After knocking her set out of the park at last week’s roast of Tom Brady, comedian Nikki Glaser has been discussing the controversial live TV event, including new regrets from the former New England Patriots quarterback to the live ribbing marathon, and how she received a note from Kim Kardashian calling the experience a form of “abuse.”
Following the May 6 roast of The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady, Brady said on The Pivot Podcast that he enjoyed when comedians took humorous jabs about nearly all aspects of his life but that he didn’t care for the jabs aimed at his family, adding that the comments impacted his children, “the people [he] care[s] about most in the world.”
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“I feel like maybe he didn’t consider the backlash from his family and how it would affect them, and I do understand that,” Glaser said on Wednesday’s Today with Hoda and Jenna. “But I also think Tom Brady does not do anything without doing his research and knowing what he’s getting into. But then there’s a part of me that thinks that Tom Brady, especially given his career and how much people love him, no one has ever said a bad thing to him in the past 30 years.”
Another surprising moment came during the roast when Brady approached comedian Jeff Ross after he told a joke about Patriots CEO Robert Kraft receiving a message from the man of the hour after he joined the team. Brady told Ross, “Don’t say that sh*t again,” to which Ross agreed. Kraft pled not guilty to soliciting prostitution in a Florida day spa in 2019; all charges against Kraft were dropped after video cameras police had installed in the spa were deemed inadmissible in court.
“I thought it was maybe a joke or they had choreographed it beforehand, but it certainly wasn’t,” Glaser said while speaking with the morning show hosts. “I got a sense that maybe it was a little more than he had planned for… he hadn’t planned how to react, because you’ve kind of got to practice, like, what am I going to do?” Midway through, shecontemplated, Brady “decided on the laughter he was going to do,” but added that she believes that the deeply personal jabs “kind of jarred him… I really don’t think he thought they were going to go there.”
Glaser also revealed during a podcast interview earlier this week that Kim Kardashian told her that the experience of being booed and having a comedian lob crass, sexist jokes at her during the roast was “abuse.”
Appearing as a guest on Jake Johnson and Gareth Reynolds’ We’re Here to Help podcast on May 13, Glaser discussed some direct messages she exchanged with the reality TV icon after the two participated in the live Netflix event where the seven-time Super Bowl champ was skewered in front of an audience. While describing her set at the roast in detail to the podcast hosts, Glaser mentioned that after the taping at L.A.’s Kia Forum, Kardashian took the time to send her a personal message.
“[Kardashian] said, ‘You killed it on the roast,’ pretty much,” Glaser told Johnson and Reynolds. “I wrote back, ‘Kim, oh my god. I was trying to make eye contact with you every chance I could to mouth to you: You f*cking killed, girl. Which was no surprise after your SNL monologue, which was elite. You are so talented. Thank you so much for writing me, it was so nice.’”
According to Glaser, Kardashian responded, “Aww thanks, and YOU killed it. I don’t know how you do this. It’s abuse LOL.”
During the live taping, Kardashian found herself being booed by members of the studio audience as she approached the podium for her set. The longtime reality TV star didn’t respond to the audience’s rude welcome, politely smiling as she held a glass of champagne in the unprecedented moment. Maintaining her cool, Kardashian gave the crowd a look and said, “All right, all right, all right,” with a slight laugh.
Netflix edited out the booing for the live stream of the roast; a Netflix executive previously told The Hollywood Reporter that Kardashian was not consulted about the edit and called the change “standard practice for comedy specials and happen in live broadcasts.” The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady, which was part of the Netflix Is a Joke Fest, was streamed live, which Netflix touted as the first-ever roast to do so unedited.
Kardashian was also the subject of some comments being labeled as misogynistic from comic Tony Hinchcliffe during his set at the roast after he was speaking about the comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’s memorable “Whale’s vagin*” line: “…A whale’s vagin*, which reminds me, Kim Kardashian’s here. She’s had a lot of Black men celebrating her end zone,” Hinchcliffe said, then addressed her directly, saying: “Kim, word of advice: close your legs. You have more public beef than Kendrick and Drake.”
Hinchcliffe didn’t exactly single out Kardashian; comedians Sam Jay and Bert Kreischer received a proper scorching from the insult comic.
The businesswoman and mother of four also heard a gentle ribbing from Brady when he took to the podium — but the gag was less a dig on Kardashian than it was on her ex, Kanye West.
“Thank you so much for being here,” he said. “I know Kim was terrified to be here tonight. Not because of this, but because her kids are home with their dad.”
In attendance at the ticketed event, which drew thousands of Brady fans to Inglewood’s Kia Forum, were Ben Affleck, Jim Gaffigan, Amanda Kloots, Richard Kind, Chelsea Handler and Dane Cook, along with NFL pros Rob Gronkowski (who also wound up as the butt of many of the evening’s jokes), Randy Moss, Rodney Harrison, Julian, Edelman and Matt Light, among others.
