Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Taylor Tomlinson: Prodigal Daughter’ On Netflix, Where The Former Late-Night Host Addresses “A Lot Of God Stuff And A Lot Of Gay Stuff”

In her fourth Netflix comedy special, Taylor Tomlinson directs herself for the first time, setting herself up in a Michigan church to tackle her evolving views on failth and religion, having made her professional start in comedy on the church circuit as a teen. But she’s in her 30s now, and she’s not necessarily seeking the Biblical welcome her titular take on the parable might imply.

TAYLOR TOMLINSON: PRODIGAL DAUGHTER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

The Gist:  When last we saw Tomlinson on Netflix, in 2024, she really did seem to Have It All.

By the age of 30, she’d already built up a successful stand-up career while simultaneously reaching the rarified heights of hosting her own late-night talker on broadcast network TV, with After Midnight on CBS.

It may have taken some by surprise last June when she walked away from CBS and late-night TV to focus solely on her stand-up. Whether she knew the writing was on the wall for the future of late-night on the Eye Network, or whether she truly wanted to be a comic unleashed, Tomlinson has spread her stand-up wings to fly even higher than ever. And regardless of how the churches she grew up in (or her grandparents) might view the relative angelic nature of her wings, she has made herself even more vulnerable and open in discussing her views on death and sexuality. And not in that order.

Todd Rosenberg Photography

Memorable Jokes: The idea of AI supplanting real-life human relationships might seem both novel and horrifying, and yet Tomlinson has found at least one way a boyfriend could be compared to a robot, and more than one way you might prefer dating one to the other.

In her own life, she’s working on herself as both a potential partner and as a human, going to therapy and working through her religious trauma. What’s that, you ask? “Now anytime you feel good, you feel kinda bad about it.” So her religious upbringing has clouded her ability to feel joy, and at this point, she’s queasy about anyone who’s too confident either way, about believing there is no god or that god definitely exists. She jokes people talk about God the same way she talks about Gilmore Girls, “and I capitalize those Gs.”

Tomlinson does find some similarities between her profession and that of her Uncle Jim, a pastor, in how they’re both preaching to their congregations, albeit with different intents and results. Her Uncle Jim might offer salvation on Sunday mornings, which comes in extra handy since she will “make them feel bad Saturday night.” Nevertheless, Tomlinson has thoughts on how exciting each of the Christian stories are, weighing Easter against Christmas, offering amazement at the Noah’s Ark tale, and naturally considering the title of this hour, the parable of the prodigal son. Tomlinson, as the eldest of four siblings, obviously has some thoughts on the real-life applications of that parable.

Tomlinson has spoken about the impact of her mother’s death on her before, but this time, she lets us in on the grieving process for her and her sisters, and how they each remember different oddly funny things about the support group they attended. It’s also gotten Tomlinson to think about her own last wishes, writing a will, and what conditions she’d put on her sister before allowing her to pull the plug. Yes, these are dark matters, but according to Tomlinson, only her audiences in Sweden didn’t really take to the topics.

In another section, Tomlinson dishes about how despite coming out as bisexual at the age of 30, her sexual awakening has not been as exciting as anyone might think.“We need some gay prude representation as well,” she jokes, adding later as clarification: “I am attracted to all of you, and I trust no one.” Even if one relationship did find her jokingly wondering: “Am I Pete Davidson?”

There’s also a Bridgerton joke that Tomlinson immediately claims “won’t make the special…unless it helps the algorithm. We’ll have to talk about it.” Consider her convinced!

Photo: Netflix

Our Take: She opens the hour with a graphic quoting Oscar Wilde: “You will allays be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.” 

But in the hour itself, she concedes the courage for her came in persuading her publicist and other representatives to let her joke about “a lot of God stuff and a lot of gay stuff.” As if her previous three specials hadn’t already clued her growing fan base into exactly who she was and where she had come from.

She already has conceded here that her year-and-a-half hosting After Midnight had taught her that as much as she’s a workaholic, she’s not interested in the trappings of fame and fortune that come with stardom. Despite the fact that having a loyal and attentive personal assistant may have forced Tomlinson to reevaluate her standards for romantic partners. As she noted about having her first corporate job (albeit on the Paramount studio lot), it reminded her how wild the comedy business is by comparison. “There’s no HR in stand-up comedy. It’s the opposite, in fact. They’re like: ‘Are you harassing people? Great job. Start a podcast.’”

Like Kumail Nanjiani’s recent Hulu special Night Thoughts, Tomlinson’s hour also reflects how much comedians can stand out when they do the internal work on themselves rather than pouring it all out onto a podcast microphone. Both Tomlinson and Nanjiani use precious minutes near the close of their specials to remind us that everyone has struggles and coping mechanisms that could benefit from therapy.

And unlike the podcast bros she may have been referencing, Tomlinson knows she has a cheeky way to pivot should she ever need to go back to the church circuit. Not that she ever needs to worry about finding a new audience or returning to her original flock, like a proverbial prodigal daughter.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Although she filmed this hour in a church, she only fully realizes the potential of her setting in her closing routine. But she continues to be a winning voice for her generation, no matter what religious background you may be coming to her from.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat. He also podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.