The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Taylor Tomlinson

Episode Date: October 12, 2021

Standup comedian Taylor Tomlinson joins Andy Richter to talk about starting comedy from a religious background, quarantining with a long distance partner, doing comedy that your parents don't enjoy, and more.

All right. Hello, everyone. Andy Richter here with another episode of the Three Questions podcast. And today I will be talking to a very, very funny stand-up comedian named Taylor Tomlinson, who was, was Conan your first TV appearance? I had done Last Comic Standing and Comedy Central before that, but it was my first late night. Yeah, it was my first late night. So I'm still going to say that we gave you your career. As you should. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. late night so i'm still gonna say that we gave you your career as you should yes absolutely absolutely it was the first tv appearance that i like really wanted it was the first time i was on tv where i was like oh my gosh i've been dreaming about this moment for you that's

great was how was last comic standing how was doing that um was okay it was like anything else yeah yeah yeah i it was kind of what i was very young and i think that's probably why i went as far as i did on that show because people are just impressed you can do anything uh at 21 yeah so i i don't know that it was like a reflection of how great i was that i did well on that show. I think it was mostly just a casting to be honest, but it was. Well, okay. I'm going to say that's crazy. Cause you, you know, you have, you're very funny. You have a really great material. And if anything, I think it's not just,

it's because there seems to be like a preternatural ability to observe and interpret and, you know, regurgitate just life and things. You know, you have a you have a wisdom beyond your years, as they say, as the memes say. So, yeah, no, I think I don't think it was just because you were young. I think it was because you're young and good. And I think that if you'd been five years older, you probably would have done just as well. Oh, that's very nice. I mean, it's one of those things where like, it's so, it was like a hundred comedians or something. Yeah. It was so many. So it's all so subjective and it's like anything in this business where it's not just that you're good at stand-up

it's like four other things as well that your success depends on yeah yeah so i try i try to keep a a realistic perspective on all of it yeah is it still fun for you do you still i'm i we're talking on zoom and i can see you in a, in a very narrow little hotel room in Oklahoma city and, uh, having spent a lot of time in narrow little hotel rooms, not in Oklahoma city so much, but I know that the life in the hotel room to hotel room can be, it can get heavy, you know, it can get to be a drag. And, and I wonder, are you still having fun doing this? I am. Yeah. I mean,

I usually have my buddy Dustin Nickerson on the road with me and he's not here this weekend. Um, but usually he is. And like, even just like having a friend with you to open the show makes such a huge difference. Yeah. So yeah, I think, I think it's weekend to weekend and obviously sometimes you're run down or you're not feeling well or you've been on the road too much um and uh i'm definitely on one of those like i'm a little run down weeks um but the shows oh well that's good for me i want i want a game tay uh tay not this, you know, this Oklahoma City, Taylor.

You know, stand up still really fun, though. It's just there's all this other stuff you have to do now. It almost like gets in the way where you finally get to the show and you're like, oh, I spent all day promoting this show. And now I like forgot to look at my jokes. Oh, boy. spent all day promoting this show and now I like forgot to look at my jokes oh boy is it is it uh podcasts uh with uh ex talk show sidekicks or is it local radio or you know I mean what what are you doing that's that they you know I mean you get it it's like everything it's yeah it's podcasts it's radio it's you know calls with various members of your team going can you make a decision on this or that and um like i'm about to do my

first theater tour and i just thought okay you just show up and you're in a theater instead of a club and it's great and there's all these things that they need answers on that i just have never thought of where i'm like I didn't know I had to approve lighting like stuff like that where you're like right and none of this occurred to me so I think it's just easy to get um overwhelmed whenever you're transitioning uh in your career it's not just in stand-up or show business or whatever but probably just in any in your career, not just in standup or show business or whatever, but probably just in any, in any career. Um, so I think I'm probably in that, in that, uh, phase of my life right now where I'm kind of like, Ooh, okay, let me just

get my bearings here. Well, I think also too, uh, uh, I think most people from like from 21 to 20 what are you now 27 ish 47 yeah from 21 to 27 i think most people that's kind of when they're figuring it out sort of and i mean you were you were set you know you you had your thing you were doing your thing so i think you know You had your thing. You were doing your thing. So I think, you know, that is an age when you're sort of like, well, I already said it, figuring things out and what your place is and what you're supposed to be doing. So, you know, maybe it's late onset or something. I don't know.

You know, could be. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know. You know, could be. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know. I'm very lucky in that I figured out what I wanted to do early on because I know a lot of people in their 20s are like, I don't know what I want my career to be yet. But those people are usually married. So, you know, everybody's succeeding in different areas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, let's start at the beginning. You are from California, right? Mm-hmm. And Orange County, is that right? Riverside County.

Riverside County. And what did your folks do? Are you part of a big family? Yeah, I have three younger siblings. My mom died when I was a kid, my dad and, uh, my stepmom are in real estate. Okay. And it was a very religious household is, is sort of the thing. And you talk about that in your act. Yeah. And, um, did, was, I mean, was your dad funny? Like, was he church funny? Was there, like, Was it a funny church that you guys went to? Oh, you know, it's not that hard to be a funny church. I think watching a pastor try to make jokes is pretty painful. I think the funny pastors are usually youth pastors. I remember we had a really funny youth pastor, and our like main pastor would try to make jokes.

