Nikki Glaser is giving hints about how she plans to keep the audience in stitches when she makes her debut hosting the Golden Globe Awards.
Glaser hinted Friday in an interview with Variety that Taylor Swift might be fodder for some of her jokes — but only under the right circumstances.
The 40-year-old superstar comedian also made it clear to Yahoo! Entertainment that she’ll be avoiding another major celebrity controversy — the dueling lawsuits of It Ends With Us star Blake Lively and her director and costar Justin Baldoni.
Glaser made it clear that the smash musical adaptation Wicked would be providing significant material for her Golden Globes monologue, and she compared the film’s success to that of Swift’s massively successful Eras Tour.
‘It has that Eras Tour energy,’ she said of Wicked.
However, she wanted to avoid stepping on any toes because of the long-running Broadway musical’s rabid fanbase.
Nikki Glaser hinted to Variety on Friday that she might joke about Taylor Swift when she hosts the Golden Globe Awards for the first time on Sunday; seen Thursday at the Golden Globes red carpet rollout
The comedian compared the devotion of Wicked fans to that of Swifties, and she teased some jokes possibly comparing the film to Swift’s Eras Tour; seen in September in Kansas City, Missouri
The 40-year-old superstar comedian also made it clear to Yahoo! Entertainment that she’ll be avoiding another major celebrity controversy — the dueling lawsuits of It Ends With Us star Blake Lively and her director and costar Justin Baldoni
‘I want to respect the fandom and not trash it, because as a Swiftie, there is no joke you can make about Taylor Swift that is OK to me. I relate to people who love Wicked that much,’ Glaser explained sympathetically.
When she was asked directly if any of her jokes would poke fun at Swift, she responded: ‘Not unless it’s a very favorable way.’
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While speaking to Yahoo, Glaser explained that she wasn’t going to try to be as offensive as former Globes host Ricky Gervais, but she always wasn’t going to ‘kiss a** up there the whole time.’
She urged stars in the audience who might be the butt of mild jokes to just smile and laugh along instead of crossing their arms in stony silence.
‘If I make a joke about a bad movie you did once that you had nothing to do with, other than that you were great in a bad movie, just laugh,’ Glaser suggested. ‘It’s a really easy way to look likable to the public and actually it’s a great PR move.
‘Everyone in your camp should encourage you to laugh at jokes. It doesn’t make you cooler to not laugh,’ she continued. ‘I’m trying to make you look good. I really am not out to hurt anyone’s career.’
But the stand-up star also made it clear that she would be steering clear Blake Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit against Justin Baldoni and his subsequent libel suit against the New York Times for printing her complaints.
‘I think the Blake Lively–Justin Baldoni thing is such a hot-button thing right now that even a mere mention of it will seem like I could be on the wrong side of things, even though I would never be,’ she said.
Glaser clarified that, as a Swiftie, she would only joke about Taylor Swift if it was in a ‘very favorable way’; pictured December 6 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
But she won’t touch jokes about Lively or Baldoni because their dueling lawsuits are a ‘hot-button thing’ at the moment, and she doesn’t want to end up on the ‘wrong side of things’; pictured together in a still from It Ends With Us
But Glaser sounded sympathetic to Lively. ‘I also don’t want to give his name any — I’m mad I even know his name, to be honest with you, so I don’t need to say it anymore,’ she said, seemingly referring to Baldoni; pictured in a still from It Ends With Us
Glaser also encouraged stars in the audience to smile and laugh if she makes a gentle joke about them, as it humanizes them to audiences at home more than if they look angry; seen December 17 at the Empire State Building in NYC
‘I also don’t want to give his name any — I’m mad I even know his name, to be honest with you, so I don’t need to say it anymore,’ she added, seemingly referring to Baldoni.
Lively has accused her director and costar of sexually harassing her on the set of their hit romantic drama It Ends With Us, as well as allegedly launching a PR campaign to destroy her public image to blunt her claims.
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In his subsequent lawsuit against the Times, Baldoni tried to dispute several of the claims made in Lively’s lawsuit against him using text messages not cited in her complaint that may change the circumstances of some of their interactions.
The Jane The Virgin star, who has staunchly denied Lively’s allegations, was reported to be planning to follow up his libel lawsuit with a countersuit against the actress, according to People.
Elsewhere in Glaser’s Variety interview, she admitted that she enjoys joking about Wicked ‘because everyone’s seen it.’
That’s not the case with other films, including the Vatican-set thriller Conclave and the French musical crime comedy Emilia Pérez, which is primarily in Spanish.
She claimed that even people she had mentioned the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown to were unaware of the Timothée Chalamet–starring film.
‘Or Nightbitch,’ she said of the dramedy starring Amy Adams. ‘People are like, “What’s that?” It’s kind of shocking.
‘The people at home don’t know these films, so I have to give the plot a little bit,’ Glaser admitted.
The Golden Globe AWards will air Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS. Viewers can also catch it on the CBS app with cable provider credentials, and Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers can watch Sunday on the app, while subscribers who don’t have the Showtime add-on can watch the ceremony on Paramount+ starting on Monday.