Comedian Nikki Glaser Reveals Why She Quit Hollywood To Move Back to Missouri

Comedian Nikki Glaser has revealed the real reason she decided to ditch Hollywood and move back to her hometown in Missouri.

The 41-year-old jokester opened up about the motive behind her relocation to St. Louis, where she was raised, noting that she made the decision shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic, having returned home to spend time with family—only to discover she didn't really want to leave.

During an appearance on "Live with Kelly and Mark," Glaser explained that the pandemic made her realize how much she had missed living somewhere she was able to escape the hectic Hollywood lifestyle.

Since then, the comedian has maintained a strong presence in Los Angeles, where she regularly attends major red-carpet events. However, she said she likes knowing that she can "get away from it all" when she does return home—adding that she has even begun shooting some projects in and around St. Louis.

Those include her upcoming comedy special, "Good Girl," which she said was a particularly interesting experience because so many people from her childhood ended up being in the audience.

“You literally went home to St. Louis and shot it there. How was that?” Mark Consuelos asked Glaser about her show, which will premiere on Hulu on April 24.

“I live in St. Louis," the comedian then revealed. "I moved back to St. Louis after COVID and kind of just got away from it all and stayed there."  

"Good Girl" was filmed at the Fabulous Fox theater, and many of her hometown pals and family showed up—which she joked wasn't necessarily the best thing for her when she is performing salacious material.

“It was lots of people from high school, you know, people from my Pilates class, my self-tan lady from the strip mall. But it was fun. It's fine, I guess, that my childhood dentist knows about my sex life now. I guess that's appropriate,” Glaser teased.

The comedian revealed that her parents, Julie and Edward, were also in the crowd. However, they had gotten used to hearing her joke about her sex life after 20 years of comedy shows, adding that they have "hardened souls."

Glaser's parents have long resided in the St. Louis area, with records showing that they have owned the same home near the Des Peres neighborhood for the past 30 years.

She confessed in a previous interview with City Lifestyle that she moved back into her childhood home when the pandemic hit, having previously been staying in Los Angeles with her mom and dad, who had been due to join her at several appearances, including at "The Kelly Clarkson Show" and for an interview with Conan O'Brien.

"My parents were with me in L.A. when the pandemic hit. My mom was going on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show' with me, and I was also bringing my parents backstage for my appearance on Conan O'Brien. And then everything got canceled," she recalled.

While it's not believed that Glaser has continued living with them at the property, she has previously said she is grateful that moving back to Missouri has allowed her to spend more time with them.

In 2025, Glaser opened up about why she prefers living in her hometown over Hollywood—or even New York—while speaking to "St. Louis on the Air."

She explained that any time she's on the East or West Coast, she feels a lot of pressure to look or act a certain way, adding that she doesn't have that struggle when she's in her hometown.

"When I'm on both of the coasts, it's like constantly comparing yourself, and everyone's just really chasing that status," she said. "Here, it just feels a bit more relaxed, and I get back to what's important: having a good time and going out to eat.”

The comedian also noted that the move has helped her get closer to her family.

Living here "is just wanting to focus on my family while they're still around and healthy, and want to hang out with me," she shared.

“It's also just being in a town where what podcast [you have], what spots you're doing that night, what parties you're going to, what red carpets you're attending—doesn't matter. That's not here, and that's not what people value here. And it just recalibrates me."

Glaser joins a growing list of stars who have moved out of Los Angeles in recent years—one that includes the likes of Ellen DeGeneres, who relocated to the U.K.; Richard Gere, who now lives between New York and Spain; and Chris Hemsworth, who moved back to his native Australia.

Hemsworth recently opened up about his own relocation, noting that it was prompted, at least in part, by a shift in the industry, which saw him forced to travel around the globe to film his various projects, many of which had previously been shot in L.A.

"It was right around the time my boys were born, and it was just ... we kind of were set up in L.A. and not enjoying it, you know? Like nothing was shooting there. We were filming kind of everywhere else," he explained during a February appearance on the "Smartless" podcast. "And then ... you'd come home and paparazzi and all the sort of the trappings of, you know, living in that space."