{"id":908409,"date":"2026-09-24T22:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T22:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/908409\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T22:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T22:58:14","slug":"taylor-tomlinson-on-quitting-cbs-late-night-show-writing-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/908409\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Tomlinson on Quitting CBS Late Night Show, Writing Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tA few days after Taylor Tomlinson<\/a> accepted the job as host of CBS<\/a>\u2019 After Midnight<\/a>, her health took a considerable dive. Initially, Tomlinson chalked it up to a cold \u2013 \u201can insane, fucked-up, demon cold, but still,\u201d she writes in her new book, Actually, Nevermind<\/a>, a collection of autobiographical essays.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne doctor loaded her up with steroids; another diagnosed her with mono. She kept going, filming Have it All, her third Netflix special; though watching it back now, all Tomlinson can see is how sick she was. A few months later, she would start her new gig, still wildly sick. \u201cI wore a mask everywhere I could and still caught a sinus infection or chest cold or strep throat every two weeks,\u201d she writes, \u201con top of what was now my constant, aching baseline fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn time, Tomlinson would have herself tested for mold, which was found in her blood; and though her health improved during season two, with the assist of roughly 30 twice-daily supplements, her immune system remained remarkably fragile. Tomlinson ultimately told her producers that she simply couldn\u2019t do another season of the show. She did, however, present a list of comedians who could replace her, she writes in the book, though CBS opted to cancel the show instead.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Actually, Nevermind now out, Tomlinson speaks candidly about her decision to quit the show, write the book and tackle her \u201cworst nightmare\u201d head on.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019d like to hone in on the chapter about After Midnight. You write, \u201cThe truth is I took the job because I was lonely.\u201d How aware were you of that fact at the time? And looking back, was it the right decision for you?<\/p>\n

\n\tI think I did know but it\u2019s impossible to say, right? I do remember when I was deciding whether or not to take the job, I was like, \u201cIt would be great to have a reason to be in L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYou wanted some kind of community here?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, that was really something I wanted, and I definitely got as a result of taking that job. And I do think that that was probably my main motivator, and I think I was aware of it at the time. And it did anchor me to L.A. in a way that I just hadn\u2019t [been]. Because if you can keep adding shows on the road, you\u2019ll stay out there forever \u2014 and then you come home just to drive your car so the battery doesn\u2019t die.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow honest did you feel you could be at the time about how unwell you were?<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, I didn\u2019t know what was going on. I really didn\u2019t know, and I just kept thinking, \u201cIf I just keep pushing, I\u2019m going to get better. It\u2019s going to be fine.\u201d And then for months and months and months, it didn\u2019t get better. And it was one of those things where if you don\u2019t have a life-threatening illness, you keep pushing. That\u2019s showbiz, baby. I\u2019m doing jazz hands.<\/p>\n

\n\tOh, I see them.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd also, everybody was meeting me for the first time, so everybody met me very sick. And it was tough because I was trying to make a good impression, and I was trying to do a good job in such an altered state and just trying to tell myself, \u201cThis will resolve itself.\u201d Because that\u2019s what you do. I\u2019d been doing that on the road for years, where I just go, \u201cJust push through this, and then it\u2019ll be fine. You can crash for a few days.\u201d But when you\u2019re doing a late night show, there wasn\u2019t enough time to crash and recover.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, for the first five months of that show, I wasn\u2019t doing stand-up. I wasn\u2019t touring. I was just doing the show for three days, and then I would be in bed for four. And everyone who worked with me on set day-to-day was so lovely, and I wish I had said more about this in the book. We had three showrunners between seasons one and two, and they were really trying. They saw me every day, so they had the best understanding of where my health was at, and they were like, \u201cHey, what can we do? Do you want to do the table read from home? Do you want to sleep in? Maybe we can put your dressing room somewhere that is a little less crowded so you\u2019re not worried about germs?\u201d But also they were trying to run a whole show.<\/p>\n

