Taylor Tomlinson knows all too well why her accolades are being compared to another famous Taylor…Swift!
Not only is the 30-year-old comedian helming a late-night TV show as the host of After Midnight on CBS, she’s dominating tickets sales for her latest comedy tour, making her show one of the highest-grossing female comedy shows of 2023.
If it sounds familiar, it’s because that other Taylor has continued to set records with her Eras Tour.
“I don’t know who’s doing that. There’s a couple of comments on Instagram. I’m not doing that,” Tomlinson humbly tells ET’s Denny Directo about the comments. “I would never compare myself to Taylor Swift. I am garbage compared to her.”
She adds, “That’s very sweet. I think it’s mostly the name I think, is mostly it.”
Like everyone’s favorite Anti-Hero, Tomlinson’s act features a few digs at some of her exes. Though they aren’t famous, they aren’t excused from making their way into one of her bits.
“Anybody who dates a comedian has to go in knowing that,” she says. “I dated comedians, and I went in knowing that. So this is a, ‘If I were you, I would not date a comedian.’ I mean, I know why comedians date each other because we both know the deal. But a person who’s not in this business, it must be very scary. It’d be like, ‘Oh, we’re just kind of on the record all the time.'”
Tomlinson not only has the support of the fans who pump her up on social media, she also holds her tour family pretty close — and credits them for making the experience wonderful.
“Stand-up is such a solo sport, like, it’s such an isolated thing in a lot of ways and I love it,” she says. “I love being on tour. I have a good friend who opens for me. I love my tour manager. I’ve never really been in a situation where I got to create something new every day with a group of people that I really respect and admire. And so I just wanted to have that experience as a comedian.”
When she’s not on the road, she’s in the studio crafting her fun late-night experience. Getting the gig was perfect because her schedule allows her to hit the road and be on set.
“I’m a stand-up first and foremost and I love to tour, so when I took the first meeting with the producers, they were like, ‘We know what you’re gonna say, but we’re only going to film Monday through Wednesday, which means you can tour on the weekends.’ And so once I knew that, I was like, ‘Oh, well then I guess I should really think about.’ The more meetings we had, the more people I met who were involved in this project, the more I wanted to do it.”
As far as dream guests, Tomlinson has one person in particular that she would like to see in the studio and behind the podium.
“I want to get Conan [O’Brien] on the show,” she tells 360aproko “I think Conan would be fun. It’s probably a big ask but I would love if Conan did the show.”
After Midnight airs weeknights on CBS.
