Nikki Glaser's second appearance on 'Thursday Night Football' went a lot better than her first. Screen grab: Prime Video
By Ben Axelrod on

There’s a long history of football attempting to incorporate comedy into its broadcasts, usually unsuccessfully. And following her first appearance on Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football earlier this season, it appeared that Nikki Glaser would provide more of the same.

While Glaser — best known for her roasting skills — was undoubtedly funny, her first set on the Amazon postgame show this season fell flat. Ultimately, well-crafted jokes about Aaron Rodgers were only able to take her so far during what otherwise felt like a forced segment in an attempt to make the NFL on Prime postgame show culturally relevant.

Again, the set was hardly a disaster, but nobody would have blamed Amazon execs for pulling the plug on the Late Hits with Nikki Glaser segment. Nevertheless, the streamer moved forward, with the second installment airing after Thursday’s broadcast of the Los Angeles Rams’ win over the Minnesota Vikings. And its patience seemingly paid off.

Over the course of a roughly four-minute set, Glaser killed it with jokes about Los Angeles, her and Charissa Thompson’s ages and Cooper Kupp’s name. Like any good comedian, she saved her best for last with a string of jokes about the attractiveness of Rams backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

“Jimmy didn’t throw a single pass, but he’s definitely brought me to completion,” Glaser said. “And yeah, maybe Jimmy’s going to ride that bench for the rest of his career. But I want to be that bench.”

Well then.

Notably, Glaser’s second set drew significantly more positive reviews than her first. In fact, the reaction on social media to Thursday night’s appearance was largely positive — a rarity for such segments.

That’s not to say the segment is perfect, with the canned laugh track standing out as the chief complaint. But as far as incorporating comedy into football is concerned, Glaser already appears to be on a better path than Dennis Miller ever was.

[Prime Video]

About Ben Axelrod

Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.

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