\n\tI know things moved relatively quickly once you told your producers you were going to quit, but when did you reach that decision internally?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt wasn\u2019t a thing where I just woke up one day and was like, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m done.\u201d It was months of me thinking about it. I had this tour and I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to make it through the tour.\u201d And because I owed Netflix another special, I moved up the Netflix special, got through that, and then canceled the rest of my tour, which was so much time and so much money. That was another wave of disappointing people. And that one was super hard because I disappointed a lot of my fans, who had followed me on the road for a long time, and my personal team, who have known me for 10 years. I\u2019m going back on tour now, but I took 10 months off, which is insane.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor you, yes.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut that show [After Midnight] was objectively a dream job, and it\u2019s why I was so devastated that I left and the job disappeared. It was such a special group of people, and for someone to [be able to] go in and host four episodes three days a week in L.A.? What an amazing job for so many comedians, and there were so many who would\u2019ve been amazing at it. So, it was hard for me, because I was like, \u201cI am so unbelievably lucky to have these opportunities, and how can I not rise to the occasion?\u201d But I\u2019d been rising to the occasion for 10 years, and I just pushed it too hard for too long. And what happens when you push it too hard for too long to all the workaholics out there reading this is that when you try not to disappoint people for too long and you keep going, \u201cYeah, I can do it, I can do it, I can do it,\u201d you end up disappointing people. You become your worst fear, which is a disappointment because you just cannot push any harder.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s almost inevitable.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, so last year was really tough for me. Really tough. But I was so grateful that I had the book to work on because if I took that much time off and didn\u2019t have a special to edit and a book to write, I would have gone absolutely crazy. It was also interesting to be home for that amount of time and realize, \u201cOh, I\u2019ve been running on adrenaline for a really long time and [now I\u2019m] actually going to see doctors.\u201d And I talk about this in the book, but to get really sick in my early 30s and not know what was going on \u2014 and I was not aware of this at the time, but I became aware of it after a lot of therapy \u2014 was [a lot because] my mom got sick when she was 32. She went to the doctor, and they said, \u201cIt\u2019s hormones, you\u2019re fine.\u201d By the time they figured out it was cancer, it was too late. And maybe if someone had listened to her\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tSo then I have that in my brain when I\u2019m going to all these doctors and they\u2019re going, \u201cWell, mono takes a long time.\u201d \u201cOh, it might be long COVID.\u201d \u201cOh, it\u2019s an autoimmune thing.\u201d All these different answers I\u2019m getting, and there\u2019s something in the back of your head going, \u201cNo, this is what\u2019s going to kill me. I\u2019m right where my mom was in her early 30s, and here it is. You were right when you were a kid and you were scared that you\u2019re going to die at 34 too. It\u2019s happening.\u201d So, I was scared to keep pushing and make my health deteriorate further \u2014 and I was also scared to stop pushing and have to face all of that.<\/p>\n

