In an effort to shake up the late-night television landscape, 29-year-old stand-up comedian Taylor Tomlinson will take over the time slot following “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS. This makes her not only the only woman on the job on a late-night show on network television, but also the youngest by two decades.
Tomlinson will serve as host of “After Midnight,” based on “@midnight With Chris Hardwick,” a series that premiered on Comedy Central in 2013 and was canceled four years later. This show, with Hardwick as host, featured a number of comics.
The new show’s executive producers include Stephen Colbert, who announced the news on his show Wednesday. Tomlinson will start in 2024.
The Los Angeles-based comedian is a film and television newcomer, but has quickly become one of the country’s most acclaimed and popular stand-up acts, building on the strength of two specials on Netflix, “Quarter-Life Crisis” and “Look at You.” She is currently on a worldwide tour of major theaters.
She began performing as a teenager and began performing in church at an early age. Her big break on Netflix came in 2018 with a 15-minute set on “The Comedy Lineup.” Her next special will premiere on the streaming service in February.
Tomlinson essentially fills the position left vacant when James Corden left “The Late Late Show” earlier this year. Before him, Craig Ferguson and Tom Snyder served as hosts of the shows that followed “The Late Show With David Letterman.”
The list of women who get such opportunities on network television is extremely short. Joan Rivers was the first in the modern era, becoming host of a short-lived Fox series in 1986. In 2019, Lilly Singh replaced Carson Daly on the Late Late show on NBC. In 2021, network television became an all-male club.