Here for laughs, not applause. Nikki Glazer (Photo: GettyImages)
These lines are written during the NBA game between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat. It's the Western Conference Finals and the Celtics want to make history and be the first team to come back from falling behind 3-0 in the series, tonight they'll come close to that and tie the series at 3-3. The one who didn't participate in the game was Blake Griffin, the former star who joined the team this year and didn't quite find his place. It was hard not to feel empathy for the veteran player (only 34 years old), who had to applaud his friends who participated in a historic game. That's the curse of athletes. Their careers end too quickly. The body betrays them. It's the mirror story of comedians. In fact, some would argue that comedians only get better over the years. That the boundaries are breached, and the inhibitions dissipate completely. Maybe that's why Blake Griffin, in his spare time, does stand-up gigs.
In 2020, Griffin was invited to roast Alec Baldwin in Comedy Central's Roast. Anyone who has watched one of these events knows the format. One by one, comedians get on the microphone and descend on the man of the hour, as well as the rest of the people in the room. Griffin sat on a couch next to stand-up comedian Nikki Glaser, who has attended many such events in the past. When Glazer was granted the right to speak, she began praising Griffin. She said she didn't know how beautiful he was, and more or less tried to send him a pretty clear message that she was interested in him. She said she knew he wasn't in her league, but it was worth a try. Griffin, who came up to speak after her, said she was as ugly as Larry Bird. As already mentioned, this is part of the program format. Griffin went on to descend on all the participants, but something about the way he chose to descend on the mirror, and later Glaser's age, felt personal. Later, something happened that usually doesn't happen, and he will apologize to her on stage.
Glaser, who participated in quite a few such events, and got endless jokes at her expense, looked stunned. In the future, she will tell that she was really hurt. "It was really insulting. I had just declared my love for him, and he responded by saying he wouldn't want to touch me," she told Howard Stern, "and then he sits back down next to me, and I'm supposed to sit for three hours and smile next to a guy who said I was ugly."
This is a small anecdote that helps to understand the world of Nikki Glaser, and gives a necessary background to her current tour, which reached its end yesterday - at the Tel Aviv Hall of Culture. Glaser's show is long for the genre, but rewarding. Even if the humor doesn't maintain a uniform level throughout, it's hard to say that there were weak moments in the show, certainly in relation to its length. The show opens, of course, with Glaser's reference to her appearance. As usual, she takes the stage in a bright and eye-catching outfit. She immediately "takes off" herself, explaining that this is simply the last garment that comes onto her.
From here, she will continue to talk about how she gained weight during the tour, explained the Hollywood lie surrounding the Body Positive movement and clarified that no one would know Lizzo if she had Kendall Jenner's talent. To be clear, she explains, she would give up all her talent — including her sense of humor — to look better. Glazer allows herself to "get down on herself", and later it will reach the most vulgar areas as expected with graphic descriptions of her penis. She doesn't do it in protest. She is not a protest artist against the Hollywood ideal of beauty. On the contrary, she opposes the sanctimonious censorship that someone cannot be said to be ugly. She explains how much money, time and pain she spends so as not to be ugly. Maybe that's why Blake Griffin's words hurt her so much.
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Is it a demonstration against the regime revolution or a Taylor Swift concert? Nikki Glazer (Photo: GettyImages)
Like her previous specials, Glaser's appearance and sex life play a central role - but this time it is clear that Glazer has managed to develop in different directions of a "comedy market". It's refreshing and joyful. As mentioned, comedians only get better with age, and it's hard to believe that in twenty years Glazer will be able to continue telling jokes about how "her has become a vulva" - but she will be able to continue testing the boundaries of the audience with humor that touches on real issues. Glazer laughs at cases of domestic sexual abuse, pedophiles and rape — and she explains that she's allowed to laugh about it precisely because none of these things happened to her. "I'm tired of comedians having to say, 'I tell jokes about rape, but I'm allowed to because I'm a rape victim myself.' You're a comedian, just tell the jokes you want to tell, you don't have to get applause for how brave you are," she explains.
And that's exactly the importance of Glaser. A woman who is not afraid to tell the truth and make fun of everything. It's not "female stand-up," but stand-up that happens to be performed by a woman. It does bring to the forefront things that men might not have been able to laugh at without coming off as misogynistic, like the (perfect) imitation of Jennifer Aniston and her burning hatred of Jennifer Lopez. Precisely because of Glaser's ability to laugh at herself and her kind, she introduces a new breed of comedians. It's not a feminist show in any way, and that may be exactly its strength. Nikki Glazer doesn't have to shout "feminine power", she just lets us see the world through her eyes with unusual honesty. That's enough. And very funny too.
It's a performance that almost never happened. It was supposed to take place a year ago but was postponed due to health reasons. In the meantime, missiles began to fall here, moving Jim Jeffries' performance, and if that's not enough, then the location of the show in Tel Aviv's Hall of Culture is right at the heart of Saturday night's huge demonstrations. Still, she arrived, even addressing the situation: "Thank you for coming to my concert and not going to the parade outside. I know you call it a demonstration, but I saw what was going on there. There are a hundred thousand people out there, I thought it was a Taylor Swift concert."
It was a rare show to see in Israel, simply because producers are afraid (and perhaps rightly so) to bring such performances here. Glaser's humor is very American, as are her references. Jokes about Mr. Paint, JonBenet Ramsay, Bill Cosby's grand sayings and quotes from Cardi B songs don't necessarily work with the average Israeli. Even her comparison to Joan Rivers may have gone over many people's heads – but the very fact that Glazer allows herself to compare herself, even if only externally, to the legendary American stand-up pioneer – proves how confident she is in her place in her career.
And in any case, any producer who takes a risk and brings stand-up comedy shows here, certainly on the scale of Nicky Glaser, discovers that the Israeli audience is made up of enough people who appreciate fine humor, whether they swim in American pop culture references or not. In the past, almost exclusively men were brought to Israel (with the exception of Sarah Silverman) - so the choice of Nikki Glazer is especially important. Glazer brings a female perspective that is so lacking in imported performances, and one can only hope that this is the first harbinger of the arrival of a wave of such performances.
- culture
- stage
Tags
- Stand-up comedy
