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)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two reporters were killed and several were wounded Tuesday in a gang attack in Haiti on the reopening of Port-au-Prince’s biggest public hospital, the country's online media association said. A police officer was also killed in the attack.

Street gangs forced the closure of the General Hospital early this year and authorities had pledged to reopen the facility in Haiti's capital on Christmas Eve. But as journalists gathered to cover the event, suspected gang members opened fire.

It was the latest violence in Haiti, crippled by an unprecedented crisis that has seen coordinated gang attacks on prisons, police stations and the main international airport.

Robest Dimanche, a spokesman for the Online Media Collective, identified the killed journalists as Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean. Dimanche said an unspecified number of reporters were also been in the attack, which he blamed on the Viv Ansanm coalition of gangs.

The Haitian Association of Journalists confirmed two reporters and a police officer were killed, and seven reporters were wounded in what it called “a macabre scene comparable to terrorism, pure and simple.”

Haiti’s interim president, Leslie Voltaire, said in an address to the nation that journalists and police were among the victims of the attack. He did not specify the casualty numbers or provide a breakdown.

“I send my sympathies to the people who were victims, the national police and the journalists,” Voltaire said.

Later, the government put out a statement saying it is “responding firmly to the attack."

"This heinous act, which targets an institution dedicated to health and life, constitutes an unacceptable attack on the very foundations of our society," it said.

Earlier, a video posted online by the reporters trapped inside the hospital shows what appeared to be two lifeless bodies of men on stretchers, their clothes bloodied. One of the men had a lanyard with a press credential around his neck.

Radio Télé Métronome initially reported that seven journalists and two police officers were wounded. Police and officials did not immediately respond to calls for information on the attack.

Another video posted online, which also could not be immediately verified, showed reporters inside the building and at least three lying on the floor, apparently wounded.

Street gangs have taken over an estimated 85% of Port-au-Prince and have also targeted the main international airport and Haiti’s two largest prisons.

Johnson “Izo” André, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader and part of the Viv Ansanm group of gangs, which that has taken control of much of Port-au-Prince, posted a video on social media claiming responsibility for the attack.

The video said the gang coalition had not authorized the hospital’s reopening.

Haiti has seen journalists targeted before. In 2023, two local journalists were killed in the space of a couple of weeks — radio reporter Dumesky Kersaint was fatally shot in mid-April that year, while journalist Ricot Jean was found dead later that month.

In July, former Prime Minister Garry Conille visited the Hospital of the State University of Haiti, more widely known as the General Hospital, after authorities regained control of it from gangs.

The hospital had been left ravaged and strewn with debris. Walls and nearby buildings were riddled with bullet holes, signaling fights between police and gangs. The hospital is across the street from the national palace, the scene of several battles in recent months.

Gang attacks have pushed Haiti’s health system to the brink of collapse with looting, setting fires, and destroying medical institutions and pharmacies in the capital. The violence has created a surge in patients and a shortage of resources to treat them.

Haiti’s health care system faces additional challenges during the rainy season, which is likely to increase the risk of water-borne diseases. Poor conditions in camps and makeshift settlements have heightened the risk of diseases like cholera, with over 84,000 suspected cases in the country, according to UNICEF.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

People help a wounded journalist who was shot by armed gangs at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

Journalists sit wounded after being shot by armed gangs at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

Journalists climb up a wall to take cover from gunfire, after being shot at by armed gangs at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

A wounded journalist talks on the phone after being shot by armed gangs at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

A wounded security officer looks on after being shot by armed gangs at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

Medics inspect an ambulance of wounded people, shot by armed gangs at the General Hospital, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

The wife of a journalist, who was shot during an armed gang attack on the General Hospital, cries as an ambulance arrives with his body, at a different hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

The wife of a journalist, who was shot during an armed gang attack on the General Hospital, cries as an ambulance arrives with his body, at a different hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Residents walk past cars set on fire by armed gangs in the Poste Marchand neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Journalists lie wounded after being shot by armed gangs at the general hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dieugo Andre)