Ahead of her headlining run at the Buell Theatre from today, September 21, through Saturday, September 23, Tomlinson has a lot to share about her comedic beginnings, career highlights and the process for developing her sets. She first tried her hand at comedy at age sixteen, when her dad signed her up for comedy classes near their home in Temecula, California. The classes were conducted by a church comedian, and Tomlinson's first performances were in churches, too.
After finishing high school, she attended California Polytechnic State University before transferring to a program in the San Diego area to be closer to comedy clubs. It wasn't long before she dropped out to pursue her comedy career full-time. "I’ve been very lucky that I not only started young, but that I got opportunities really young," Tomlinson says. "And I was lucky enough to have those opportunities continue to be steady so I didn't have to go back to college."
The tour "talks a lot about my career, stance on love, work-life balance and all kinds of other stuff," Taylor Tomlinson says.
Courtesy of Andrew Max Levy
She shifted away from the Christian comedy material she was used to because "I just didn't feel like it was real serious comedy for me," she explains. "It's not what I wanted to be doing. I wanted to talk about whatever I wanted. I also wasn't really religious anymore, and as I got older, I felt dishonest performing in churches when they wanted people who were religious. Obviously, you have to be insanely clean, and that just wasn't who I was, and I didn't want to be falsely advertising myself."
This transition allowed her to speak her mind and tackle a wider range of topics. Now, at age 29, Tomlinson has already made quite a name for herself. She's appeared on Comedy Central, Last Comic Standing, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend and The Tonight Show; she hosts the Self-Helpless podcast with fellow comedians Kelsey Cook and Delanie Fischer; and she's got two specials out on Netflix. When it came to producing her first standup special, Quarter-Life Crisis, Tomlinson focused more on perfecting her routine than the production process.
"I was a lot less hands-on during the production of my first special because I was just so focused on the material," she says. "I didn't really know that I got a say; I didn't even know that I got to be involved in the editing process until after we filmed it. And [Netflix] was like, 'Oh, yeah, you get to be involved in the edit, as well.' I was really pleasantly surprised with how much control Netflix gave me and that I had final approval, but I was definitely a lot more like, 'Whatever you guys think' — and luckily, I had such great professional people around me handling everything that it turned out great."
Quarter-Life Crisis was released in March 2020, just as the world went into lockdown. Tomlinson admits she was worried that her career, which was starting to pick up steam, would be destroyed by the pandemic.
"It came out pretty much exactly a week after everything hit," she recalls. "I was in New York doing sets for a couple of days, and then I came home and was home for the next eight months. I remember thinking, 'Well, that was my chance, and it's over.' I thought about going back to school, because I didn't even know if live standup was going to be popular after this.
"I remember one of my agents at the time saying it was a great time to put something out, because everybody was trapped inside and watching everything," she continues. "And I was like, 'Okay, but by the time this is over, everyone will have forgotten about this, [because] I can't tour and capitalize on it.' Then, when we finally were able to tour again, it was so different; I came out of the pandemic with an entirely different career than I went into it with."
Even though she was unsure of what the future would bring, Tomlinson spent her time in lockdown refining material she would use for her next special, Look at You, as she eagerly awaited the return of live comedy shows.
"Pretty much as soon as Quarter-Life Crisis came out, I began developing a new hour," Tomlinson says. "I wasn't able to run that hour in front of an audience for a long time, but when I did come back, I already had a loose hour ready to work on. There's a lot of stuff in Look at You that I had been wanting to talk about for years but that I needed to mature in order to make work."
In the special, Tomlinson gets real about her struggles with mental health, childhood trauma and dating issues. She also became more involved in various aspects of the production of the filmed special. "Since I had a better idea of what it was going to be like going into it, the process got to feel more collaborative, because I was a little older and more confident," she explains.
When Tomlinson is asked whether there was a point that she started to feel like a successful comedian, she pauses.
"I don't know...yesterday?" she says. "I think in the last few years, I've felt a lot more confident, and I do not think it will all go away — or at least I hope not. I think success in this business is the culmination of so many things. You have to work really hard, be nice, kind, consistent and pleasant, and you also have to be talented and lucky, so I do not think you can attribute your success to one thing. Netflix changed my life, as did my manager, Judi Marmel, so if I had to attribute my success to anyone or anything, it would probably be Judi and Netflix."
With a focus on the experiences of those nearing their thirties, Tomlinson's Have It All Tour promises to be lighter than her previous special.
"In Look at You, I was talking about a lot of dark stuff or more emotional stuff, and so for this one, I tried to make it fun and relatable for people who are reaching their thirties and taking stock of their lives and looking at where they're at," she says. "My friends and I are all in that area of 28 to 35, and everybody's lives are great in some areas, not so great in other areas, and definitely not where they thought they'd be. It's sort of this weird transition, because everybody puts so much pressure on turning thirty, and I'm very much in that headspace. [The Have It All Tour] talks a lot about my career, stance on love, work-life balance and all kinds of other stuff."
Tomlinson's journey from church basements to headlining comedy clubs around the country is a testament to her talent and dedication. Fans can look forward to more laughs from this exceptional comedian in the years to come as she navigates the constantly evolving world of comedy, and locals can catch the performer in her eagerly anticipated appearance at the Buell.
Taylor Tomlinson: The Have It All Tour, Thursday, September 21, through Saturday, September 23, Buell Theatre, 1350 Curtis Street. Tickets are available at ttomcomedy.com.
