Long gone are the days of Nikki Glaser’s WAP (her words, kinda) but in her new HBO special, “Someday You’ll Die,” taped at the Moore Theater in Seattle, her hilarity is on full display. Entwining topics like our ever-changing bodies, navigating friends with babies, role playing, freezing eggs, the animal kingdom and, ultimately, her own mortality, she’s empathetic and raw, brutally honest, and even more brutally dark. Glaser is as real as it gets and as funny as they come, and on May 11, there are two ways to soak her in. “Someday You’ll Die” on HBO or at the Palladium during the Netflix is a Joke Festival. We recommend both.
Glaser’s reach is worldwide because she’s so much more than just a comic and master roaster (Please see: Sunday’s roast of Tom Brady). She played host on “FBOY Island” for three seasons, is the current host of its spinoff “Lovers and Liars,” and she’s also an incredible singer, as America learned when she took her Snowstorm head off on “The Masked Singer.”
Glaser picked up guitar during the pandemic, which ultimately led to “Some Day You’ll Die” having a theme song, aptly titled “Someday You’ll Die,” (available on all streaming platforms Thursday) which Glaser wrote and recorded. Is she great at everything? Well, she did exit “Dancing With the Stars” (Season 27) a tad early, but as she says, “I’m so grateful that it went the way it did because being voted off first is way funnier than any of the other numbers.”
And for someone who appears to be able to do it all pretty well, Glaser isn’t trying to be a role model. She just inadvertently might be. And for someone who claims to be aging, she looks better than ever — could she be the new George Clooney?
You seriously have never looked better while roasting your body on stage. What’s your routine like heading into a taping like this with a dress like that?
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Nikki Glaser: There’s definitely this thought that this is a big deal and want to look as good as possible. I’ve been hearing about Pilates for 20 years and I finally gave in three months before the special. It was about aesthetics that I got into it, and then it was really about the strength to pull off that final gang bang act out. I couldn’t balance like that and engage my core had I not been doing Pilates. It’s so ironic that I started Pilates to look good, but I would never have been able to hold it that long during the bit had I not been doing it. I didn’t even realize I was training for that.
It’s an admirable bit. Also admirable, you being so open about your body struggles.
Yeah, I just struggle with aging and being perceived a certain way, and feeling like part of my talent is dependent on me being f—able and attractive and now I need to maintain that. I feel insecure that if I’m not funny enough, at least I can be nice to look at and if I’m not nice enough to look at, I have to be funnier. It’s always like a balancing act with those things and it’s a huge amount of pressure. Timing the spray tan right, getting your hair done in the right way, making sure you sleep well and drink enough water, then you have to have a certain facial the day before — I probably do as much stuff getting ready as Victoria’s Secret models do before a runway. It really is ridiculous too because no one is expecting that of me, and no one needs it of me. I just hold myself to a level of excellence for these things that are unachievable. I always feel like I didn’t do enough. No matter what, I’ll never feel good enough. Which is, you know, what the special is about as well.
I think a lot of people feel like that and sometimes they need to hear it from someone they look up to or are a fan of.
There’s a part of me that’s like, OK, should I move into this phase of my life where I don’t say anything negative about myself? Don’t talk about how I feel about myself most days because people don’t want to hear it? Especially if someone looks at me and goes, oh, she thinks she’s fat? I’m fatter than her, so I must be disgusting. We all have something, and I know that may not be the best example, but I’m not an example to young women. I am just telling my truth and it’s not my job as a comedian to be a role model. I’ve never wanted to be a role model because I think it’s too much pressure. I’d like to be a role model in the sense that people feel like they can be honest about how they’re feeling.
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Nikki Glaser onstage at the Moore Theater in Seattle during her HBO special “Someday You’ll Die,” which begins airing Thursday.
(Jennifer Rose Clasen)
It’s interesting because some might say that admitting your flaws and self-doubt is role model behavior for them.
Yeah, that’s the one I like to hear. I like it when people say they have the same thoughts, or I have depression. What I’ve always really wanted from my celebrities was to not hear about how great their lives are, how much they love themselves, and how they have it together. I want to hear from the people that I put on a pedestal that they are hanging on by a thread. That always makes me feel way better and it literally helps heal me more than motivational things like, you gotta wake up every morning and love yourself! It helps me more to go, oh, my God, Taylor Swift feels insecure too?
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That opens up my eyes to the fact that it’s not worth dwelling on when I see someone like Taylor Swift having the same thoughts as me. I think, OK, then it’s ubiquitous. I’ll never overcome it because if I were Taylor Swift, I’d overcome it. And I don’t really have solutions on how to fix it. I’m more of just complaining about the way it is. Sometimes I feel like my material doesn’t offer a solution, it’s just telling people mostly that life sucks and one day you die, but I think there’s freedom in the truth and not putting a spin on it. I don’t want to be told about what the solution is. If that works, we’d all do the solution.