And it was like, no, that's not really. You're more of like the emotional gut punch guy. Yeah. Everybody's got their own strengths as far as preaching goes. But yeah, I mean, I started in church doing stand up. There's like a big church comedy market. So I've I've heard a lot of jesus jokes over the years right right i see that to me i mean i'm not i mean i you know grew up in a very

sort of you know whatever church was near us kind of way and uh you know just vaguely white Protestant, whatever. And I can't even think of like what a church comic circuit would be even be like. I mean, it's, you know, it just seems it's, you know, it's probably prejudice on my part to think like, well, you know, what can you say that's funny? And I get, you know, I don't know. What can you say that's funny? Like what, what, what are the big topics? Are people really like making fun of Jesus on it? No, I think they're just poking fun at like, it's, it's like observational comedy, but it's about church a lot. You know, it's like, oh, you ever noticed how people volunteer in the nursery?

Like it's like stuff like that or making fun of the Bible bible stories but not like the bible's not real it's right right or they're just doing jokes about like being married and having kids like it's just clean it's just clean comedy and like if you perform in churches you're gonna have a lot of church jokes i didn't but i know a lot of guys that did um and yeah it's just a different i mean it's like it's like how there's like a corporate circuit. Yeah. There's a church circuit. There's a cruise ship circuit.

Of course. And I know there, and I know there's clean comedy. So I guess I, you know, I, I just, like I say,

it's probably just prejudicial on my part. Yeah. I mean, it's like, it's just like, it's like doing the tonight show for kids. Yeah. Like, it's like, it's just like, it's like doing the tonight show for kids. Yeah. Like, it's like, it's not even like TV clean. It's like another level clean.

You're right. Right. Did you, I mean, was the, the religiousness of your household such that you couldn't watch certain things or listen to certain things? Oh, yeah, 100%. My boyfriend just found out that we weren't allowed to watch Rugrats growing up. And he's like, what? Yeah. That's insane. And I'm like, I don't know.

Like, we just couldn't. Like, Angelica was mean to the babies. So we weren't allowed to watch it. Like, we weren't allowed to watch Powerpuff Girls because there was there was like a bad guy on there that kind of looked like the devil like oh yeah really strict it was really strict growing up and did so did they actually sort of supervise the content and have reasons yeah i think sometimes they just like caught a look at something and they were like oh that doesn't look right and uh like i remember i was i was reading harry potter up until like the third movie came out and i asked my dad

to take me to see it and he just felt like the dementors in harry potter were like demons and he's like that's evil and i don't want you watching that and then i couldn't read harry potter anymore like it was like it wasn't like they went look it's like he went looking for stuff to take away but if it if it came across his field of vision he was like no yeah yeah um well did you ever get to finish harry potter books i did yeah think I read, I think I read the first five before it was like taken away. And then I finished them like later in high school, I think. But I was like, I was not somebody who like broke the rules or anything. So I didn't, I could have definitely read that book in secret. I could have read a book in secret. That's not that hard. Yeah. Yeah. But

I was so nervous about getting caught that I just didn't do it. And then the last movie came out my senior year of high school. And it was like, I was able to spin it like, Oh, can I just go see this movie with my friends? It's more of like a graduation thing. It's I don't even care about the movie. Like it's just a hangout. And he was all right and that's when i finish the books and stuff when i'm like i'm 17 like what am i right right this is ridiculous and it's also i always kind of thought because i had friends that had you know their entertainment content would be limited and it's like like if there's a devil looking character in powerpuff girls like does that lead to drinking goat's blood like what

is it actually going to you know what's it gonna do there's like this emphasis in christianity to like keep your mind pure yeah like it's it's like this thing of like you can't let things into your brain because it'll just be out of control yeah so it makes you really like i think i'm still sort of untangling it as an adult because i i have so much in there that's like don't don't even think about this stuff yeah because if you even think about it you're gonna do it or something bad's gonna happen so i think yeah it's tough i mean so much of religion is just like i don't want to say religion so much of the christianity i grew up with was like yeah don't don't let yourself think anything bad there was no like compassion for yourself of like hey you're not like a bad person if you have these very normal thoughts.

Right, right. And that kind of thinking too always just seems like it's coming from a place of weakness and fear because if this doctrine is so strong, it should be able to stand up to Harry Potter. Like I should be able to, you know, wade through all seven books and watch the movies twice each and come out on the other side still loving jesus like as much as i did before um anything with witchcraft is just like dicey for yeah christianity right right it's not anything that puts magic in your hands and not god's is like i don't know about that yeah god's magic he's the original magic but he's the only one who gets to be magic i understand okay he's the only one who gets to have magic right we get it it's like you think you're god right exactly although moses you know although i guess that was

god that was you know that wasn't't exactly Moses and his magic staff. So when did you start doing comedy? I mean, first of all, are your siblings funny? I mean, is it a funny household? Yeah, my siblings are really funny. I mean, obviously none of them are like in show business because they're healthy, well-adjusted people. But yeah, all my siblings are really funny. Those are like the people who make me laugh the hardest probably um and uh what did you say when did i start doing yeah yeah oh i started in high school i started my my junior year of high school and it was it

was it a class that you and your dad took together or something yeah it's not a very cool story we took a we took a stand-up class it's kind of it's it's not it's a weird one yeah yeah yeah it's interesting yeah we took a stand-up class from a from a christian comedian at a church which which entailed like just standard joke writing. But yeah, I think we just, we just read that book by, uh, Oh God,

I'm forgetting her name. I want to say Judy something. It's like the standup Bible or something. I don't know it. It's just a book. It's just a book about how to write standup. Um, and he just basically went off of that.

