When it comes to standup comedy specials, the production has long been simple: Place a comic on stage, set up a few cameras and capture the set. But with the new Hulu special “Good Girl,” Nikki Glaser’s team pushed beyond that traditional framework, elevating the genre to match the comic and Golden Globes host’s rising star power.
The shift didn’t happen overnight. Glaser first partnered with production company Done+Dusted on her HBO special “Someday You’ll Die,” a collaboration that executive producer and company partner David Jammy describes as a turning point.
“That was her coming out,” Jammy told TheWrap. “It was her saying, ‘Hey, I’m really good and I’m a star.’”
The timing proved pivotal. Just weeks before that special dropped in May 2024, Glaser’s buzzy appearance on “The Roast of Tom Brady” propelled her into the mainstream.
“It shot her into the stratosphere of the top comics,” Jammy said. “She was suddenly all over the world.”
With “Good Girl,” the team leaned fully into that momentum, following her back-to-back hosting gigs at the Golden Globes, among other hosting opportunities. The Done+Dusted team pondered how they could expand the genre.
“On paper, producing a standup special is very simple,” Jammy explained. “But we said, what if we approached it like a pop star concert? What if we treated it as storytelling — both in the material and in how it’s presented visually?”
For Glaser, that reframing was transformative.
“Most comics just look at a special as a way to get their material out there,” she said in a statement to TheWrap. “They handle the jokes, but how it’s packaged is usually little to none of their business. As a lazy comic, it makes the special easier for us to make. But after working with Done+Dusted, I realized I had been leaving so much potential on the table.”
She credited Jammy and collaborator Chris Convy with pushing her out of her comfort zone.
“They were the first team who asked me questions like, ‘What is this special trying to say?’ or ‘Why is this moment different from all your others?’” she said. “They encouraged me to see myself as an artist (not just a clown) who deserves to make something exceptional.”
Done+Dusted hired a top-of-the-line creative team to realize their ambitious vision for the special. Academy Awards production designer Elina Billingsley created an intricate backdrop that changed throughout Glaser’s set. The team also enlisted Bobby Dickinson, the lighting designer behind awards shows like the Grammys and Tonys, to elevate the experience for those at home and in the room. And Hamish Hamilton, the man behind awards shows like the Grammys and the Oscars as well as the Super Bowl Halftime Show for the past 15 years, directed the special.
Glaser’s open even reflected her larger-than-life comic persona. Inspired by arena tours from artists like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, the special features a pop star-style entrance with Glaser emerging dramatically onto the stage walking out to her own original hype song.
“We wanted to have fun with the open,” Jammy said. “What if she comes out from under the floor like a pop star? But with enough self-awareness that it doesn’t feel pretentious or obnoxious.”
The production emphasized texture, lighting and atmosphere to mirror the emotional shifts in Glaser’s material. That included structuring the special in chapters, with lighting changes and tonal pivots that guide the audience through different phases of her set.
“The idea of it being a journey — those changes of gears — they’re subtle, but they really make a difference,” Jammy said.
The final stretch, for example, becomes intentionally more raucous, with bolder visuals to match the heightened energy of Glaser’s performance. The final section kicks off with Glaser handing her dad her blazer before giving the audience in her words, “horrifying details about my vagina.”
Now 40, Glaser brings a different perspective to her material, blending her signature raunchiness with a sharper sense of self-awareness.
“She’s supremely comfortable with herself in this show,” Jammy said. “She’s relaxed. She’s at ease. She’s owning the space that she has.”
That confidence allowed the production team to focus less on shaping the material — which Glaser had refined over nearly a year — and more on building an environment that amplified it. Jammy said he and the directorial team encouraged Glaser to slow down and savor audience reactions, trusting that pacing could always be adjusted in the edit.
Even the title, “Good Girl,” reflects the team’s storytelling-first approach. Like the jokes themselves, it’s meant to reveal its full meaning only over the course of the special, a subversive wink that aligns with Glaser’s comedic voice.
Jammy also revealed one alternate title that didn’t make the cut: “The Dangler.” (Watch the special to learn what Glaser meant by that one.)
“Good Girl” is available to stream on Hulu.