You’re kind of like if T. Swift wrote lyrics we can’t publish in the L.A. Times.
Oh, my gosh, that means so much to me! Taylor Swift is who I would like to be if I could pick what I was good at. I’ve always loved singing and I’ve always loved music. I got some bad feedback when I was young about my voice and I was just discouraged until, you know, my mid 30s. I was told I wasn’t good, so I decided I had to find another industry. I tried acting but wasn’t a good actress and I was like, what the f—, man? How am I going to get in? That’s how I discovered stand-up and obviously the shoe fit perfectly. It was exactly what I like about music, but I could be more specific. And it was exactly what I like about comedy, but I could write it myself.
What came first, “Someday You’ll Die” the special or“Someday You’ll Die” the song?
We shot the special first. My boyfriend [Chris Convy] executive produced it, and we were in editing talking about what song I wanted for the credits and I was like, I like this song! And this song! And this song! He’s like, OK, well, we’re a little over budget, so this is going to have to come out of your money, which I was willing to do because ending on a really good song is important to me. I was thinking, how much could it be? He goes, it’s gonna range from 20K to 35K for each song. After hearing that I thought, I’ve been taking voice lessons, I did all right on “The Masked Singer,” and I’ve been playing guitar since COVID, so what if I wrote a song?
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I pitched it and all of the pieces came together. I’ve always wanted to write a song and it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done. It’s the proudest I’ve ever been because I never tried to write a song before; I was always scared I couldn’t do it. I think in life you’re just scared to take opportunities, so when this came about — writing a song for my HBO comedy special — I had to do it. I think it comes from a place of insecurity. I say yes to everything because I’m scared that they’ll stop asking if I don’t. There’s also this thing of I never want to get to a point in my life when I’m 60 and I look back and go, oh, you didn’t do that because you were scared.
Glaser has been everywhere these days, from TV shows like “FBoy Island” and “The Masked Singer” to last Sunday’s Tom Brady roast on Netflix.
(Jennifer Rose Clasen)
At this point, you certainly seem fearless in more ways than one. OK, so Hollywood Palladium May 11. Have you played there before?
Yeah, we did a roast there, I think it was Bruce Willis? It might have been all of them. I really don’t know where I do these things, but there was some roast in the Palladium, so I have! I’m really excited about this year’s festival because it looks so huge. I can’t believe how many shows are going on. I hope people show up because I have new material and it’s a chance for me to use some saved stuff I’ve been working on. I also have stuff that maybe was in the special that I have worked on, just expounding my feelings about it all. It’s also just such a big fun room and with the festival, energy will be in the air. And it’s the last show I do for a heavy month of work, and I always go to see Taylor Swift on the third night she’s performing because I know as a performer, the first night you’re like, OK, I have two more and need to conserve my energy. But on that third night, you’re just free and I’m telling you, the night of my show I’m going to feel so free. It’ll just be a catharsis on stage. I cannot wait.
The Snapshot: Pixar comes out swinging with an energetic and cuddly comedy that pairs big laughs with an earnest message about living alongside nature.
Hoppers
9 out of 10
G, 1hr 44mins. Animated Sci-Fi Family Comedy.
Directed by Daniel Chong.
Starring Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Kathy Najimy, Jon Hamm, Dave Franco and Meryl Streep.
Now Playing at Galaxy Cinemas Sault Ste. Marie.
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True all ages fun is increasingly hard to find, and hoping for great, original works out of Hollywood is only getting rarer from the major studios. Thankfully, Disney and Pixar’s Hoppers is making the search a little easier.
Director Daniel Chong (best known for the TV series We Bare Bears) has masterfully directed a frantic masterpiece that is worthy to stand among iconic greats in Pixar’s esteemed catalogue. Filled with bustling action, a brave moral standing, and an endless parade of cuddly animal heroes, Hoppers is a dam great time.
A beaver dam great time, that is.
The story is a bit unusual, set in the northwestern town of Beaverton, Oregon, where a local University student and nature activist named Mabel (Piper Curda) is in a constant fight with the town’s development-driven mayor (Jon Hamm) over a highway expansion over a local glade and nature preserve.
Things gets wild, however, when Mabel’s consciousness gets sucked into a beaver robot through a process called “hoppers” – and suddenly becomes a literal friend of the forest, setting off a chain of events I dare not spoil.
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One of the strongest elements in Hoppers is Jesse Andrews’ terrific screenplay, built on a story structure that has made Pixar’s work stand out among family entertainment for the last 40 years. (Part of this film’s release, co-incidentally, marks the studio’s 40th anniversary this year.)