And every week we wrote jokes and we tried them in front of each other and everybody gave notes. And that was kind of the whole class. And then at the end of it, we had like a graduation where all our friends and family had to come watch us do very bad standup. Yeah. But I mean, were you hooked? Like, were you sort of like, I want to continue doing this now? And I remember i really loved it right away i had horrible stage fright but i i really loved it but i was too scared to be like

this is what i want to do because i didn't think that was like possible but i did love it so much and i think it was a couple years i mean i had it wasn't until I was like 18 or 19 that I was like oh okay I could really try and do this if I like really try maybe I could make this a job but it took a long time because I think it's really hard to wrap your brain around how you even get to be a professional comedian because when you're just don't even i'm like i don't even know how you do that like but luckily you know marin had his podcast and stuff and like those early episodes where it was just talking to comedians about how they became comedians was you know with the internet and that like you could figure out how to do it yeah yeah and a lot of those early ones were uh him, why are you mad at me to virtually everyone? Are we good now? We were never bad. I don't know. But do you think that that was compounded by your religious upbringing, that sort of, you know, difficulty in figuring out how to do it or do you think that that was just just

they just coexisted i think that it's both because you know growing up it's not like my parents were like listen to stand up i think we listened to like ryan regan and some mitch hedberg, uh, that was on like clean enough to be on like the serious clean comedy station. Yeah. But if I didn't, I think I found out who a lot of people were. I know I watched at least one, one, I think I watched like one season of last comic standing and I found out a

lot of people were. And then, um, yeah, just looking like putting standupup comedy into pandora or youtube or whatever else like the internet is really responsible for me knowing what stand-up comedy is because i wasn't gonna figure that out in church um and yeah i think you just i knew i didn't want to be like a church comedian.

I was pretty sure about that, but I definitely could have gone that route and probably made a lot of money. Uh, but I just didn't, I didn't want to do that. And I didn't, but I didn't know how to be something else. I didn't know how to be a quote unquote secular comedian. Um, so I think like Pete Holmes podcast started when I was in college. I think that started when I was like 17 or 18. And that was like somebody who was like Christian and doing it and kind of working through that stuff. And that was helpful for me to hear and see. Cause I was like, Oh, okay. Like this

is out there. There are people who are clean and they're still doing clubs and everything and are wrestling with this or that in regards to their faith. And, uh, I didn't feel particularly religious, but my whole family is so religious that I just didn't want to lose my family. So it took like years for me to accept, like don't think you're this i don't think this is who you are or what you believe and there's not really much you can do about that can't you tell my loves are growing were you ever under the burden of like feeling like you were going to go to hell like you know like yeah really oh yeah i was i was so afraid of going to hell like i didn't feel like i just i couldn't i couldn't imagine heaven

like heaven didn't make sense to me but i was so scared of hell yeah that i was always just like how do i how do i be good enough that I don't go to hell? I never really thought about like, oh my God, I'm so scared. Heaven isn't real. I was just like, oh God, what if I go to hell? Like if nothing happens, that's fine. But hell sounds horrible. And now I'm like, oh my God, like I can't believe it doesn't make sense to be like,

God loves me more than anything in the whole world. And he's going to send me to hell if I don't say the right thing. Also that you only believe the punishment part. The reward part you can't conceive of, you can't picture it. That seems like, well, that can exist, like a reward for being good. But punishment for being bad, that's for sure. I bet that's there that's so funny because i i mean in the minor religiosity that i ever felt i was the i mean i felt like no i think yeah you

probably do go somewhere nice i don't know if there's angels but whatever but i just felt it's like i don't feel like there's somebody in the sky that cares what you do. You know, it just seems like it just there's just too many logical flaws with it. Even as a kid when I went, I mean, I was a youth deacon in our church and really involved as a congregational church, which is very Protestant light anyway. But it always just seemed like I like the punishment part. And that isn't listen, I'm fucked up, too. I'm not trying to say I'm I'm like more mentally healthy, but it is it's it's a bummer. It's a bummer that that was kind of like where you were coming from. Yeah.

And, you know, some people raise their kids with an emphasis on forgiveness and acceptance. And some people raise their kids like you should on forgiveness and acceptance and some people raise their kids like you should be scared of me and you should be scared of god because that's going to keep you in line or whatever and uh my my upbringing was definitely the latter so i don't i i think there are people who stay religious because they had, they had different parts of the religion modeled for them. More, more so than the other, but fear, what my, my, my religious experience was very much fear based, I felt. Yeah. When, uh, if you were on, when you were on, uh, Last Comic Standing, when you were how old, when you were 21, was that it? I believe I just turned 21. Yeah. And was, was that, did you get out of college or did you stop college and start performing?

