In a field currently dominated by men, Taylor Tomlinson is set to be the next late night television host with her new program After Midnight. At just 30 years old, this achievement makes her the youngest late night host and the only female to be hosting a late night show currently.
Taylor is a stand-up comic and writer, rising in popularity with her sarcastic live routines and charming relatability. Her résumé is stacked with two Netflix specials, Look At You and Quarter Life Crisis, as well as being a featured comic on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Last Comic Standing. After Midnight will replace The Late Late Show with James Cordon’s 12:37am EST time slot on CBS, a lucrative and competitive space for television. The new show was inspired by a segment on The Colbert Report that aired from 2013-2017. Taylor’s position was warmly announced on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on November 1, with Taylor joking “I’ve never had a real job before!”.
In all of late-night history, there have been a few female hosts: Joan Rivers, Chelsea Handler, Wanda Sykes, Busy Philipps, Whoopi Goldberg, Lilly Singh, Robin Thede, Samantha Bee, and Mo’Nique. This excludes nightly news broadcasts. Samantha Bee was the last female host in the late-night realm with Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS), lasting from 2016 to 2022. In comparison, men have primarily filled the roster for late-night hosts dating all the way back to the 1950s. Some of the most famous hosts are Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, and Jimmy Kimmel.
As former late-night host and award-winning comedian Chelsea Handler said in response to being asked to host The Daily Show, “Anybody in a position of power should respect the fact that we are in a moment where women are finally dominating in the way that they deserve to be.” Taylor Tomlinson’s debut will be in early 2024, with an eager audience of women and men ready to watch the late-night dynamic grow.