\n\tOnce it was clear that the show was going away, you did your own internal apology tour, as you described it in the book. But there were parameters around what you could or should say. Talk to me about that, and why you stayed quiet.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I quit, I wasn\u2019t supposed to say that I wanted someone else to replace me. And I thought that was sort of confusing, but I said OK because I didn\u2019t want to do anything wrong. And now I feel comfortable saying it, but a part of me was like, \u201cMaybe I don\u2019t even talk about this in the book.\u201d But the decision to host a show like this was me changing my mind about something [the central theme of Actually, Nevermind]. It was not anything I ever thought I would do, and then to quit was also a big change-your-mind moment, and it was a huge turning point in my adult life. It was like, hey, the worst possible thing you could think of [happens, and] you disappoint all these people that you admire and respect. So, I didn\u2019t feel like there was any way around talking about it in the book, but I didn\u2019t want to talk about it any sooner than this because it\u2019s such a nuanced situation and you can\u2019t just give a sound bite about it.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, I\u2019ll go back to an earlier question: Do you regret taking the job when you did?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m so happy I took the job but also a different person took that job. I am a completely different person after being that sick for that long and that\u2019s something I\u2019m still kind of dealing with. When I see pictures, videos, whatever of me getting the job, I\u2019m like, I don\u2019t even know who that is. It wasn\u2019t like I was sick and I took the job and went, \u201cIt\u2019ll get better.\u201d I took the job and then my body crashed and I thought it would get better and it didn\u2019t. So, it depends on the day. There are certain days that I think, \u201cOh, you shouldn\u2019t have even taken that job.\u201d And I don\u2019t think I would have if I was that sick. I think if they had offered it to me a month later and I\u2019d been that sick for a month, I would\u2019ve said, \u201cNo, I can\u2019t rely on my immune system.\u201d But at the time, I felt very capable and who I was then could have done it. And anytime I feel healthy now, I even think, \u201cYou could have done another [season], you should have pushed through.\u201d So, it really just depends on the day and it\u2019s hard not to dwell and beat yourself up but you just have to go, \u201cI did what I did and I was in survival mode and I tried my best to handle it as gracefully as possible,\u201d but also I know I made mistakes.<\/p>\n

\n\tTalk to me about your decision to write the book. What drove it?<\/p>\n

\n\tI mean, I wanted to write books<\/a> before I wanted to do stand-up. When I was a kid, I wanted to write young adult fantasy novels. Then Bossy Pants [by Tina Fey] and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? [by Mindy Kaling] came out when I was around 17, and those books were hugely inspirational. I was about a year into doing stand-up, and it was like, \u201cOh, I could do both at some point.\u201d But I just felt, in my 20s, that I hadn\u2019t experienced enough yet. And if I was going to do a book like that, I\u2019d need some sort of loose theme to tie it together because I didn\u2019t have the self-confidence to go, \u201cHere\u2019s just a book of everything I think right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThen when I was 30 or 31, I thought of an idea and was ready to take some meetings to see if anyone was interested and luckily people were. Also, it was right around the time that I got dumped, so it was like, OK, you have this idea and now you have all this time that you were allotting for this relationship. I think it\u2019s a workaholic\u2019s reaction to take on another project when they\u2019re failing in their personal life. I was also like, \u201cI would love a job that I could do in bed. That\u2019d be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith this, much like with your stand-up, you\u2019re mining your own life. What can you do with a book that you couldn\u2019t do with stand-up?<\/p>\n

\n\tJust be earnest. My stand-up is a very heightened version of me at different points in my life. But with a book, you can say everything. You don\u2019t have to just pick the funniest angle or the silliest or hottest take. And you don\u2019t have to worry as much about if there\u2019s not a laugh every 20 seconds, people are going to check out. But it was definitely an adjustment to go from just being a joke machine for years, like, \u201cOh, you have to be getting as many punchlines out and saying things as quickly as possible in a very concise way,\u201d to like, \u201cNo, expand on that. Tell us how you feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve heard you talk about how terrified you were about this book in past interviews, and I\u2019m curious what was at the root of that fear?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe biggest thing I\u2019m scared of, and I\u2019m scared to even say it, is that people are going to be like, \u201cShe\u2019s a terrible writer.\u201d That\u2019s what I\u2019m most worried about. At this point, I know I\u2019m good at stand-up. I have enough specials and enough years under my belt, but I\u2019ve never written a book before, so I guess we\u2019re all going to find out together if I suck.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo it was less about the content itself?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, people ask, like, \u201cAre you scared of how much you shared?\u201d And I am a little scared about that, but I get scared when I put out a comedy special, so that fear is familiar to me. There\u2019s already a lot out there about me; you can find it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few days after Taylor Tomlinson accepted the job as host of CBS\u2019 After Midnight, her health took…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[199883,353,49,48,6714,361,75,7180,199884],"class_list":["post-908409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-after-midnight","tag-books","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cbs","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-late-night-tv","tag-taylor-tomlinson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}