Not only has Andrews filled the plot with multiple organic surprises that repeatedly heighten the stakes of Mabel’s quest to save the glade, but the script also balances the peacefulness of nature to – anchor the story – with the frazzled panic of modern human life to develop the humour.
Getting these juxtaposing elements to work is done swiftly by Chong, Andrews and the talented voice ensemble bringing it altogether. The actors above are all commendable, but the scene stealer is Bobby Moynihan (of SNL fame) as beaver leader King George.
Moynihan’s George is smart, sincere, and socially aware that teaches Mabel some core lessons without making it overly obvious to the audience. Still, the film as a whole effectively gets its messages across about what a realistic plan for living in harmony across species actually looks like – and how to go about trying to do the right thing.
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Pixar’s original works have struggled for several years, mainly upended by the COVID pandemic ruining the box office prospects of multiple great movies, including Soul, Turning Red and Onward.
Get ready now for Hoppers to take the spotlight both commercially and among repeat viewings for kids – the film is laugh out loud funny and filled with heart. This is the best original film from Pixar since Coco almost a decade ago.
Read more here: You can’t miss Pixar’s Coco (2017 review)
The only small critiques, in fact, is that the main conflict doesn’t fully emerge or develop until halfway through the film, and the pacing is a bit slow until we get to the actual animal “hopping” that comes at the end of the first act. What’s also missing is the ethereal discovery of poignancy that made Pixar’s earliest filmography seem truly special.
Still, don’t let these small quips deter you. Hoppers is the first great film of 2026 and an absolute blast watching at the cinema.
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Children, parents, grandparents, neighbours, your mailman – everyone should see it this weekend. And seeing it sooner is a great way to encourage the development of more original, thoughtful and fun movies like this to be made.
“Pond rules” dictate that if an animal is hungry, the creature that’s about to become a meal should accept its fate. That’s the first lesson that Mabel (voiced by Piper Curda), an idealistic university student whose mind is transferred into the body of a robotic beaver, learns while interacting with wildlife as one of their own in Pixar’s inventive “Hoppers.” In typical human fashion (we love to meddle with nature), Mabel ends up breaking that directive by saving a “fellow” beaver, the slumberous Loaf (Eduardo Franco), attracting unwanted attention that leads her to a wacky group of characters who will transform her rigid young worldview.
For his second feature, Daniel Chong, best known for creating the popular “We Bare Bears” series for Cartoon Network, has unleashed a hilariously unexpected and outrageous crowd-pleaser with “Hoppers.” Recently, I bemoaned that a movie like Sony’s “Goat” stood as further proof that talking-animal animated films had mostly run their course. Chong and screenwriter Jesse Andrews swiftly push back on that read with this environmentalist tale in defense of people who stand up for something, even when it seems no one is willing to stand beside them.
“Hoppers” is Pixar by way of a creator, Chong, whose career isn’t exclusively tied to the studio. That’s likely why his movie is more daring in its humor and tone, bringing a refreshing infusion of mischief to Pixar while maintaining the genuine emotional gravitas that has endeared the company to audiences for over 30 years.
Why is Mabel’s psyche roaming around inside a fake beaver à la “Avatar”? After discovering that this technology has been developed by one of her professors, Mabel thinks it could be the answer to saving the local forest glade where self-aggrandizing mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) wants to build a highway. Mabel’s grandmother instilled in her an appreciation for nature as a reminder that she’s part of something greater than herself. Collecting signatures isn’t yielding results to stop construction, so, to the dismay of the scientists in charge, Mabel hops into the human-made mammal to learn from the creatures themselves why they’ve left the glade, giving Jerry carte blanche to destroy their home.
The poignancy-to-comedy ratio is precisely calibrated. Sharp gags, whether visual or in superbly timed lines of dialogue often laced with irony, work on multiple levels. A few moments like an accidental death or the wild introduction of an aquatic character are so wonderfully out of left field they make one’s head spin. That also goes for instances late in Mabel’s adventure in which “Hoppers” steps into amusingly creepy terrain, paying homage to the horror genre. These impish touches involve a wicked caterpillar (Dave Franco) whose mother, the Insect Queen, is voiced by acting royalty Meryl Streep. Each group of animals has its own ruler.
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Since most scenes occur in the forest glade, the artists at Pixar have created strikingly rendered settings which, while aiming for photorealism, also have a fantastical glow to them, highlighting the inherent magic of nature. That such a seemingly commonplace location is elevated to feel mesmerizing speaks to how animation can make the mundane anew. That’s on top of how the rotund beavers in “Hoppers” have been conceived for maximum cuteness. One of them, Mabel’s guide through this ecosystem, is the disarmingly adorable King George (Bobby Moynihan), who wears a tiny crown (Where did he get it? No one knows) and rules over all mammals with a gentle hand.