I went to three years of college, two and a half, three years. And then I did some NACA conferences and I booked like 50 colleges and then was full time doing stand up. I think I booked the colleges like when I was like 20 and then I turned 21 and I was on the road doing these colleges. And that's when I got the call about Last Comic. And then I did Last Comic and then I did like a Comedy Central spot and then I was just yeah I was on the road doing various things because I could do corporates and I could do churches and I could open for people at clubs and do this or that so yeah that's kind of the trajectory of that. yeah that's kind of the trajectory of that and um oh i'm i meant to ask before when you said that you could be a church comedian and make lots of money would you be making more do you think as a church comedian i mean is that like a lucrative market it's a very lucrative market yeah it's a

really lucrative market and i mean mega churches are just theaters yeah when you look at it it's like these guys were playing like 5 000 seat churches yeah and selling tickets it's just another big building to fill with people who bought tickets to see you um and you know there are a couple people who have done both um where they're able to do huge churches and also like arenas or whatever um and i don't know if i would have been as successful uh as that but i do know that there is not there's not a lot of people in that market um and there are i can think of like one younger person who's in it. Yeah. Yeah. And they are considerably older than I am. So I,

I think I could see like, if I wanted to go that direction, how it would benefit me. But it's like, it's not just like, go do clean jokes. It's like, you have to be this all the time. Yeah. You have to be an example of christianity all the time right like no tweets no no instagram stuff you know no you can you just have to be really clean yeah that's what i mean like no no dirty tweets or or risque tweets or challenging tweets yeah i got my last the like last church gigs i was doing i was opening for this like huge church comic um and they fired me they had me on like another run

of dates and they fired me because i tweeted something that had like innuendo in it and it ended up being one of my jokes in my first conan set oh really so yeah so like whatever yeah yeah but i remember i got fired for that and i had already kind of been like trying to ease out of it um of that world not of that gig necessarily and i was just like i don't want to do this anymore like i don't want to feel like i don't want to feel reprimanded for doing what i think is pretty tame stuff yeah uh in clubs or whatever like i i'm not they like i remember someone emailed them once too like there was some clip of me at flappers where like all i said was like you know when someone's just like being a dick to you and they like sent they like sent that guy's like business manager like a like a fucking clip

of me going like is this the type of comedy you support and i'm just like i this is so stupid this is so stupid and you are so backing yourself into a corner i mean talk about fucking cancel culture like yeah yeah it's next level and i just couldn't i couldn't see myself living in fear like that forever so i'm very glad that i did not go that direction yeah when you start like how well first of all where'd you go to college i don't i don't know that um i went to cal poly in san Luis Obispo. Oh, okay. And then I transferred to, there's like nothing in San Luis Obispo, like in terms of like comedy. I think they do a festival.

Yeah. But there's no like comedy club. There's like, there's nothing out there. So then I transferred to community college back down by San Diego and just went there for like a year and a half. And then I transferred to Cal state San Marcos. Um, cause I didn't really have like a dream college. Like I was a really good student. I had like a 4.1 GPA, but like, I didn't have some dream college I wanted to go to. Um, I was just like, Oh, I should just go. That's like the best place I got into. And also it's cheaper. Like I just didn't right you know i didn't have we had your your eye on something else you know that that seemed you know where college was kind of i mean i'm sure that you know i got a 20 year old son so i'm not going

to sit here and say like college doesn't matter that much because i'm still in that cheerleading mode of like yes college, college, go college. But yeah, you know, why bother when you probably from the beginning of college had a pretty good idea what you were going to do with yourself? I think in the beginning of college, I just thought I was going to be a teacher. If if I had to do that, like, but yeah, I didn't really know. I didn't really know what I was going to do. I knew what I wanted to do that, like, but yeah, I didn't really know. I didn't really know what I was going to do. I knew what I wanted to do, but there were points where I was like, oh, I'll just, I'll be a teacher and then I'll do stand up on the weekends. Like that's just like, I'll do it as a hobby or something. Cause I just loved it. It wasn't like, if this is, if I'm not getting

paid, I'm not going to do this. I was just like, oh, this is like something that makes me feel like myself. Yeah. I want to do that whenever I can. Did you get a lot of pushback when you started, when you dropped out of college or stopped college and started doing dates? No, I think because when I, I think initially my parents were actually like, take a semester off and see what happens. Like they were like that. And then when I was like, I'm just going to drop out cause I have all this work. They were kind of like, Oh wow. Okay. Well you can, you can always go back was like their thing. It wasn't, I don't know if they thought I was never going to go back. Um,

but I didn't get a ton of pushback on it cause I was going to be making money. Um, it wasn't like, was like i'm gonna i'm gonna go live in my car yeah yeah to new york or whatever like i was pretty responsible about it right it didn't freak them out too much and i'll think yeah and when you've got it it'd be one thing if you had like five dates but if you had a whole tour of dates booked and yeah yeah that's that's that's the parents were it's just like are you are you gonna make a living okay bye yeah exactly see you later uh i mean there's the obvious question when you start transitioning into doing more personal stuff more you know stuff that isn't just clean um what was that like? You know,

how, what sort of upheaval did that cause in your life? I think at first, you know, your parents don't watch you do standup all the time, so they don't really know. And your extended family doesn't really know. So like, I don't't know I did my first Conan set and I did some jokes that were edgier but I ran them past my parents first to like let them know and at first they were proud and then like had an issue with it later and I'm like I kind of showed this to you before I put it on TV so I know what you want from me do you mind do you mind kind of like what they telling us at least what they were about,

if not telling us the joke. Yeah. I mean, I had a joke about my dad, not thinking that like gay people should be allowed to get married or something or something like that. Yeah. And I ran it past him before the set came out and he was kind of like,

yeah, that's how I feel. And I was like, all right, I'm going to do it. And then like, after it came out, he was like, so yeah that's how I feel and uh I was like all right I'm gonna do it and then like after it came out he was like so cool to see you on Conan you know and then like two days later he was really mad at me it's like he like thought about it for a while and then he was really mad at me um for doing it because it was like I was making fun of his beliefs but he's not allowed to make fun of mine like it was just just, it was not great. Um, and then, yeah, I don't, they saw me on like the tonight show like a year later. And that was cool because the tonight show, you have to be really clean. Like you can't really be edgy on the

tonight show. And, but I was doing it to promote my 15 minute little mini special that came out on Netflix and the comedy lineup. And that had edgier jokes in it that were not clean. And so they watched that like two days later. And then I just didn't hear from them for like a week. And I called them and was like, what'd you think? And they were like, we're disappointed in you.

