don’t like to offend people, hurt people’s feelings, make people grossed out. It’s more about what I’m interested in talking about, the way I want to do comedy. I always said I’ll stop talking about sex when it doesn’t interest me anymore. And I have to say, this tour, I’m not talking about sex as much.

What is the difference between you in life and your stage persona?

I would say zero. I mean, it’s a heightened version because of the adrenaline of being on stage, the nature of being in a performance: You dial it up a bit. But I could be having the same conversation off stage as on; it’s the same energy. I don’t have to channel some kind of character; I don’t have to walk out on stage and pretend my life is roses. I don’t have to perform. The best comedy is authentic and real. That’s the biggest skill in comedy: To go onstage and be yourself.

You don’t drink. Do you want to talk a little about that?

I was just at a point where I was drinking every night. You get paid in booze a lot. These very late nights in my twenties was a huge part of [my decision]. Then I started to see the hangovers. I quit because I had just gotten a pilot and it was my first big shot and you can’t make a show sleeping until 4 pm every day. I saw all the comics that got the most work done weren’t drinking; the most successful ones didn’t drink. It wasn’t a fix-all for me, but I think it was the greatest decision I ever made for me.

How famous are you? What’s the best part of your level of fame?

I am uncomfortable using that word. So many people never heard of me, never will hear of me. Then other people know everything about me.

I would say I am at the perfect level of fame because I am at the level where famous people know who I am. You always want the approval of your peers, so when people you admire know who you are, that’s a good level of fame. Like Martin Short knows who I am. Jerry Seinfeld is a fan, though I have never met him. Like Stephen Stills. That’s my level of fame.

I don’t get recognized; I can walk around. I wipe down my equipment at the gym even when I don’t want to because someone might know who I am.

Any time someone recognizes me it’s a goddamn treat. I get the perks of being well-known when I want them.

I could get a little more famous; moving up a couple notches would give me more opportunities and fun things to do in my career. But I don’t need to be more famous. I love famous people but man, I have opinions about them! The more famous you get the more people hate you. I don’t mind if you hate me and you do know who I am, but I can’t stand when strangers hate me.

You are big-time now, but what was your last shitty gig like?

It wasn’t that long ago! I am still under the mindset that I don’t deserve any of this, like I tricked someone. I mean, I have one coming up. I’m playing a country club that I got talked into. I get booked on corporate events. I do favors for people, do a show or something for less than I would have asked for in 2010.

I don’t think of myself as big time. I think my agents and managers have to remind me sometimes.

You have not played a lot of gigs in the South. Any expectations with a Southern audience?

I mean, there’s a part of me that think they’re gonna be a little more sensitive, but at the same time, the South can get down and dirty. I’m not scared.

I don’t think I’m as popular in the South as in other places. Who knows why? I might offend a few Southern belles, but I think everyone appreciates honesty. And if they come to my show and hear stuff they don’t like, they should have done their research.

Who is the funniest person you know?

I would say my best friend from high school, Kerstin, and then Rachel Feinstein and then David Spade. I have thought about this a lot. Those are the three funniest people I know that are just naturally funny, and it’s frustrating that one of them is a pilates instructor in Kansas City.

Can you close with a joke?

A cop pulls over a car with two priests, and he says, “We’re looking for two pedophiles.” The priests look at each other for a second and then one of them says, “Okay, we’ll do it.”

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