How Taylor Tomlinson Prepared To Host "After Midnight" | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

obviously getting this late night gig uh. which is so different than your show cuz. it's like a fake game show and it's you. know uh like a reimagining of at. midnight and and there were a lot of. people because we did so much press. after it was announced before we were. actually doing the show and so I did all. these interviews where people like. weren't totally sure what it was or like. a lot of people online when it came out. were like we thought this was a talk. show and CBS screwed Taylor Tomlinson. and I'm like we were never doing a talk. show everybody like I I Tour on the.

weekends like I'm not going to do a show. Monday through Friday it's funny cuz. people keep saying like oh it's your. show and I'm like it's really not like. this is like if anything our show like. it's such a great team of people and. it's why I wanted to do the show because. I I wanted to like have these co-workers. it was like I'm like I want to have fun. with all these people and make a new. thing every day but like they were. asking me questions like so when you. designed the set I'm like I designed the. set they're like when you're booking the.

show I'm like I don't book the show. they're like well when you hired the. writers I'm like I didn't hire the. writers and I want them to like me so. bad I'm like I had no I'm like I can't. take credit for anything about this show. I don't dress myself like right right I. show up someone does my hair and makeup. they put me in clothes I'm like an. American Girl doll but they just kind of. cart around like I really I'm like. everyone on that show I think probably. has a harder job than I do first of all. there's so many things I can relate to.

which is I was the same age as you when. I started my show and yeah they were. very different shows but it's still that. thing of I. remember your first of all your. experience was doing standup which is. very. solitary and the thing I always wanted. was I I wanted a pirate ship with my. fellow Pirates I always wanted that and. I had it in ways when I worked on. Saturday Night Live or The Simpsons I. loved that we're all in this together. but it wasn't my pirate ship and then I.

I just loved um. having these people and and like you got. these writers and I just so wanted them. because no one knew who I was I wanted. them to think I was funny the writers so. I would do bits for them all the time I. worked harder trying to make the writers. laugh than on anything for the show. because I really wanted those people to. think that oh yeah no he's okay he's all. right which was so screwy cuz I was.

supposedly the host of the show right. but I understand that wanting to be or. how nice it is to have a group must feel. good after all those all that time on. the road where you're it's it's very. it's just you and a microphone yeah and. also like I I don't know if you felt. this way I mean you were using Q cards. right yep okay we have a teleprompter. it's like a little computer and it they. type out it's like a q card but it's so. it's like some kind of like a. machine you know I never had aele. prompter ever never no because we.

changed things too much at the last. second and so we always did cards and so. I just we changed things in this it's. easier to just type it in right yeah. Jesus they lied to me they said well. that that'll can't happen on a prompter. I think it was they just didn't want to. buy one it was NBC and then Turner they. just didn't want to buy a prompter yeah. cuz I still have my Conan Q card because. they give it to you when you do a late. night show which was very nice we want. it back by the way. those things aren't cheap well now I.

know that how hard it was they're like. we got to cut a whole new one cuz you. don't like that line every time we we. wrote a new joke a tree fell in the. forest somewhere when I started doing. when I did like the screen test and. everything and even when I started doing. the show everyone's like so impressed. when you can read a teleprompter to a. point where I was like do people think. I'm dumb like I know I didn't finish. college but not like you would didn't. finish Harvard you know what I mean. right and I studied teleprompter yeah.

but everyone was just like it's really. hard some people don't know how to read. teleprompters and I was like I okay like. I'll take any credit you'll give me but. this was again I was like so nervous. about it I was practicing reading. teleprompters on Tik Tok local news. anchors will do like now for a. teleprompter Challenge and so I was just. reading like five car pileup on tonight. today's freeway like but in a funny way. I'm like pretend like it's the show um. um and like let's see how fast you can.

read it um there's all these little. things and then there's the big thing. yeah so all there's all the little. things that yes that that I think anyone. can learn it just takes a little time. but you just learn the stuff about. getting new information getting. information off a card or off a prompter. and and which cameras are where and. where your single is those are things I. think that.

anyone can pick up um and then there's. the much bigger thing which is how to be. you in a very strange environment I've. always thought that is the the thing. that no one's thinking about is the. advice you get and the advice uh this is. the biggest name drop of all time for my. generation anyway but uh just before I. started I got to meet Johnny Carson and. he knew that I was going to be taking. over The Late Night show and he said. just be yourself and I was like okay and. then did the show for a couple months.

and no one liked it and um I I always. pictured that Johnny Carson would call. me and say I didn't know that that was. you have you tried being me could you. maybe uh find someone else to be at be. me but um but I always realize that it's. more complicated than just be yourself. because it's just be yourself in the. most artificial environment in the world. which is 3 2 1 and Taylor go and. prompter and lights and music and okay.

now we're going to these people and this. is going to happen and it just took me a. long time to realize oh this is the. skill is I need to figure. out how can I just be this uh person. that I am I didn't want to be a fake. person I wanted to be a real person but. in a freakish environment yeah and um. that's what those things are yeah yeah. no I definitely I mean I say to the live. audience we have in studio sometimes cuz. I'll be like playing off the comedians.

we have on the show and then I have to. go to the next game which is me reading. the teleprompter and so we're like oh. yeah it's great and then I go all right. I have to go back into teleprompter. again and I know it's going to feel. jarring to just be like and yeah totally. and we know each. other in today's internet news and it. just feels so but you're like okay just. everyone I know to and it's gon to cut. together great like just it's very. strange and figuring out how to deliver. jokes I didn't write cuz I'm just not.

used to that I've been writing my own. jokes for like 10 years 14 years on the. road and like that is me so it's not. hard to be myself on stage doing standup. but yeah in this environment. like it is it is very easy to read jokes. that were written for me by a room full. of very funny people but yeah it's also. hard to deliver them in a way that feels. authentic.