Nikki Glaser uses Prime Video's NFL postgame show appearances to help prepare for Golden Globes

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — What do Tom Brady, Taylor Swift and comedy have to do with learning about football?

In the case of Nikki Glaser, it is all intertwined.

Glaser has become a familiar face to football fans this season. Her breakthrough performance at the Tom Brady Roast on May 5 paved the way for five appearances on Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football″ postgame show.

Before last Thursday’s game between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers, Glaser said doing her “Late Hits″ segment was a no-brainer following her success at the Brady roast.

"The football audience is kind of familiar with me already. It’s one that is OK with me not knowing every detail about football or expecting me to be an expert about it because I was who I was on the Brady Roast. I kind of admitted to not really following football that much," Glaser said. “And I became a fan of Tom Brady and the sport in doing it through that process. So then I was like, ‘Let me just keep learning about football through joking about it.’ And that was kind of my goal.”

Glaser admits her knowledge of football is not all the way there yet. Still, it is further ahead than it was a year ago when she started casually watching Chiefs games due to Swift’s relationship with Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce.

And mostly then, it was to see when Swift appeared on screen.

However, Glaser decided to start learning more about the game, which she compared to trying to learn a new language.

“I went my whole life putting on blinders because I was just scared to look stupid if I tried to learn. I always thought football fans would be really judgmental and cruel about my lack of knowledge. But they’re not,″ Glaser said. “They’re eager for you to understand and explain.”

While NFL viewers are used to seeing comedians, those were mostly confined to the pregame shows and have been taped segments. Fox Sports used Frank Caliendo and Rob Riggle for years, while Caliendo has also made appearances on ESPN.

Glaser’s appearances on "Thursday Night Football" took place after the games and are more like roasts of both teams.

Instead of having at least a week to try out a joke or hone material, Glaser and her team of writers are coming up with material as the game is taking place.

“I give her and her team a ton of credit because what they did was they took a risk by doing live stand-up comedy on a sports show. And there’s no way we could have rehearsed what our first one was going to be like. None of us knew what the reaction would be in the crowd,″ said Spoon Daftary, senior coordinating producer at Prime Video’s pregame, halftime and postgame shows.

According to Nielsen, Prime’s postgame show is averaging 2.05 million viewers, an 11% increase over last season. That is also outdrawing network late-night shows.

The other significant improvement from Glaser’s first appearance, which was after the Sept. 19 game between the New England Patriots and New York Jets, to last Thursday’s was that the fans who stuck around to see the postgame show in the stadium could hear her segment and react.

“It’s a perfect balance. Sports is entertainment, so it’s a natural thing to have that aspect incorporated whether it’s pregame or postgame,″ said Charissa Thompson, who hosts the Prime Video pregame, halftime and postgame shows. “I love that we’re willing to try new things, have fun and do things that are unorthodox or not the norm. I’m glad we have a chance to showcase even more of her talents in the sports space.”

Glaser and her team working on jokes and doing them live also has served as good preparation for her hosting the Golden Globes on Jan. 5, which will air on CBS and Paramount+. Ironically, the Golden Globes will come on after CBS Sports airs a doubleheader of NFL games for the final week of the regular season.

“It was a perfect training program for the Golden Globes coming up because I’m going to write jokes about things happening during that show, which is something I’ve never done before. I’ve always been someone who, like, really prepares beforehand and knows exactly what they’re going to say,” she said. “We’re just tossing out these insane jokes that we don’t even have time to go run them at comedy clubs to see if they even work. I mean, we’re finding out live on air if they work or not.”

Glaser is not scheduled for any more appearances on Prime Video’s postgame show this season, but all parties would be interested in doing it next year.

“I feel like I’d come to the table with a lot more knowledge about the sport that I got from doing it this year,” she said. “I find myself now like I’m able to walk by a TV in a bar, and I can watch it and kind of talk about football with people where I can kind of hold my own in conversation, and that is a huge triumph for me.”

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Nikki Glaser stands on the field after NFL football game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Nikki Glaser participates in a segment after an NFL football game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Nikki Glaser stands on the field after NFL football game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Nikki Glaser, second from left, participates in a segment with the Thursday Night Football crew after an NFL football game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Nikki Glaser participates in a segment after an NFL football game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Nikki Glaser participates in a segment after an NFL football game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Nikki Glaser participates in a segment after an NFL football game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Nikki Glaser stands on the field after NFL football game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)