Yes, Nikki Glaser really does live in St. Louis, Missouri, now. The comedian moved back to her hometown at the start of the pandemic and captured the shenanigans for her new reality show “Welcome Home Nikki Glaser.”
She knows that people may not believe her, but that’s because “everyone in show business thinks everything is fake,” she tells TheWrap.
It’s a fair assessment, given that much of the action on reality shows is actually created by the producers. And Glaser admits that they do create more interesting scenarios for the show than she’d probably find herself in otherwise (binging Netflix and scrolling on social media doesn’t make for good TV), but she also is committed to as much authenticity as possible.
So much so that she almost recast her real-life mom, who was panicking about having cameras in her potentially unkempt home. That’s a joke. Sort of. “She’s still a little obsessed with what people think. So I allowed it. I was like ‘Okay, I’ll get you a housekeeper,’” Glaser explains.
Below, the E! star chatted with TheWrap about how filming a reality show is sort of like running a zoo, as well as her thoughts on the state of the comedy industry post-Slapgate.
As an LA transplant myself, I don’t know if I could see myself moving back to my hometown. What sparked that transition for you?
Well, the reason I ever left my hometown was to pursue a career. It wasn’t me really running from anything. You just can’t have a show business career in St. Louis, or the kind that I want. When the pandemic hit, it looked like my job was going away. I was with my parents in Los Angeles when everything was getting shut down. I was like, ‘I don’t want to leave them.’ I was just kind of scared, like we all were. So I went to St. Louis to stay at my parents’ house for a couple of weeks, however long this thing was going to last. So, long story short, I really had nowhere to go. I was starting over kind of with all my belongings. So I moved out, and I moved into a place in St. Louis. Now that the world has opened up, I think that I realized you can have a great career that doesn’t have to be in New York or LA. Everyone in LA thinks I’m in New York, and everyone in New York thinks I’m in LA. Even after they watch the TV show, they still think I’m lying about it, because everyone in show business thinks everything is fake.
It’s funny you mention everyone in show business thinking it’s all fake. I think a lot of times with reality TV, people do wonder how much of it is real. What is that real-to-scripted ratio for “Welcome Home”?
I always say reality TV is like the zoo. If you think the zoo is fake, then you’ll think reality shows are fake. The habitats are fake situations, they might be preconceived, but what happens within those parameters that are created by producers — all the emotions, all the dialogue — that stuff is real. My parents and me and my friends are not good enough actors to repeat lines and anyone who thinks reality TV is acting, like you obviously have never tried acting before because it ain’t easy. I think that a lot of my self-esteem issues through my life and just mental health issues have been because of celebrities pretending to be real. So I purposely didn’t clean my room. I didn’t wear a cute outfit unless that was called for in my life. I didn’t buy new clothes. I didn’t straighten my house up. I wanted to be real because there’s nothing wrong with being a messy girl. I mean, it’s the anti-Kardashians for sure. Perfection is not something that I was trying to exude at any point, and if anything I was trying to not do that because that’s just all illusion.
I read that you told your mom you were going to recast her because she wanted everything to be perfect, and you just wanted her to be herself. Obviously, it worked out?
Yeah, but that is my mom. Actually, I was okay with that because that is my mom. She’s still a little obsessed with what people think. So I allowed it. I was like ‘Okay, I’ll get you a housekeeper.’ I paid for some of the stuff that she wanted done before she agreed to have cameras roll in. And now she sees the show, and she’s like, ‘Next time I am not wearing makeup. I don’t wear that much makeup ever.’ But she thought, ‘I’m on TV. I gotta do makeup.’ Next time she’s gonna take it a little bit easier. I love that she’s like, ‘I don’t like not looking like myself even though it may look better.’
Right, I think that all moms are that way. My mom has to make sure the house is clean even if it’s just like the neighbors coming over.
She was so worried about how she would come off and I go ‘Mom, you love The Housewives.’ There’s not a single housewife that, if you saw them at the airport, you wouldn’t go ‘Oh my god. I love you.’ And they have done dastardly things. You haven’t. You’ve seen them in like horrible states of drunkenness or anger, where they have been ugly versions of themselves. What are you going to do on a TV show that’s gonna make anyone not like you? Being unlikable on TV actually is, unfortunately, it works for you more often than not.
That’s hilarious, and I think you’re right.
Everyone on this show is not wanting to be on the show. That’s the most interesting thing about it. Besides me and Andrew, my roommate, who is also a comedian. We are the only people who have any goal of being famous or wanting to be the center of attention. The rest of my family is like, ‘Do I have to be on TV?’ I thought it was a gift that I was giving them and they were all like, ‘No, we don’t want that. We’ll do it for you.’ And I’m like, ‘How do you not want to be on TV?’ Any reality show you see, people want to be famous — like they all just want Instagram followers. My parents don’t even know how to use Instagram. So it’s refreshing to see people who don’t know how to be fake or desperate for strangers to love them as much. My mom’s more worried about her family thinking she looks good rather than strangers.
You make a comment in your intro about being a woman in comedy. What’s your take on the state of the industry right now, especially given all the conversations about violence against comedians?
I’m not going to deny that being a woman in comedy is not the same as being a man, but I never looked at it as like, ‘This isn’t fair.’ I’m definitely angry about misogyny and us making less money and all the things that aren’t good, but I’m grateful that I’m a woman in comedy and I’ve always looked at it as a boon rather than an obstacle. But I do struggle with categorizing myself as a female comic as opposed to just a comic, because I just never thought of myself as a female comic until people started being like, ‘There’s a female comic coming to the stage. Are you guys ready for a woman?’ Now I am proud to identify as a female comedian because actually female comedians are my favorite. We’re kind of the angriest, and we think more emotionally and this is more interesting for me to listen to because I relate.
I will say that the state of comedy with everything that’s going on with the assaults happening on stage, I am horrified by it. I just don’t think violence is obviously ever the answer. But I’ve always been scared of violence against me, not just from people who are angry at me, but from people who love me. I do meet and greets every weekend and I’ll have a guy reaching into his pocket to pull out a Taylor Swift ring he bought me and I’m like, for a second, I think it might be something else. I am constantly telling people where I’m gonna be so that they can meet me, what time I’m going to be on stage. And not all these places have metal detectors. I’m putting myself in harm’s way.
So when it comes to jokes, though, and people getting angry about it, I’ve always said that I am not someone who I don’t think comedy is so important that I can’t look at it and go, ‘Oh, I was wrong about that.’ I’m a dumb comedian. I don’t have a degree. This isn’t a TED Talk. I’m just a girl who has some opinions that make things funny enough that people wanted to hear her talk. I would tell the audience before my show, don’t come up and hit me. If you have a problem with me, just leave. You can DM me on Instagram, and I will Venmo you your money back. Because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I’m trying to get people to like me and to listen to me. I’m not a comedian who thrives off of angering people or upsetting them or making them uncomfortable. It might seem that way because I do roast jokes. And I do quote-unquote, offensive material stuff like that. But I really want people to like me and to listen to me. So I don’t want to alienate anyone.
Who are some of your comedy inspirations?
Honestly, Eminem. I know that sounds crazy. He broke out when I was in high school and I just couldn’t believe that someone could say, like, insanely offensive things. He was just telling the truth and saying really dark things. He wasn’t really murdering people. He really wasn’t doing these things, but he could joke about them. I don’t know. It really intrigued me how brave he was to say some really f—ed up stuff.
New episodes of “Welcome Home Nikki Glaser” air Sundays on E! at 10 p.m. ET.