Film
Nikki Glaser: Bangin'
- Gross-out comedy
- Relentless
Nikki Glaser's hour of stand-up tears into sex, shame, and self-sabotage with surgical precision and zero filter. She's rawly honest about desire, sobriety, and the gap between who we are and who we pretend to be. For anyone who appreciates comedy that doesn't look away from uncomfortable truths.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like a stand-up set that goes straight for the awkward, filthy, personal details and trusts its punchlines to land without any softening, especially if you enjoy a comic who sounds like she is confiding in a close friend.
Skip it if you want your comedy polished, guarded or mostly observational, since this hour leans hard into explicit sexual material and speaks candidly about her own vulnerabilities with very little restraint.
What it asks of you: Sixty-odd minutes of one woman talking to a room, with no plot to follow, so it rewards steady attention and a tolerance for graphic jokes delivered at a brisk, unbroken clip.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Maria Bamford: The Special Special Special!2012
Maria dissects depression, medication, and self-delusion with the same surgical honesty Glaser brings to sex and shame. Both comedians weaponize vulnerability into something devastating and funny.
But Much darker tone; this isn't just frank, it's genuinely difficult to sit with at moments.
Iliza Shlesinger: Elder Millennial2018
Iliza builds elaborate narratives about sex, dating, and the female experience with muscular storytelling. Like Glaser, she refuses to let awkwardness off the hook—she magnifies it until it becomes universal.
But Relies heavily on physical comedy and voices; if that feels like filler to you, it will derail the special.
Nate Bargatze: The Greatest Average American2021
Nate's Southern drawl masks brilliant material about addiction, family, and the stories we tell ourselves. He has Glaser's capacity to make confessional comedy feel like a conversation with a friend.
But His pacing is glacial; some will find it meditative, others will find it slow.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Nikki Glaser: Bangin'
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Fleabag2016
Both use sexual candor and shame as the engine for deeper truths about self-sabotage, family wounds, and the gap between who we are and who we perform.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge's fractured, fourth-wall-breaking heroine navigates sex, shame, and family with the same dark honesty Glaser brings to stand-up. She weaponizes her own awfulness into something achingly human.
But It's a scripted drama-comedy, not stand-up; if you want the person in front of you talking, this is a different animal entirely.
More like this (6)
John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City2018
Despite the surface charm, John's best work shares Glaser's DNA: mining specific shame and fear into architecture. His sobriety and relationship material have real stakes underneath the polish.
But This feels safer and more performed than Glaser's rawer hour; if you want vulnerability, it's more buried here.
Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted2015
Tig's oblique, deadpan delivery masks profound honesty about identity, desire, and the body. She approaches taboo subjects from angles that make you think differently about them.
But Her comedy moves sideways instead of straight ahead; if you want clear emotional beats, you'll have to work for them.
Bert Kreischer: The Machine2016
Bert's mammoth hour about a college trip gone mythical has the same sprawling, almost confessional energy as Glaser—he's willing to look foolish and horny in service of a larger truth.
But It's formless; a lot of people find his aesthetic exhausting rather than endearing.
Hannibal Buress: Animal Furnace2012
Hannibal threads personal material through sharp social observation. His special moves between sex, race, and the body with the same unflinching eye Glaser brings to her hour.
But His rhythm is minimal and detached; if you're looking for emotional catharsis, this will feel cold.
Bukowski1973
Both are obsessed with the relationship between sobriety and authenticity, and what you lose and gain when you stop performing the version of yourself you think people want.
A merciless documentary portrait of Charles Bukowski in his element—drunk, ranting, honest, and magnetic. The same unfiltered revelry about desire, alcohol, and what it costs to live that way.
But It's a 1970s documentary about a drunk poet; the image quality is poor, the pacing is glacial, and it asks patience with a deeply flawed man.
Hannah Gadsby: Douglas2020
Both comedians treat sex and sobriety as doorways into questions about autonomy, healing, and what it means to want things honestly after years of hiding.
After the brutal honesty of *Nanette*, Hannah pivots to joy and mess. It's a special about reclaiming desire and pleasure after trauma—the inverse of Glaser's journey, but from the same place of radical vulnerability.
But It's explicitly followup-dependent; if you haven't seen *Nanette*, this will feel incomplete and confusing.
People
Cast
Nikki GlaserSelf
Directing
- Nicholaus GoossenDirector
Writing
- Nikki GlaserWriter