Nikki Glaser ready to laugh it up at Riverside Casino

The Ringer sports-entertainment website recently posted a Taylor Swift feature, “A Ranking of Every Celebrity Who Attended Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.”

It’s a who’s who of royal Swifties. However, comic Nikki Glaser somehow failed to make the cut. Glaser, 39, who is bringing her “The Good Girl” tour to the Riverside Casino Event Center in Riverside on Saturday night, is in her own category.

She has caught nine Swift concerts around the country, which isn’t easy since the former host of the sex-focused Comedy Central show, “Not Safe with Nikki Glaser,” is on her own tour.

Swift tickets are pricey, especially on the secondary market, where they go for four figures. It’s unknown if another celebrity attended more shows or dropped more cash for Swift tickets than Glaser, who spent $30,000 for the coveted passes.

But Glaser justifies the lavish amount spent to experience an epic three-hour-20-minute experience nine times.

“Seeing Taylor Swift is part of my self-care,” Glaser said while calling from San Francisco. “Her show is an antidepressant for me. I feel amazing during and after her concerts, so it’s worth it to me.

“I’ve been judged by people close to me for going to so many shows, but some people spend this amount of money on sporting events. I go to see Taylor Swift since she brings me the most joy in the world, aside from my nieces and nephews.”

Glaser has flown in her mother, her boyfriend and his family, as well as high school friends to catch shows.

“They’re all hooked like I am,” Glaser said. “If you see Taylor live once, you get it.”

Glaser dropped $14,000 for a front-row experience in Houston.

“It sounds crazy to spend that much money on tickets on the secondary market, but I don’t own a home,” Glaser said. “I don’t own a car. I don’t spend money on myself. It was worth it. I was in the front row. I cried, but I didn’t want to distract her.

“I have the same phone case as her and I didn’t want her to see it. I follow an account to know what she owns since it makes me feel closer to her. I studied how she plays guitar. I see how she places her pinkie finger over her ring finger when she’s doing a G chord. I was so close to her that I could see her arm hair, which is beautiful.”

The Cincinnati native isn’t sure about meeting her celebrity crush, however.

“I don’t want her to calm me down and say, ‘It’s OK,’ while I'm shaking and I’m saying, ‘You mean so much to me.’ ”

Glaser’s act

It would be wild if Glaser riffed about Swift during her act, but there won’t be a word about the most famous person on the planet during the set at the Riverside Casino.

“I talk about depression,” she said. “I have a grim interest in things. I talk about pedophilia, domestic violence and things like that. I’m not trying to cause a stir. My goal is to lift the shame. The goal of my show is to talk about things in a humorous way and to get things out there.”

Much like Swift, Glaser is close with her fans.

“What I love about Taylor is that she’s always present at her shows,” Glaser said.

During a concert in Philadelphia in May, Swift noticed a fan being manhandled by a security guard while she was belting out “Bad Blood.”

“I have that scene memorized from watching the video from Philadelphia when Taylor said, ‘Stop it! She didn't do anything. No, let her go!’ She’s so cute. She’s looking out for us. But I get it. She cares about her fans.

“I care so much about my fans, too,” Glaser said. “My fans who come out to see me and listen to my podcasts know me like my family doesn’t, since my family doesn’t listen to my podcasts. I appreciate my fans, so I’m always present. Sometimes you’re tired when you’re performing or you think about what you’ll eat after the show or what your travel day is like the next day, but I clear my mind from those thoughts and focus on the people who support what I do.

“I’m like Taylor in that I want my fans who come out to my shows to have the best time possible.”

Glaser is clever, unpredictable and vulnerable onstage, which is an uncommon trifecta for a comic.

“I have anxiety, but I thrive on anxiety and deadlines,” she. “I smoke weed. People don’t smoke it because it makes them paranoid. But I love that paranoia. It makes me want to get things done. I’ll clean up and work on new material. I know I’m not going to live forever, so I have to accomplish something now.”

Fans who haven’t caught Glaser in years should know she doesn’t wax about sex like she did a decade ago.

“I’m in my latest 30, as I put it,” she said. “Sex just isn’t that interesting to me anymore. I don’t know if it’s my hormones or whatever. I’m just not that titillated by it and I’ve explored it enough. It used to be 90 percent of my act, but it’s not that way anymore. You get older, you grow, you change — and change is good.”

Glaser’s icon Swift has changed considerably. Swift has morphed so much that her tour is aptly dubbed “eras” even the pop megastar is only 33.

“She’s so amazing,” Glaser said.