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"Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman: These are the names that are synonymous with late-night talk shows. But, two more names have been shaking up the 11pm time-slot lately: Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer. And yes, they're chicks! The hosts of Nikki Sara Live a show that combines clever humor, keen commentary, and a bevy of celebrity guests, are only in their first season, but their show has gained plenty of traction with its smart female voices.\n\nWe had the chance to chat with TV's newest late-night hosts, who gave us all the scoop on their favorite celebrities, how they got their start, and what it takes to be a leading lady in the traditionally male-dominated world of comedy.\n\n**You're both very successful comedians. When did you figure out you were funny?\n\n Nikki:** It was something that came about in college. I knew I was funny in high school, but I was too shy to speak up. My friends were always so much more outspoken, and I was so insecure and scared that if I ever said anything funny people would make fun of me for being lame. But then in college, when I was surrounded by new people, I just became more myself. Then, people started telling me I was really funny. But I always knew that I was in the back of my head.\n\n Sara: For me, it started in middle school, when I noticed people saying I made them laugh. I specifically remember a thing my church youth group did, where everyone wrote compliments about everyone else on little pieces of paper, so everyone got a little bag of compliments at the end of it. I got, like, twelve that said \"really funny\". I also got a few that said things like \"spastic,\" \"crazy,\" \"wacky\"... and so I thought, \"Hmm. Maybe there's something to this?\"\n\n**How does it feel to be so funny?\n\n S:**To be able to control and audience and make them laugh\u2014to get them to make an involuntary sound with their body!\u2014is a very powerful feeling. I can express myself in that way.\n\n**This show is not one, but two female late night hosts, which is kind of rare. How did it come about?\n\n Nikki:** We had a podcast together, and then we started writing sketches. Our Justin Timberlake video went viral, and since we knew that what we did worked outside of the podcast, we wanted to do something bigger.\n\n Sara: It's been a great experience going through this with two hosts. Not all the pressure is on me, or on Nikki\u2014we can share it together. Only the two of us know what this feels like and it's been really good to have that other person there. And I think it gives our audience more to look at, and more to hear. Seeing two smart, funny women on TV\u2014 there was nothing like that for me growing up. I would have been obsessed with this show, and that's what drives both of us when we decide what we're going to say on the air. We think about what we would want to watch, both now and when we were younger.\n\n**What's it like hanging out with celebrities? Is there anyone you'd be crazy-starstruck to have on the show?\n\n Nikki:** Stars are just like us! Except they're rich. And they're famous. No, but everyone we've had on the show has been really lovely and nice, although we don't really hang out with them more than what you seen on the screen. But for me, Zac Efron would be my ideal person to come on the show. I wouldn't be able to conduct an interview, though\u2014\n\n Sara: I would have to take the wheel\u2014\n\n Nikki: \u2014while I would just be there smiling and giggling.\n\n Sara: For me, if Justin Timberlake came on the show I would completely freak out. I love what he's doing, his career progression, and he just seems like he knows how to have a good time.\n\n Nikki: We've talked about his album endlessly on the show, trying to get his attention!\n\n Sara: In general though, I'm very comfortable around celebrities. There are some times where I wish we could just keep talking, become friends, and hang out. The vibe you get from some people makes you think, \"Oh, I think we could be friends! This is cool!\" But, then they leave and you want to be like, \"Wait! What's your phone number?\" Nikki and I actually have a list of female celebrities that we want to become friends with.\n\n Nikki: We literally took a meeting one day to sit down and think about who we want to become friends with. Jennifer Lawrence tops it\u2014\n\n Sara: \u2014and any of the Saturday Night Live girls, and Emily Van Camp. We were really realistic about it too! Like, who lives in New York? Who's our age?\n\n**From personal experience, what has been the greatest challenge for you as women in comedy?\n\n Nikki:** Dealing with everyone thinking that women aren't funny. When you're starting out, you have to jump over that hurdle. When you start out in comedy, you aren't funny\u2014whether you're a guy or a girl. You might be funny by nature, but performing comedy is very difficult from the beginning. You bomb a lot\u2014 which is what we call it in the business\u2014 and you do terribly. People can write that off and say \"Oh, it's because you're a girl.\" And you have to say, \"No, it's because I'm new.\"\n\n Sara: I think now, it's changing. But, when I was younger, there weren't as many female comedians to look up to. But, I did look up to people like Molly Shannon, Sheri Oteri, Amy Pohler, and Tina Fey. I think that once you see the careers that they formed for themselves, it makes it easier to envision yourself doing that, and you believe in yourself more. Now, there's more and more funny women out there building empires on being funny. Doing anything that's traditionally a \"boys' club\" thing can be challenging at first, because you may not have as many girlfriends with you in that experience, and you're also dealing with boys around\u2014that can be hard! You just have to focus on your career, first and foremost, and the rest will work itself out.\n\n**What advice do you have for teen girls who want to put themselves out there as smart, funny women?\n\n Nikki:** Be fearless. I was really scared as a teenager to be funny, because funny, to me, was too risky\u2014it meant drawing attention to yourself, leaving yourself open. I think that as women, we're encouraged to not laugh, not to be goofy, not to make funny faces, or to be gross. But, we need to embrace that side of ourselves because it's going to come out eventually. So you might as well get a head start on it.\n\n Sara: Take risks. Write down things that you think are funny in a journal and share them with your friends. Realize you can use a sense of humor to bring people together, and to alleviate teasing. You can say, \"Oh, I'm goofy! I know I'm goofy! You can't make fun of me.\" It's a good strategy, but don't go too far making fun of yourself\u2014you shouldn't be beating yourself up.\n\n**Even though it's in its first season, this show has already gotten lots of critical acclaim. What do you want it to become?\n\n Nikki:** We want to keep doing it! It's changed even since our first episode, so we don't even really know where it's going to go. We're really happy with what it is right now, we want to do it more. We have a list of guests we'd like to get on the show, and we want to get more spontaneous guests dropping by.\n\n Sara: We want to build a community of fans who really get us. We want to have inside jokes and have them become part of the show over time. This is where we all come to talk about what's going on with us%#151;the things we like, the celebrities we like, the music we like. Hopefully, we'll be doing this for a very long time."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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