Can Glaser give Hollywood the roasting it deserves?

The stand-up comedian's close-to-the-bone comedy makes Nikki Glaser the ideal choice to host tomorrow's Golden Globes. Move over, Ricky Gervais, writes Kevin E G Perry

- Kevin E G Perry

Last May, Nikki Glaser tackled the greatest quarterback in the history of American football and made herself a star in the process. None of the 2 million viewers who tuned in to Netflix’s Roast of Tom Brady were left in any doubt as to who handed out the most savage burns of the night, and many of Glaser’s devastating barbs quickly went viral on social media.

With a deceptively sweet smile and deft timing, Glaser pulled no punches as she dealt out killer lines about Brady’s reluctance to retire (“I get it, it’s hard to walk away from something that’s not your pregnant girlfriend”), his $30m crypto losses (“How did you fall for that? Even Gronk [former teammate Rob Gronkowski ] was like: ‘Me know that not real money’”) and his divorce from supermodel Gisele Bündchen (“You have seven rings – well, eight, now that Gisele gave hers back”). Even comedy greats were impressed by Glaser’s rapier wit and the precision of her attacks. “No one is gonna do a better roast set than that,” Conan O’Brien told Glaser later on his podcast, adding that all future roasts will be measured against it. “Where is it on the Nikki Glaser scale? ‘It’s a 6.2.’ That’s pretty good, but it’s not her 10.”

Tomorrow (or in the early hours of Monday morning, UK time) we’ll get the chance to see whether Glaser can return to those heights as she’s given the opportunity to roast the whole of Hollywood in one night. Her selection as host of the Golden Globes has made the awards show must-watch television again, after last year’s disastrous last-minute host Jo Koy bombed with a string of dud jokes and the ill-advised decision to throw his writers under the bus.