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Perfect

Nikki Glaser

Comedy Central · 2016 · 62 min

A cynical, highly graphic look at entering your thirties.

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Nikki Glaser picks apart the specific indignities of turning 31 while still feeling like a teenager. Her comedy relies on a matter-of-fact directness, focusing on sexual anxieties, dirty habits, and the creeping realization that adulthood is mandatory. Rather than presenting herself as a fully formed grown-up, she highlights the tension of being suspended between youth and maturity; she notes that she is active on Snapchat but searches Google for bunion surgeries every single day.

Filmed at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater in New York City, this 2016 special caught Glaser at a major inflection point in her career. It was recorded shortly before her series Not Safe with Nikki Glaser debuted on Comedy Central, and she was already a familiar presence from her appearances on Inside Amy Schumer. The crowd here watches a comic who has fully committed to a style of graphic, sex-positive observation, delivering her material with the clean precision of a seasoned club pro.

The set features specific premises that showcase her cynical logic. She argues that teenagers should actually be the ones having babies since they have much more free time, and she compares surrogacy to ordering a pizza. In one of the show’s standout bits, she targets the custom of women changing their last names after marriage, noting that a maiden name is ultimately reduced to nothing more than a security answer for a grown son’s forgotten bank account.

The set list

7 bits

  1. Turning 31 and balancing youthful habits with signs of aging.

    Contrasting listening to Taylor Swift and using Snapchat with Googling bunion surgery every day.

  2. Surrogacy and motherhood.

    Wondering why more women don't opt for surrogacy to save their bodies from labor, and joking that teenagers should have babies instead because they have more free time.

  3. Maiden names and marriage.

    Satirizing the erasure of a woman's identity when taking a husband's last name, pointing out it only survives as an answer to a son's bank account security question.

  4. Manipulating boyfriends into saying 'I love you'.

    Convincing an ex who drank that he confessed his love during a blackout, and suggesting it to her current sober boyfriend right before he climaxes.

  5. Getting an IUD birth control procedure.

    Describing it as intensely painful and joking that she blacked out during it because she was drunk.

  6. Porn website research and unrealistic expectations.

    Questioning bizarre standards for women depicted in modern pornography.

  7. Closing advice for men and women.

    Advising men 'Don't Febreze your balls' and sharing a loophole compliment for any man.

How it plays

Tone
Sex-positive, feminist, sincere, depraved, absurd, and self-deprecating.
On stage
Poised, confident, self-deprecating, unapologetically candid about sex and personal shortcomings.
Pace
Hits her stride immediately without needing to warm up; delivers rapid non-sequiturs alongside relatable narratives.
About
Becoming an adult woman, Sex and dirty talk, Porn and sexual shame, Marriage and maiden names, Motherhood and surrogacy, Birth control

What the critics said

Praised as a sharp, confident, and funny hour that skillfully balances sex-positive feminist commentary, sincerity, and depravity.

In the room: Engaged and receptive to her uninhibited, candid personal stories.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: nikkiglaser.comedydirect.com, imdb.com, tv.apple.com, tvguide.com, thecomicscomic.com, exclaim.ca, thecomedybureau.com, isnt-that-special.castos.com, en.wikipedia.org, bustle.com.

Backstory

Recorded before her series Not Safe premiered on Comedy Central, reflecting on her complicated relationship with perfectionism, sexual shame, and the push-pull of entering her 30s.

Details

Released
Taped
2015, John Jay College, New York City
Runtime
62 min
Where
Comedy Central
Director
Ryan Polito
Topics
Before
Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents (2013)
After
Nikki Glaser (2017)

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