Taylor Elyse Tomlinson (born November 4, 1993^[1]) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and television host. She has released three Netflix stand-up specials: Quarter-Life Crisis (2020), Look At You (2022) and Have It All (2024). She is the host of the CBS late-night show After Midnight, which premiered on January 17, 2024.^[2]

Tomlinson was born on November 4, 1993, in Orange County, California.^[1] She and her three younger siblings were raised in a devout Christian family, which features prominently in her comedy routines.^[3] Her mother died August 14, 2002,^[4] of cancer when Tomlinson was eight,^[5] and her father remarried a year later. She was raised in Temecula, California, where she graduated from Temecula Valley High School.^[6][7]

She briefly attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo before transferring to a community college in the San Diego metropolitan area to be closer to comedy clubs for her career. Tomlinson then attended California State University San Marcos before dropping out to pursue her budding comedy career full time.^[7][8]

Tomlinson began performing comedy at age 16, after her father signed them both up for a stand-up class.^[3][9] She performed in church basements, school venues, and coffee shops.^[5][10][11] She was 19 when she decided that comedy would be her career.^[9]

Tomlinson became a top-ten finalist on the ninth season of NBC's Last Comic Standing in 2015 and was named one of the "Top 10 Comics to Watch" by Variety at the 2019 Just for Laughs Festival. She has appeared on The Tonight Show, Conan, and various Comedy Central productions.^[12] She developed a sitcom for ABC in 2017, but it was not picked up for a pilot.^[13] She performed a fifteen-minute set on an episode of the Netflix stand-up series The Comedy Lineup in 2018.^[14]

Tomlinson's first Netflix stand-up special, Quarter-Life Crisis, was released in March 2020.^[3][15] Later that year, she toured with fellow comedian Whitney Cummings on the Codependent Tour.^[16] She was also part of the podcast Self-Helpless with fellow comedians Kelsey Cook and Delanie Fischer that year.^[17] In 2021, she began her own podcast titled Sad in the City.^[17] She was placed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in December 2021.^[18] Her second Netflix stand-up special, Look At You, was released in March 2022.^[19] Her third Netflix special, Have it All, was filmed in Washington, D.C. at the end of November 2023 and was released on February 13, 2024.^[20]

On November 1, 2023, it was announced that Tomlinson would host After Midnight, a CBS revival of former Comedy Central panel show @midnight, which premiered on January 17, 2024.^{[21][22][2][23]}

Among comics in the 2023 top 10 grossing comic tour list, Tomlinson was the only woman and performed more shows (130) than anyone else on the list.^[24][25]

Tomlinson has said her two biggest comedy influences are Brian Regan and Maria Bamford. She said about them, "I loved Brian Regan and Maria Bamford when I was younger—and still do. Regan is just one of the greats, and also the nicest person. And you could listen to him with your whole family and know everyone would enjoy it. I love everything Maria Bamford does. She's so different from anyone else out there, and she talks about mental health in such a hilarious, vulnerable, amazing way."^[28] She has also gone on to cite Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle, Conan O'Brien, Bert Kreischer, and John Mulaney as comedians she idolizes.^[29][30]

Tomlinson said in her stand-up special Quarter-Life Crisis that she was once engaged, but called it off, before taping her first special.^[31] Her stand-up material refers to her experiences of mental health issues, including depression, panic attacks and night terrors, and in Look at You she discusses being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.^[19]

Tomlinson was in a relationship with fellow comedian Sam Morril from March 2020 to February 2022.^[32][33]

In her 2024 special Have It All, Tomlinson stated she was "trying to figure out if I’m bisexual", discussed her experiences trying to date women,^[34] and discussed her three siblings.^[35][25]

• List of people with bipolar disorder