Taylor Tomlinson is on top of the comedy world and back at Wynn Las Vegas (2024)

Thu, Apr 18, 2024 (2 a.m.)

It may appear this year as if Taylor Tomlinson is the latest stand-up comedian to break through to that next level of ubiquitous stardom. In January, she became the youngest late-night TV host in the game, launching After Midnight on CBS right after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Less than a month later, Tomlinson dropped another stellar Netflix special, Have It All, which may be her best work yet—and that’s saying a lot since 2022’s Look At You was on top of comedy special lists from Vulture and the New York Times.

The Have It All tour has already sold out three shows in Chicago and four in Boston this year, and she’s playing bigger rooms this time around.

But the truth is Tomlinson has been a star for a long time. She falls firmly into the category of comics who’ve deftly used the internet and social media—particularly during our pandemic-era need for comedy content—to seize the visibility her talent deserves. And that way she carries herself onstage, wise beyond her 30 years, makes a lot of sense when you discover she’s been performing since she was a teenager, and decided very early that comedy was her path.

Las Vegas recognized Tomlinson was ready for a bigger spotlight back in April 2022 (if not earlier), when she made her debut at Wynn’s Encore Theater. She returns this week and again in June, rejoining the ranks of Ali Wong, Sebastian Maniscalco, Jim Gaffigan and more—headliners that have made this room a Strip comedy hot spot.

“The Wynn’s incredible and that theater is incredible, and it feels like a very cool, intimate space for being a big theater,” Tomlinson says. “And as far as places to stay in Vegas, I think Wynn is No. 1. It’s totally different from playing [comedy clubs] … you really feel like you’re in show business for real at the Wynn, as opposed to some of the rooms I did when I was younger.”

Between bigger, bolder performances on the road, she’s taping new episodes of After Midnight, a different late-night concept that finds her guiding a panel of comedians in a gameshow format where points are earned for punchlines. “It’s been everything I wanted it to be, honestly,” Tomlinson says. “I just wanted to work with all these people and grow through the process, learn some new skills. It’s allowed me to meet a lot of comics I’d never met in person, and it’s a really fun time because stand-ups don’t usually get to play along and improvise with each other.”

It’s exciting to think about how these new performance tools could enhance her act in the future. Whether she’s going deep on family issues or describing dating disasters, Tomlinson is naturally relatable, and impressively unafraid to get personal. Have It All is rich with material about mental health, and Tomlinson has long been open onstage and off about her bipolar disorder.

“I talked about it with the special before this most recent one and I definitely got a lot of feedback. People have been really sweet, and it’s a scary thing to talk about so it’s nice to hear from other people who have gone through the same thing,” she says. “But it all feels personal to me. It just depends on the joke. I’m sort of a personal comedian. That’s just how I write.”

TAYLOR TOMLINSONApril 19-20, 7:30 p.m., $45-$65. Encore Theater,ticketmaster.com.

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Tags:,Comedy