Take an inside look at Taylor Tomlinson’s favorite photos from her phone gallery where she shares some of her best memories from the beginning of her career to going on an adventure with Paddington Bear throughout London.
Taylor Elyse Tomlinson was born on November 4, 1993, in Orange County, California, to parents Angela Tomlinson, a stay-at-home mom, and Eric Tomlinson, a teacher. Taylor has three younger siblings: Drea, Page, and Brinn. Her mom died of cancer when Taylor was just 8 years old. Her father later remarried.
Taylor grew up in Temecula, California, in a conservative Christian household. She realized early on that she had a gift for comedy. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Tomlinson shared: “My grandma recently told me I was unintentionally funny when I was little. Apparently I cracked up my family.”
Tomlinson took her first comedy class with family-friendly comedian Nazareth at age 16 and began doing comedy shows at churches. At Temecula Valley High School, she studied drama. Tomlinson graduated high school in 2011, then attended California Polytechnic State University for one semester before transferring to Palomar College. After three years of college, she decided to drop out. But her college days offered her the opportunity to perform stand-up more regularly. Bigger stages were soon calling.
One of Taylor Tomlinson’s first professional breaks was an appearance on Last Comic Standing, alongside Michael Palascak, left, and Anthony Jeselnik.
Tomlinson’s religious upbringing shaped her early comedy. “For the first, like, six years—the first half of my career so far—I was squeakyclean,” she told E! News. But by age 22, Tomlinson had switched up her material to less church-friendly content that no longer felt authentic to her. She told E! News, “It was hard to get to that place and accept that not everybody was going to love that,” adding that she had to “get over my own internalized guilt and shame about not being, like, a good Christian. Not being Christian at all, really.”
After leaving college, she landed a gig on Last Comic Standing followed by an appearance on Conan, Conan O’Brien’s late-night show on TBS, when she was 23. That led to a network development deal with ABC Studios for a sitcom, which never made it to air. In 2018, she debuted her comedy on Netflix during a 15-minute set on The Comedy Lineup, a stand-up comedy showcase series that had two seasons on the streaming platform.
To date, Tomlinson has released three comedy specials on Netflix. Her first, titled Quarter-Life Crisis, arrived in 2020. Next came Look At You, which premiered in 2022. Her second special was the first time Tomlinson publicly discussed her experience with bipolar disorder. “I had all this shame because when I was a kid, my parents were like, ‘You don’t get on medication. That’s weak. That’s not good for you,’” Tomlinson told E! News. “So I think I felt weak for needing that.”
Over the years, she has chosen to become more transparent about her bipolar disorder on stage. “I’m a personal comedian, and I talk about what’s going on in my life, and that’s what was going on in my life,” Tomlinson told People. “At first I was like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to share this.’ And then I’m on the road, and I’m like, ‘Nah, maybe I’ll just try one joke about it.’ And then that works, and you’re like, ‘Okay, well, I do have more to say about it.’”
Tomlinson’s newest special on the streaming platform is Have It All. It released in February 2024. Her current deal with Netflix includes a fourth show, though details about its scheduled release aren’t yet available.
At age 30, Tomlinson became the host of After Midnight on CBS in January 2024. The show is a reboot of Comedy Central’s show @midnight. She is one of the youngest hosts in late-night and currently the only woman hosting a late-night show. Previous female hosts include Joan Rivers, Chelsea Handler, Lilly Singh, Ziwe, Amber Ruffin, and Samantha Bee.
Tomlinson’s After Midnight replaced James Corden’s The Late Late Show and follows The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in the 12:37 a.m. spot.
