Taylor Tomlinson Is The Queen Of Laughs

Taylor Tomlinson Is The Queen Of Laughs

Taylor Tomlinson does not 'have it all'. And she admits this openly, freely and vulnerably in her third Netflix special. What she does have though, are kickass punchlines, writes Swetha Ramakrishnan.

THERE are more comedy specials on Netflix than stars in the sky, honestly, so when I started watching Taylor Tomlinson’s latest special, Have It All, her third one on the streamer, what I really wanted an answer to is: what makes her so special? What makes it seem like she, truly, has it all?

“I have to be honest, my career is going very well right now,” she says, 15 minutes in. Well, can’t fault her there. She is what you would call a comedy superstar in the US, with steady rising fame since her first special in 2020, Quarter Life Crisis . In December 2021, she featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. She’s the seventh most popular female comedian of all time on Tik Tok, and her second and third specials on Netflix have shattered records. The cherry on the cake: in November 2023, it was announced that she would be taking over James Corden’s slot after The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, hosting After Midnight, a new version of the comedy panel show @midnight that ran on Comedy Central from 2013 to 2017. Quite a big feat, that.

“Nobody wants anyone to have it all. If someone has a soulmate, they can’t have their dream job. If they have their dream job, they can’t be in love on top of that. If someone has their dream job and they’re in love, bare minimum their parents better be divorced. I would have preferred if they were an orphan.” The melodramatic delivery of these lines is what forms the crux of her special. That nobody really has it all; they can’t, and even if they do, the most successful people around them are going to want to make jokes about it. Because “having it all” is a delusion.

The candid writing of her jokes makes them resonate more. Especially with women, who will find a deep connection with some of the observations she makes with her humour. “I used to think nobody has every single thing going for them as a person; (so) be grateful for what you have. And then I met Hugh Jackson. And I realised you can actually have it all, but none of it is left because God gave it to one person.”

When Tomlinson starts to talk about religion, and doing the church circuit as a young comedian, the energy dips a bit. She talks about being sheltered and having a deeply conservative upbringing. It is here, where she loses me. I am assuming if you are not American, you will lose interest too.

What makes Taylor tick is her everyday, white girl vibe. It makes her reliable, relatable and the humour is just the icing on the cake. Fellow white girls will want to be friends with her, non-white girls are spending time deducing her (or writing think-pieces on her specials sitting 5,000 miles away in another country). And practically all men will want her; I mean, why the hell not?

She seems to know this when she delivers her punchlines. She also seems to know that she is famous; you can see it in her face. But what starts off as a blunt and unreserved admission, becomes a focal point she keeps coming back to and it starts to feel a bit redundant. Especially the track that her personal life and mental health is still a struggle despite her success. More than redundant, it feels too American. Since her fame is limited to her country, a lot of these honest confessions are lost to a global audience. Her anecdotes are “white girl American'', so are her references (Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, American high school politics and more).

There’s a particular kind of American comedy that is all encompassing, can set trends, and be universal. Think Seinfield, or SNL. Tomlinson’s comedy would fall in the same category, it’s very funny, it’s very American, but it’s not new or refreshing.

But here’s what is refreshing: when she starts to speak about dating apps, the female gaze in her writing is like a breath of fresh air. “Six different pictures and you’re waiting at a coffee shop, saying ‘hope it’s picture no. 3’!”

“My friends who have casual sex regularly, I always want to hear about their lives. I have a friend, she’s on Tinder. I call her every Monday… I asked her what’s “good dirty talk” in her opinion and she said she likes being called a sl*t and a wh*re in bed. I mean, if you like being called that, your parents loved you so much! Dirty talk is hot because it’s what you haven’t heard before. But if someone called me a wh*re in bed, I’d be like, ‘Excuse me, this is what my father calls me’.”

She delivers these comedic clinchers with a raspy, performative confidence. Her delivery is everything: the over pronounced, doubling down on her jokes, as if she’s saying, “b*tch you better like my content or else.” She says the most everyday things but with the confidence of someone who is going to win a Nobel prize for it. And even though her perspective isn’t new, or her jokes aren’t very universal, Taylor Tomlinson’s comedy is breezy, effortless and downright fun. She’s the perfect amalgamation of Amy Schumer, Rachel McAdams and Whitney Cummings.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love my best friend’s fiancé, but if he died, I'd be like — sleepover!!”

Taylor Tomlinson does not have it all. And she admits this openly, freely and vulnerably in her third Netflix special. What she does have are kickass punchlines, that’s for sure.

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