Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer Talk MTV’s Nikki and Sara Live
If MTV has a spirit animal, it’d probably be LL Cool J—namely because of the line from “Mama Said Knock You Out”: “Don’t call it a comeback/ I’ve been here for years!” The network has weathered a litany of ups and downs since its debut in 1981, and I think it’s safe to say the channel is in the middle of a resurgence with the smash hit Girl Code, the freakishly fascinating Catfish, and the growing in popularity late-night talk show Nikki & Sara LIVE.
Nikki Glaser (l.) and Sara Schaefer (r.) are back with season two, which airs every Tuesday night at 11 P.M. ET/10 P.M. CT.
I’m thrilled about N&SL, not only because it’s about time that more women joined Chelsea Handler in the late-night landscape, but also because I know both Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer. We’ve done stand-up shows together, and I appeared in their viral video about Justin Timberlake returning to music (more on that later). So I sat down to chat about what’s in store for season two, their backgrounds in comedy, and their plans for the future. But before we get to that, let’s check out their funny take on The Hunger Games:
*Get More: Comedy Central,Funny Videos,Funny TV Shows*Glaser talks about how crazy men can be during sex during special The Half Hour on Comedy Central.
Glaser: For me, it felt like every other thing I’ve ever accomplished. It was bittersweet because it’s like, “Yeah! I did it,” but it’s also like, “What’s next?” I feel like you can never really enjoy the moment. I try to, but it’s hard. I remember thinking years ago about getting a half special, “When you get that, that will be it. That will be all you need to feel validated in this world.” I feel like that special was just another set. It’s that kind of attitude that drives me—because if I were satisfied, I’d just chill out and do sets every night instead of proving myself to myself.
Schaefer: You have to constantly work to remind yourself to enjoy the moment. For me, getting these things in the past few years have been incredibly validating because I’ve been rejected a lot and really questioned many times, “Am I even any good at this? Does anyone care about what I’m doing?” So achieving that stuff helped me and also made me feel like, “Yes, the real work begins.”
Back to N&SL. I’ve noticed that one of the greatest strengths is sketch and your ability to get buzz for things such as the “Blurred Lines” parody. Even though you’re making fun, you never veer toward snarky. Was that a conscious choice?
Glaser: It is a conscious decision. It’s naturally how our sense of humor works. We do love Justin and “Blurred Lines” and The Bachelor, but we can also see the flaws. Ultimately, we don’t diss these things since we love them, and we feel like jokingly calling them out is a fun way to address them. But more than that, we don’t like to do mean comedy, and we don’t think kids respond to that style the way that a lot of people seem to think they do.
Schaefer: Exactly. If we want to make a point about something, we want it to be a positive one. Not only is that more fun, but it creates limitations that actually make us more creative.
By the way, what’s MTV’s demo? Fourteen- to 21-year-old girls?
Schaefer: Twelve to 25, maybe to 30. We love them and trying to understand them.
Do you find it hard to write material that a 13-year-old girl will love. To me, that seems daunting.
Glaser: It can be at times, but I think if a joke is funny, it’s funny. It’s not like we’re trying to be obtuse and confusing. Our goal is to be as blatantly funny as we can be, and it’s not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I thought, Oh, we’re going to have to dumb this down so much, but we expect our audience to come to the show with a certain level of smarts and a good sense of irony. I have to say that it’s fun to write for young girls, and it’s exciting to know that we’re influencing them and they’re looking at us like, “I want to grow up and be like them.” I mean, I just made up the person saying that. [Laughter].
Schaefer: I loved comedy from an early age. I was listening to Andrew Dice Clay, Bill Cosby, watching stand-up on VH1, the State, SNL, and I just ate it up. I love people like Will Ferrell, and I use him as an example because I will say that pretty much everyone thinks he’s funny. Some of the things he does are silly, but some of them are also really smart. So that’s what I aspire to: what the professor at Harvard will think is funny and what a bro at a frat house will like as well.
Have you had to deal with the negative side of things? Especially on Twitter, where people go out of their way to say mean things to folks they see on TV?