Like, it was like, not good. Um, but after that, it was just like, they, I was like, well, they know now, like I've told them, like, I'm not good um but after that it was just like they I was like well they know now like I've told them like I'm not clean anymore and now they've actually seen it and they just kind of stopped watching stuff which is fine um but yeah I mean it's it's weird like I think it's weird when your parents are like, they're proud of you because they're

proud that you're successful. They're like, oh, wow, look, isn't it cool that they're successful? But they would rather you were doing it a different way. They'd rather I was clean. It's weird where I'm like, I mean, I'm really successful and that makes you look cool, but I'm talking about sex. So does that make you embarrassed? look cool but like i'm talking about sex so does that make you embarrassed like so you're just gonna like enjoy that i'm successful but not look at anything i do like i i don't it's like a weird and it's and i'm you're still dealing with it still sorting it out i imagine because you know it's i i i mean i'm on your side I just you know and as a parent

I just can't I can't imagine like you know I just I can't imagine my kids well because like I would say like the analog if my kids said like if my son wanted to be a proud boy like would I

be okay with that? And I wouldn't, you know, like I would say like, this isn't, I, you know, it's hard to frame it like that because it's like, you know, to talk about religion, you're talking about something that, you know, is an afterlife and that there's some sort of like, you know, God that's controlling things and watching you. Whereas with Proud Boys, you're just talking about not liking black people, you know, and it's like, so it's not like that. You can, that's pretty concrete stuff. You know, it's not because it's this whole thing about it's just a difference of beliefs like no it's it's not it's not like i don't believe that there's two different kinds of people who are entitled to different things you know one is lesser than the other like so but it just it's i mean it just kind of breaks my heart to hear you say this stuff. Because it's just, it's, they're ultimately, I mean, in addition to making your life difficult, they're missing out.

They're missing out on the full experience of who their daughter is you know i'm sorry i don't mean to bum you out in your oklahoma no no trust me it is it is ongoing it's uh look i had therapy yesterday i'm doing all right like you just you know everyone's got their stuff literally everyone has their stuff i think it's way weirder when people are like my parents are my best friends and they come to everything i do i'm just like really wow all right like i think that's too much less common can't you tell my loves are growing when did you did you start when did you start therapy if i may ask um i mean i was going it's been kind of on and off where like i started going

i went in high school for a while okay yeah because i was like pretty depressed um and then i think i stopped going when i went to college. So I went for like a year and a half in high school. And then I didn't go again until a few years ago. So maybe when I was like 23, maybe I started going again. And it was again, like it's hard to find someone you like. So then I went to someone online for a little while and then i stopped for a little while and i found somebody else for whatever like a year and a half and then that one didn't work out because she was like i can only see you in person i just traveled too much so if somebody i can't do phone sessions or i can't do zoom or whatever. Um,

I can't really, I don't really, I can't really see you then. Um, so then I started seeing somebody else during the pandemic after like maybe six months of not seeing anybody. And, uh,

I've seen her in person like twice. I've been seeing her for over a year now and she's amazing. Yeah. Um, and the last one I saw too was, in person like twice. I've been seeing her for over a year now and she's amazing. Yeah. And the last one I saw too was really helpful and helped me get to the bottom of a lot of stuff. But it's hard. It's not fun. Therapy is really not fun. Yeah. Well, you know, I've been going to the same guy for possibly 30 years now, at least 25. And when I say going to the same guy since 2000,

I've lived in LA and he's been in New York. So since 2000, it's been phone sessions, which isn't optimal. It just plain old isn't, but you can learn how to deal with it. But yeah, so it's definitely doable. And I think it's silly for someone to, for, I mean, everybody can do what they want with their business, but it just seems like, yeah, I mean, especially now, I mean, I can't imagine those, those same therapists are saying, I can't, I can only see in person because they'll lose their, their lease, you know, they won't have a place to practice yeah i think i think covid probably changed that a lot i think probably a lot of people do like telehealth appointments now

yeah did how was covid for you i mean what was your covid experience like because you definitely had to stop going on the road yeah my my netflix special came out a week before everything shut down so it was like the biggest thing to ever happen in my career and then a week later everything was gone and oh jesus it was you know my agents and stuff were like it's a great time to have a special out. Everybody's stuck at home. Everyone's watching stuff. But the longer it went on, the more I was like, oh wow. Like maybe by the time everything comes back, I will have like missed my window of opportunity here. And like everybody will have forgotten that this came out and that I did this. And I just there, I mean, you know how it was like, you were like, I don't know if we're all going to die.

Like, I don't know what's going to happen. So it was definitely strange because my like social media following is going up. And like, when I went out to get takeout sometimes you would get recognized occasionally and like so that was all weird um but yeah i wasn't sure if anything was going to come back i am dating a comedian and we were locked down together and so we didn't even really take time off like we just immediately started panicking about the fact that we couldn't work. So then we like did a like social media web series and like started a

podcast and just were like frantically spinning our wheels, doing stuff. And that was great because it kept us from going insane. And then we were like, he had just put something out as well he just put out a special as well so we were just doing press all the time on the phone and on zoom and it was uh it was all we're very busy for like the first few months and then like it kind of started slowing down and then it was just nothing was getting better And then we were like doing outdoor shows in the fall.

