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The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1179 - Nikki Glaser

Nikki Glaser is an American stand-up comedian, podcast host, and television host. She is currently hosting "You Up with Nikki Glaser" on SiriusXM channel 95.

Nikki GlaserguestJoe Roganhost
Oct 3, 20182h 50mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Nikki Glaser on addiction, body image, comedy, sex, and psychedelics

  1. Joe Rogan and Nikki Glaser spend three hours moving from light stories about Sober October competition and pranks into very candid territory about addiction, depression, eating disorders, body image, and sex.
  2. Glaser details her history with anorexia, shoplifting, late-blooming sexuality, and alcohol dependence, and how standup comedy, therapy, and meditation became literal reasons to live.
  3. They dissect the pressures and distortions of reality shows and show business, the psychology of joke thieves and closeted people, and how social media and constant communication are reshaping culture.
  4. The conversation ends on how psychedelics, hard physical challenges, and creative discipline can widen perspective, manage mental chaos, and keep comedy sharp while still embracing personal “craziness.”

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Extreme willpower can be destructive or transformative depending on where it’s aimed.

Rogan’s obsessive Sober October workouts and Glaser’s past anorexia both come from the same driven, addictive circuitry; she only began to recover when she redirected that will into comedy and healing instead of self-destruction.

Reframing illness as a ‘thing you have’ instead of ‘who you are’ can unlock change.

A therapist helped Glaser separate anorexia from her identity by having her talk to it like an external demon; once she saw it as a disease rather than a personal failure, she could finally start eating and recovering.

Meditation can be a practical safety valve for severe depression and intrusive thoughts.

Glaser describes daily TM as the difference between getting “kill yourself” thoughts like the first sniffles of a cold and having them disappear entirely, treating meditation as non‑negotiable mental hygiene.

You can say no sexually at any point, even after things have started.

She urges women to drop the conditioning that they “owe” an orgasm once they start fooling around, and encourages men to invest in foreplay and arousal instead of panicking to “get it in before she says no.”

Radical honesty about taboos dissolves shame and gives others permission to be themselves.

Glaser cites Jim Norton’s openness about his kinks and Sarah Silverman’s about bed‑wetting as models; her own graphic sex talk and eating‑disorder confessions are meant to normalize experiences others hide.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

I was like, ‘Oh, I have a reason to live now.’ Comedy was my reason to live.

Nikki Glaser

Sometimes you’ve got to tell your mind to tell your body who the fuck the boss is.

Joe Rogan

It literally soothes me to think about killing myself when I’m in my worst depressive stages.

Nikki Glaser

We’re in the business of talking shit. We’re shit talkers.

Joe Rogan

Your whole life from birth to death is a blink of an eye, and you’re gonna wear blinders and concentrate on one tiny little window of sexual viability?

Joe Rogan

Sober October, obsessive competition, and exercise addictionDancing With the Stars: humiliation, injury, and mental toughnessAnorexia, body dysmorphia, depression, and suicidal ideationAddiction patterns: alcohol, weed, shoplifting, and controlSex, threesomes, blowjobs, and women’s real sexual experienceComedy craft: joke-writing process, thievery, and career insecurityPsychedelics, meditation, and reframing life and aging

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