This profile is part of Queerty’s 2024 Out For Good series, recognizing public figures who’ve had the courage to come out and make a difference in the past year, in celebration of National Coming Out Day on October 11.
Name: Taylor Tomlinson, 30.
Bio: Taylor Tomlinson has it all… not that she’d admit it.
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The 30-year-old comedian grew up in a devout Christian home in Temecula, California with three siblings. Her mother passed away young, at the age of 34, and while the trauma of losing a parent could have enveloped Tomlinson, she turned to comedy instead.
“Wow, what a waste. What a waste of such an amazing person who was taken way too soon, with all this talent and creativity that I have scraps of,” Tomlinson said to NPR about her mother’s passing.
Tomlinson briefly attended college in California, but withdrew from her studies to focus on comedy full-time. It was a risky proposition that proved to be a smashing success.
While Tomlinson has made a big splash with her Netflix special, Taylor Tomlinson: Have It All, as well as her CBS late-night show, After Midnight, stand-up fans have seen her in many specials and programs over the last decade.
Prior to Tomlinson’s Netflix special, the Orange County native appeared on shows like Last Comic Standing and was named one of Variety’s “Top 10 Comics to Watch” in 2019.
Today, Tomlinson is known for her dry, blunt humor. She also uses comedy as an outlet to talk about mental health.
“I got such amazing feedback from people who had been struggling with their mental health, how it made them feel seen and less alone and made them feel better about their own journey,” she told NPR in September.
Tomlinson was previously engaged to comedian Sam Morril, but they ended their relationship before getting married.
Coming Out: In her 2024 standup special, Taylor Tomlinson: Have It All, the comedian officially came out as bi. In true Tomlinson fashion, she was self-deprecating and hilarious.
“So, anyway, I’ve been trying to figure out if I’m bisexual, or if I just binged Euphoria too fast, ’cause I’ve been trying to date women, but it is so hard,” she joked. “I don’t know how to get women to like me…hitting on women is so much harder. It feels so much more delicate. Like, hitting on a woman feels like trying to skip a stone on a lake, hitting on a man feels like throwing a brick through a window.”
Tomlinson is not the only LGBTQ+ person in her family. She also has three queer siblings, a fact she brings up in her routine.
So much for that devout Christian upbringing!
“Do you know how hard it is to continue to date straight men when you’re surrounded by three queer relationships up close?” she said. “Queer relationships are the most beautiful, thoughtful, creative things I’ve ever seen in my life. My sister and her partner are in a romance novel.”
Now Tomlinson can embark on a romance story of her own… as her true, hilarious bisexual self!
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