And then that kind of got worse and worse until you like didn't feel right doing shows anymore. And now that there's a vaccine, you're like, OK, like now that people are vaccinated and there's like a way to do this more safely. And like we can't stay shut down forever. It's different. Obviously, it's like way better. But, um, in like January, like December and January, it was like kind of like a second lockdown. And that was, that one was really tough because I had gone like five months without doing any standup. And then I did a bunch of outdoor shows for like a couple months. And then it was like back to just being stuck at home when it got really bad in LA again. And then everyone got vaccinated or started getting vaccinated.

And I've been back on the road since like, I don't know, late February, maybe. Like it was before I got vaccinated. But I was just at a point where I was like, you know what? I, I got to get back out there and like, I'll get vaccinated soon and I hope that I don't get it before then. But once I got back on the road, I was like, oh, I like sell out club weekends now. Like this is completely different than what my life was beforehand because of

the special. Oh, that's good. So it did have some staying power over the, over the break. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Were you guys living together before COVID or did you move in together because of COVID? We were long distance cause he's from New York. So we were long distance and just kind of like on the road every weekend and like kind of going back and forth where like I would come to New York for a week or something and then we'd be apart for

like a week and a half and then he'd come to LA for you know five days or whatever so it was it was very um inconsistent and so we he just happened to be in la when everything shut down and luckily like i had a two-bedroom apartment at the time it was like a much better situation than it would have been in his apartment in new york yeah um and new york was really bad at the time and so i remember like us looking at each other and being like okay should you go home like i don't want to make because we didn't know if they were gonna like at one point it was like are are people gonna be able to get back to new york are they gonna like shut it down like yeah nobody was sure and he was just like all right like we'll all stay here and it'll be like a couple weeks and

then it was like oh maybe it'll be a month and like it just kept going and he ended up he was in LA for five months before and this is Sam Morrill by the way for yes uh for people who's a very very funny stand-up too um but so but I mean was that a was it rough you know like to sort of be forced together like that or was there a nice aspect to it? I mean, it got harder because, I mean, I can't imagine being away from home for five months. And that's what it was. And that got tough. But like, yeah, at first, I mean, those first few months, especially like we hadn't spent that much time not only together, but like really with anybody we've dated. Yeah. I've never been with somebody

every day yeah for five months like that's never been a thing yeah um and it was actually like it was great like we i think it could have been bad with somebody else and we were just like oh we live we coexist really well together. And we were working on stuff together. And like, we just hadn't, we hadn't had a lot of time together. And so for us at first, it felt like some like fun sleepover. Yeah. Like, this is great. Like, okay, so we can't work for a month. Like this is forcing us to take a break. And then as it got scarier and scarier that was hard but it would have been so much harder um separate i think yeah did did working together on things i mean is there because it's you know i mean when you when you and your partner are in the same field especially a field like stand-up comedy in which you know kind of

it's defined by you getting all the attention you know like like every performer is on stage by themselves and I you know and I'm sure you've been asked this but I mean is there is there a competitive side to to you guys's relationship relationship and was working together a good thing or just a neutral thing? I think it was a good thing. I mean, people always ask me that. People always ask me like, are you guys competitive with each other? And I don't feel that way. I think we're in very different places. Obviously he's, you know, like he, he's like seven, eight years older than me and he's been doing it longer and, um,

is just in a different place than I am, um, that I can't really compete with. I think he works harder than anybody I know. And that like is very motivating for me. So in that way, I guess you could say I feel competitive, but it's, it's mostly just like, oh, I hope I can work as hard as that. Like, I hope that I, you know, have the same reputation that I know he does of just like being such a hard worker and such a great comic. So, I know he does of just like being such a hard worker and such a great comic. So,

um, yeah, I don't think of it as me being competitive, but I guess you could say it that way. I, I feel very motivated and I feel like I'm, it pushes me. Yeah. I imagine most of the people that ask it are comics or actors or people in

show business, because we're all used to the, to the feeling of envy when someone we're all used to the, to the feeling of envy when someone we love and, you know, like a friend gets an opportunity, we're all used to that pang of like, Oh, why not me? You know? And then, you know, if you're healthy, it goes, it passes, you let it pass through you and you move on and, you know, other people hang on to it but i mean i also will tell you i know plenty of intra showbiz couples where there's a lot of competition and it's not great you know no no i will not um but i mean and it and it ebbs and flows too that the sense of competition you know it like it's it's like uh rears its head

every now and then and it and it's rough uh you know it's it's hard it's just it's also true there's just like it's like you know just a big basket of damaged goods all hungry for something and wanting something and that'll make them whole. And, and, you know, and then it never does anyway. So we all ought to just calm down. Right. Yeah. I try, if I ever feel that like pain you're talking about with like friends of mine or people in this business, I usually feel it when I feel like I didn't work hard enough and that's why I didn't get something or like I could have gotten something and I didn't and it's it's I could have done something more but if it's like

somebody who got something for a reason that I just don't have like if friends of mine get like I don't know like an acting role I'm like'm like, I can't act, you know, like, I think it depends. I think people feel competitive with people who are doing exactly what they're doing. Yeah. Oh, I may feel that way with other comedians, but if I feel it with other comedians, it's people probably similar to me. Yeah. If, if somebody gets something, they're a totally different act than you,

like that was never going to be yours. You know what I mean? Like that was not your spot. Like nobody was your spot. But if you are trying to be the best version of whatever the industry sees you as, and somebody in your genre, I guess, gets something that you were up for. I understand that. But when people are like, I don't know how that person got this or like, I don't know, what's a good example. Like when standups are like, oh, it's so stupid that this like