Mabel’s friendship with King George, who doesn’t know she is human, becomes the movie’s heartstring-pulling core. The jovial royal believes he can persuade Jerry to change course. Mabel, conversely, doesn’t think Jerry will listen. Her cynicism and King George’s sincere faith in others clash. Among Mabel’s non-furry pals, Tom Lizard (Tom Law) becomes a scene-stealer. (The crazy-eyed, eloquent reptile first became an online sensation as part of a post-credits scene in “Elio.”)
Chong and his team include a minuscule but brilliant detail that illustrates how character design can have major narrative impact: When the animals are speaking among themselves, their eyes are large and expressive, full of life. But when the film takes the perspective of a human looking at the forest dwellers, their eyes appear small and dark, almost nondescript. It’s a subtly visual symbol for how we often fail to gaze at others with understanding.
There are many heavy hitters still to come, but “Hoppers” feels like the first great animated movie of the year. At a time when our right to protest is under siege, this sci-fi yarn exalts the way an individual’s conviction can plant seeds of change, leading to a stronger sense of community. Neither simplistically optimistic nor preachy, “Hoppers” smuggles timely ideas inside a rodent body. Pond rules would probably call that a beaver victory.
‘Hoppers’
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Rated: PG, for action/peril, some scary images and mild language
Pankaj Kapur in ‘Jab Khuli Kitaab’
| Photo Credit: ZEE5
Cracks in conjugality constitute a common conflict device in Hindi cinema. Usually, the male commits the bhool and expects forgiveness. Most fissures appear early, but what if a grandmother reveals a long-buried truth? Can the man accept it as easily as he expects forgiveness? Seasoned actor and theatre practitioner Saurabh Shukla gives new meaning to a prescribed book, making us both chuckle and reflect.
Being a cinematic adaptation of his play, the constraints of the medium are not completely erased, but it shines as a heartfelt exploration of love’s endurance.
The film’s core premise revolves around a decades-old secret — Anusuya’s (Dimple Kapadia) confession of an indiscretion early in their marriage — that surfaces after she awakens from a coma. This revelation forces Gopal (Pankaj Kapur) to re-examine 50 years of trust through the lens of this buried truth as a forgotten ad hoc presence in his life threatens to become a permanent peeve. Enter Negi (Aparshakti Khurana), a young client-chasing lawyer who becomes an unlikely facilitator of tough conversations, legal proceedings, and emotional confrontations.
Synopsis: Gopal and Anusuya’s decades-long marriage is shaken by a revelation.
Though the transgression is a distant memory, its emergence shatters Gopal’s sense of shared space with Anusuya. He questions whether the life he built was an illusion. The woman he cared for seems suddenly unfamiliar. The film asks questions that may seem flimsy but persist in memory. For instance, Anusuya’s love for poetry that Gopal never really discovers, or the concept of marzi (inclination) in relationships.
Meanwhile, the revelation shakes the family unit. The parents initially try to shield the children from the truth, but the tension inevitably seeps in. Initially, it seems the son and son-in-law are bitten by the Baghban bug, but as the film progresses, the writing provides space for a dialogue on how companionship extends beyond the couple.
The film quietly reflects on the role of memory in a marriage, treating it as a central force that both sustains and disrupts long-term bonds. Gopal’s growing dementia suddenly seems like a cure for his marital problem. Without underlining, Shukla also explores the impact of the revelation on Gopal’s social psyche. Suddenly, a seemingly progressive man starts behaving like a parochial uncle, as we find dozens of them around us these days. Is it always the personal that shapes the political socialisation? Another uncle reminds us that laughing too much leads to days of sorrow, as if the Almighty has assigned us a quota of happiness.
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A still from the film
| Photo Credit:
ZEE5
Kapur’s masterful control shines through in Gopal’s progression from bewilderment and stubborn pride to vulnerability and, eventually, the rediscovery of love. Over the years, Kapur has shone in the estuary of comedy that holds a tragedy in its fold. He lives the script’s shifting tones. From the tender caregiving scenes in the beginning to the profound internal shift in demeanour and body language toward the film’s resolution— the transformation feels earned and believable.
It is hard to believe Dimple as a wilting wife, but soon we realise it’s the gravitas in her voice and personality that makes Anusuya a believable picture of regret and resilience.
We know the coma is more like a metaphor, but the medical aspect is treated with a heavy hand. The plot unfolds in a somewhat linear and foreseeable way, with the revelation and its consequences following expected beats. The contrivances, the dot-to-dot mechanics of storytelling, surface in the second half as if the director is keen on arriving at the crux without peeling the layers properly. But it is the chemistry between Shukla and Kapur that prevents this bittersweet dramedy from becoming schmaltzy.
