Nikki Glaser says Sarah Silverman is inspirational because 'she seems really nice but says crazy things'

When it comes to comedy and being a little crazy, Nikki Glaser is taking cues from Sarah Silverman.

Glaser, who recently stole the spotlight with searing jokes at Netflix's The Roast of Tom Brady, cited Silverman as a huge inspiration during a recent interview with the Cut, admitting that the Saturday Night Live alum helped to shape her stand-up persona. 

“Finding a way to be yourself onstage is so hard,” Glaser said. “When I was four years into comedy, it started emerging in little places, and I’d be like, Oh, what did I just do? But people really responded to it.” 

She named Silverman as an example of the reputation she wanted to cultivate: "She seems really nice but says crazy things,” Glaser said. “I like being met where people still like me and are rooting for me, even when I can show sides of myself that are cuckoo.”

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This isn’t the first time Glaser has spoken of her admiration for Silverman — in fact, the Lovers and Liars host has already experienced the dream come true moment of meeting her hero face-to-face. During a 2022 appearance on the Today Show, she gushed directly to Silverman, who joined her for a chat with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager.

"When I first discovered her, it opened up a world to me that I didn't know existed where you could be adorable and honest and sometimes kinda gross and still be lovable,” Glaser said. “I had posters of her on my wall. I have all her jokes memorized.”

She added, “When I started standup, I was trying to be you. I was 18, didn’t know who I was, and I saw this woman and I was like, ‘I wanna be that.’” 

Silverman joked: “Well you’re gonna be getting a cease and desist.”

During the Brady roast, Glaser was certainly treading the line between lovable and not. Her jokes about the NFL legend’s exes, Bridget Moynahan and Gisele Bündchen, earned an uproar of laughter from the crowd and inspired plenty of online chatter. But it was also met with condemnation from some, including the hosts of The View. Glaser herself apologized to Brady more than once, sprinkling “I’m sorry” between her punchlines — which she now admits was unintentional. 

"I practiced my set like 55 times,” she told the Cut. “Different variations of it, and I never once apologized in any of those. But when I got up there, I literally felt bad.”