Instagram, this like TikTok person is selling out a night at a comedy club. It's like, well, we can't do what they're doing like whatever they're doing for their audience that's not that's not our audience that's not what we do so you know someone does sketches on instagram and they they sell out a club weekend and comics are grumbling like oh that's ridiculous they shouldn should it's like then go do what they did right exactly tiktok's tiktok's right there go ahead yeah go do it it's it's hard it's you have to be yeah i think you just have to like keep your eyes on your own paper for the most part and if you are going to feel competitive make sure it's with the right people yeah and i also think that those

because there's no like filtration system that's picking and choosing talent on tiktok these are just people that are stepping forward and going blech and you know like here's my thing and there's no manager saying there's no club person putting them on stage they're just expressing whatever content they have and who the fuck knows whether or not it's going to take off they don't like none of these people you know i don't think initially you're like super calculating they're just doing it they're just kids doing it and then like oh shit you know they strike a nerve with kids and i mean and you know and i'm so much that i'm i mean you're closer to it than i am but so much of it i just like i don't even get what the fuck they're talking about

and i don't even mean referential i just mean like i don't know what's funny about this or or i don't know why this has a gazillion views. You know, it's just it's a different world and you can't, you know, you can't bitch about it. You can't bitch about it because it's also like. There was older people bitching about you and, you know, and why you didn't deserve it, too. So do you really want to be that person? Yeah. I think this business is really unfair. And as somebody who's been really fortunate and really lucky in this business, I,

I really, I don't think there's any, like, I just don't think there's any room to be jealous or competitive with people in a way that's not healthy. Like, I think you can let other people's success motivate you to work harder, but I think you can be happy for people and also feel that pang of like, oh shit, I got to work harder. Yeah. So that's like the competitiveness that I think serves you, um, as opposed to just like blind jealousy of like, well, they only got it because of this, that, and the other thing. And it should have been me. I think it needs, you need to, in this business, you have to get into that mindset of like, how do I make sure it's me next time? Yeah. How great for them that it was them instead of that should have been me and right

instead just think why wasn't it yeah and also if you're gonna say oh that was luck you know well you gotta wait till the luck carousel swings and picks you up you know it just it's like you can't you can't blame them you can't blame yourself if you, if it's like, Oh, that was just luck. Well, you know, why aren't you lucky? Exactly. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, obviously Sam is very, very successful and I think it's, it would be different if one of us was not doing well or like one of us was like a new comedian or something. I don't think that would work. But like we're both headliners, we're both touring head headliners which is like very hard to do and yeah uh we're both very fortunate

and lucky and successful in our own respect so there's no comparing rooms like you know my room is 300 people well my room is 2 000 people oh i thought you meant hotel rooms. No, no, no, no, no. Or that. I don't know. Narrow than yours. Yeah. I've, I've definitely, I have definitely had times where it's tough for me because he's been doing it longer than I have.

Yeah. Um, I do feel like this need to prove myself just in general. And so I think I've gotten in my head sometimes where I'm like, man, I hope like, you know, he'll do comedy clubs before I do them. Like he'll be there like two weeks before me. And then my weekends in two weeks and I'm on stage going, man, I hope I'm, I hope I'm killing as hard as he was. Like it's going, like the show's going well. And I'm just in my head going, man, I hope the staff isn't like, wow, she's not as good as that guy.

Like you're just stuff like that, which is not helpful. It's not. It's not at all. So in that way, yeah, probably I get competitive. And that stuff, it's I tell you, it's always going to be there a little bit. All you can do is just quiet that voice because it's like, you know. It's insecurity. Yeah. And then you're always going to be somewhat insecure. I mean, it's like,

I remember hearing once Dustin Hoffman saying, like, you know, after every job, he feels like he won't work again. And it's like, what? You know, he feels like he won't work again. And it's like, what? You know, that's crazy. But, you know, I think it's just in us. It's just in this, you know, this, I mean, for fuck's sake, we're getting up in front of people seeking their approval and, you know, and like hard evidence that they approve, like laughs. We want to know for sure that you like us. And, you know, like, like yeah that kind of person is probably always going to carry around a little bit of am i good enough is this enough you know yeah am i enjoying this um now when you said that you don't act is that just something you've come

did you find that out the hard way or i mean i can but i yeah i'm not like an actress i'm not like somebody who like studied or like has worked with an acting coach or anything like that like if i'm if i'm gonna do acting like i want it to be something that i think is funny and preferably something i worked on um like i don't i'm not somebody who's like auditioning all the time because I, I don't feel that that's my strength, like my strength. I think my strength is stand up and acting opportunities come out of that. Um, and you know, I've got my own stuff I've been developing over the years that has been my focus more so than like, can I get this part in this pilot that I don't really think is very good. Right. No, I, oh, I just meant that like, you know, expanding your comedy into, into narrative, you know, kind of story comedy, as opposed to being on stage and doing standup. You know, I, you know, whether or not you're auditioning for things.

And I would also tell you for comedy acting, you don't need to, you know, it's just you just do it. You know, it's like you just do it. It's like, you know how this line, you know, like, but where did the parrot go? You know, like, you know how to say that line. Right, right, right.

