Nikki Glaser brutally roasts Katy Perry, Victoria Beckham at Time100 Gala
Nikki Glaser brutally roasts Katy Perry, Victoria Beckham at Time100 Gala
Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY Fri, April 24, 2026 at 11:50 AM UTC
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NEW YORK — Nikki Glaser isn't waiting until the next Golden Globes to get back on stage roasting celebrities.
The comedian skewered everyone from Katy Perry to Victoria Beckham while hosting the Time100 Gala in New York City on Thursday, April 23, a star-studded event honoring the magazine's annual picks for the 100 most influential people in the world.
"Welcome to the Time100, the one list you actually want to be on this year," she said.
Glaser, herself an honoree on Time's famed list, took the stage in front of a crowd where A-listers like Hilary Duff and Dakota Johnson rubbed shoulders with scientists, doctors, activists and beyond. After describing the evening as the "only ceremony of the year where the girls from 'KPop Demon Hunters' aren't singing 'Golden,'" Glaser poked fun at several of her fellow honorees, including Beckham, who was in attendance with her husband, David Beckham.
Nikki Glaser hosts the 2026 TIME100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 23, 2026, in New York City.
"She was a global pop star, now a serious fashion designer," Glaser said. "She's married to David Beckham. She's rich, successful, stunning. What's it going to take to get you to smile? I mean, really. Smile! You're one of the only British people who should."
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Glaser soon turned her focus to guest Gayle King and joked about her 2025 Blue Origin flight to space. "You had the courage to do something that so many people wouldn't have the guts to do: Spend 12 minutes alone with Katy Perry," she told King.
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Other highlights from Glaser's monologue included her joking that "my worst nephew is such a fan" of MrBeast and that Hailey Bieber has "influenced millions of people to do the impossible: pay $30 for a smoothie." She also got in a bit of a dig at Time's list itself, which in addition to the entertainers at the gala, also includes influential world leaders like President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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"Tonight, let's have fun, support each other, and most importantly, drink enough to forget that we're on the same list as war criminals," she joked.
Zoe Saldaña speaks during the 2026 TIME100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 23, 2026, in New York City.
The rest of the evening featured toasts from several stars included on Time's 2026 list, including Alan Cumming, who, like Glaser, seemed to question having his name grouped in with certain other people. Without naming names, the "Traitors" host remarked that there are some on the Time list – who were not in the room – who perpetuate "hatred and bigotry." He added, "Just because you have an influence, that is not necessarily a positive thing."
Later, Zoe Saldaña delivered an emotional toast paying tribute to her late grandmother, who came to the United States from the Dominican Republic in the 1960s. She "was born in a country where she was not allowed to speak freely. She knew nothing about freedom until she arrived here in 1961," Saldaña said, adding that her grandmother "made sure we knew where we came from, but even more than that, she believed in where we could go, and I carry that with me every day." The Oscar-winning "Avatar" star was introduced as the "highest-grossing actor in cinematic history," a title she achieved in January thanks to "Avatar: Fire and Ash."
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Fresh off the Winter Olympics, snowboarder Chloe Kim made an appearance at the gala on the same day she turned 26. "Today is my birthday, and I get to do the one thing that absolutely terrifies me: Public speaking," she joked prior to her toast. Hilary Knight later joined Glaser on stage as the comedian quipped that, with her Olympics teammates, the ice hockey star "single-handedly made America like ice again."
Hilary Knight, left, and Nikki Glaser speak onstage during the 2026 TIME100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 23, 2026 in New York City.
Noah Wyle, Keke Palmer, Sterling K. Brown, Noah Kahan and Kate Hudson were among the other members of Time's 2026 list who were spotted in the crowd, but did not have speaking roles in the programming.
In a room filled with inspiring people who seek to make the planet a better place, a throughline in Glaser's material was her darkly wondering aloud whether it may all be for nothing. At the start of the night, the comic joked that Time's most influential people "could change the world, if it wasn't already too late," and as the night closed, she concluded, "Now, let's all get to the megayacht where we'll wait out the apocalypse together."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nikki Glaser roasts Katy Perry, Victoria Beckham at Time100 Gala
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