Schaefer: Yeah, it’s really upsetting to have a teenager call you a c**t.
Wait, that happened?!
Schaefer: Yes, but that’s because we made a silly comment about Justin Bieber, and a Bieber fan is going to defend him because they don’t understand that we were just kidding. I just don’t understand people who go out of their way to go on Twitter and tell a person to die. But at the same time, that’s one out of 100 tweets, so it’s easy to focus on the mean one and forget the 99 nice ones you’re getting.
Glaser: I sometimes like to get into with them. I know you should block, but I’ll just respond to mean comments in the nicest way. One girl wrote, “I should come to where you live and punch you in the face.” And I was like, “I’m in New York City. Let’s meet up, girl.” Because then they’re so excited that someone they saw on TV responded that they kind of back off. You just beat them at their own game.
Let’s talk about your relationship some more. Can each of you name a strength the the brings to this partnership and makes it better?
Glaser: Sara is so good; her instinct is killer. If she thinks something is funny, she’s generally right. I’m really impressed by her ability to know ahead of time what works and what doesn’t. I really appreciate how willing she is to look goofy or get silly and weird, and I get nervous dancing and looking stupid. Sara does it and commits, and people love it. I’m glad she can do those things because I can’t, so I just sit back and watch and enjoy it like an audience member.
Schaefer: Aww, thank you. Nikki is really, really good at writing jokes. I have learned some much from her, and she’ll submit jokes to the show along with the monologue writers. She doesn’t know this, but she’s very good at acting silly and goofy. She just does it in a different way than I do.
Like on The Newlywed Game, I’m going to ask you a questions and see if your answers match up. First one: Our biggest fight was…
Glaser: I don’t we’ve gotten into a fight.
Schaefer: I don’t have anything.
Glaser: Perhaps we’ve gotten into little tiffs about jokes and the show. I will say when we do butt heads, we squash it immediately. In terms of that, it’s the healthiest relationship I will ever have.
Schaefer: We’ve never not talked. I’ve never done the “I’m not speaking to you right now.” I’ve had that with every other girl friend I’ve ever had, but not Nikki.
If the set/offices for Nikki & Sara LIVE caught on fire, the one thing she’d grab…
Glaser: Wait, everyone made it out? [Laughter]
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Yes, I should’ve clarified. Everyone’s fine.__
Schaefer: Nikki would grab our cardboard cutout—
Glaser: I know! I was going to say Sara would grab the cardboard cutout, too! We have a giant cutout of Chris Harrison. One of us would grab the cutout of him, and one would grab the cutout of us.
Schaefer: Cardboard cutouts aren’t cheap!
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Who’s better at ad-libbing?__
Glaser: Whenever one of us not good at it, the other picks up the slack. Sometimes we’re both on, but we’re never both off.
Schaefer: I totally agree. Nikki is so good at coming at coming up with a really good punchline.
One final question: What does the future hold for you inside and outside the show? Film, more TV shows, albums?
Glaser: (singing) All of it! We want it all!
Schaefer: In the dream world, I want all of that and so does Nikki.
Glaser: We’d like to keep working together.
Schaefer: Yeah, and I think we’ll gradually add in new projects as we go along.
Glaser: I agree. I’d love to keep doing this show forever, but if it was taken away tomorrow, I’d want to keep working with her. What we have is so unique and doesn’t have a lot in a comedian’s life—to find someone they write with, interview with, joke with so easily.
Schaefer: And also keep doing stand up. We want everything. We’re leaning in! [Laughter]
__Tune in tonight to watch the latest episode of MTV’s Nikki & Sara LIVE at 11 P.M ET/10 P.M. CT.
P.S. You can follow Nikki and Sara on Twitter:
Nikki Glaser: @NikkiGlaser
Sara Schaefer: @saraschaefer1
P.P.S. You can listen to their podcast on iTunes:
You Had to Be There: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/you-had-to-be-there
P.P.P.S. And keep up to date with Nikki & Sara LIVE by going to their website: www.mtv.com/shows/nikki_and_sara
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