So it's just like, just do it, you know. I get a little, I don't know. I mean, if you're Meryl Streep, you're Meryl Streep. And if you're going to be in some heavy drama, then yeah, I guess there's some technique there. But for the most part, I just feel like, you know what to do, you know, just be that person. Some comedians are better actors than other comedians. Yeah, that's true. It's just, it is what it is like

yeah yeah it's weird to see someone who who knows how to be on stage and knows how to sell a joke be a terrible actor like that's always very because it's like wait don't you and just somewhere it just doesn't work and it's the same thing i know people you know i mean you know like having done a zillion con Conan bits where we use people that aren't actors who are good talkers, funny people express themselves well. If you go, here's your lines, they just, it becomes wooden and bad, you know, and it's just, it's something you gotta, it's like some filter that's not there for people that can do it. Yeah. Well, you mentioned the projects that you have coming up. I mean,

what do you have long-term goals at this point? Do you see, do you have some sort of picture of your future that you're visualizing and aiming and it's on your dream board back at home, your vision board? Yeah. I just want to keep doing standup specials every couple years and I would like to make a movie. You know, it's one of those things where you're like, not very much. I don't have a ton of goals, but like that's a lot to ask for. Yeah, sure. Of course. So I'm like, yeah, maybe we just stop right there.

Nah, push your luck. I always push your luck. Might as well. You know, you're here for a reason. You enjoyed success. You know, I left here for a reason. You enjoyed success. You know, that's I left the Conan show the first time after seven years because I felt like. I mean, I felt a little bit like I was walking over ground. I'd walked over already. It was never anything that I'd set out like he wanted to do that.

And I, you know, I wanted to be an actor and uh so i decided like hey i'm you know i've enjoyed this success and i could sit here and be pollyanna and go oh no more for me you know my my plate is full for the rest of my life but i was like no i i gotta see i gotta i gotta push it you know then i came crawling back uh nine years later no No, I mean, I tried it. I did it. And I still got it. I have a roof over my head, and I'm too well fed. So it's working just fine.

But yeah, don't ever feel like you're asking too much, you know. Just ask. Ask, you know. Well, what do you – I imagine there's probably younger comics than you who are asking you for advice or, you know, what, what you've kind of learned along the way. I mean, and what you've learned about your own sort of process. I mean, you know, well, and this is sort of, this is an adjunct question because that's the ending question, but I always wonder with standups, like does the material you write,

does it become self-discovery sometimes? Like, does, is there a therapeutic aspect to it where you, you're writing a joke and then you reach some sort of conclusion to a sort of a, a sticking point in your, in your psychic health? Absolutely. I, my last therapist said to me once, she was like, maybe just keep some of this between us for a while. Don't like put it on stage right away. And I was like, oh keep some of this between us for a while don't like put it on stage right away and i was like oh all of these are bits already like everything that i'm talking to you about has already been a bit that i that's how i figured out i was supposed to talk to you about it like my first stop is jokes and i think i've gotten better at that in recent years where like

now i will work through something before i put it on stage instead of like talking about it on stage to work through it initially, because I don't know how healthy that is. But yeah. I'll tell you, it's not. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's not. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I think working through something privately and then writing jokes about it is very, very cathartic for sure. Yeah. And even though it's your, I mean, I also feel like, even though it's your own material, over time also feel like, even though it's your own material over time, I have seen you got to really separate what's yours and what's show business, you know, like what's, what, what's yours and you, and then what's like your product, you know, and your,

and the stuff that you're making that you're, you know, putting out on the table and putting price tags on you know and they're jokes but but you know but it is it's it's easy for that to overlap um and i'm always leery of when people that i know sort of make their personal life or their their actual persona part of the part of the business you know it's always like that's that's doesn't i never i don't ever feel like that ends well i always feel like there's some psychic price that you're paying for that down the road but anyway so do you have advice for people do you think like um anyone who asked me for stand-up advice i just say what everyone else does which is

write and perform as much as you possibly can like the only way to get better at this is to do it there's no like do this in your room alone every day for a year and you'll get better like you just have to go do it do you have any uh specific advice for people that might be trying something that's difficult for the people from where they come you know like that you that um yeah you know that realize that that's not your audience and if those people in your family weren't your family they probably wouldn't like what you do either like it's just you're just not their cup of tea and that's okay they don't have to they don't have to like what you do just like not everybody is gonna like what you do right right and you don't have to like what they do

either so there you know it's fine well taylor tomlinson i'm going to let you get back to your oklahoma city life uh you got any plans this after any big plans this afternoon, any big plans this afternoon? Nope. No big plans. Just gonna, just gonna go over my set and, uh, you know, wait to do shows in a few hours and real glamorous out here. All right. Well, uh, knock them dead. And, uh, is there anything you want to plug? Yeah. My theater tour starts next week. I don't know when this comes out but uh september 16th we're starting in minneapolis um you can get tickets at t-town comedy.com uh this month is starting in minneapolis on the 16th and 17th st louis on the 18th uh then i go to tampa and orlando uh san francisco sacramento Chico, and then, you know, a lot of other ones. And then more tagged on. All right. Well, I wish vaccinated houses for you.

Thank you so much. Mask wearing laughter. And well, thank you for spending your time, and thank you out there for spending your time here on The Three Questions, and we'll be back next week with more of this. I've got a big, big love for you. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Your Wolf production.

It is produced by Lane Gerbig, engineered by Marina Pice, and talent produced by Galitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blair, and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Make sure to rate and review the three questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts. Can't you tell my love's a-growing?

This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.