Taylor Tomlinson Leads An Afternoon Show At Netflix Is A Joke Festival

Taylor Tomlinson is one of the biggest names in comedy at the moment, as she’s got three Netflix specials and a late-night network series under her belt. The fact that she’s only 30 makes these feats all the more impressive. We’ve been big fans of hers for years. So when it was announced that Taylor was doing an afternoon show at Netflix Is A Joke Festival, we knew we had to be there. That’s right. An evening of stand-up… in the afternoon!

“Thanks for coming to the afternoon church service,” is exactly how Tomlinson welcomed us. She also addressed the giant Netflix sign onstage, calling it a reminder of “who owns us.” And she’s right. If you’re a comic working in the industry, there’s a pretty good chance you were at Netflix. In only its second year, it’s become the place to be. And Taylor brought that energy to her show.

While some comedians may not have done a show at 3:30 PM, Tomlinson jumped at the chance. This is the perfectly timed show for her now that she hosts a regular day gig as host of After Midnight. So having to do double duty between that gig and touring the country as a comic can be pretty exhausting, particularly when the latter involves late nights. At one point she even says, “Have you ever gotten so tired that you fantasized about being canceled?”

A lot of her set - on the heals of having a new Netflix special a few months ago - revolved around her religious upbringing. She touched on what it’s like to grow up Christian and then how she doesn’t believe anymore. In fact, she even commented on how surprised she is that her family still talks to her or her siblings, now that they’ve all left.

Something she touched on in her last Netflix special was being bi-sexual. This is a topic that she’s expanding upon more in this new hour, talking about the process of coming out. Once she started dating what she describes as “a really hot woman,” she even asked “Oh my god, am I Pete Davidson?”

Seeing Tomlinson’s evolution as a comedian has been pretty amazing. I first watched her on Conan O’Brien’s tour back in 2018, and interviewed her for the first time the following month in Schaumburg, Illinois. I was immediately struck by how someone so young could already be so fine-tuned onstage as a comedian. She quickly rose to fame shortly after, and part of the most exciting part of that is watching how her presence onstage has changed over the years.

But most importantly, she is still just as funny now as she’s always been. If you ever get the chance to see her live show, you won’t want to miss it!