Taylor Tomlinson Returns Again

Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend

Comedian Taylor Tomlinson returns to 'Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend' for a heartfelt and humorous conversation about her new book, *Actually,

Key takeaways

Taylor Tomlinson reflects on her journey through grief and mental health while embracing her identity as a comedian and new mother.

Main topics

Taylor Tomlinson's new book 'Actually, Nevermind'
Bipolar II disorder and mental health

Notable quotes

I feel gobsmacked about being Conan O'Brien's friend.

Conclusion

Taylor Tomlinson's return to the show reaffirms her authenticity and comedi

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Hi, Speaker 5 (0:33) my name is Taylor Tomlinson and I feel... Speaker 5 (0:38) gobsmacked about being Conan O'Brien's friend. Speaker 3 (0:42) Gobsmacked is good, right? My Speaker 5 (0:44) second choice was flummoxed. I'm confused. Speaker 3 (0:46) I should have stuck with gobsmacked. Speaker 2 (0:51) Fall is here, hear the yell. Back to school, ring the bell. Brand new shoes, walkin' loose. Climb the fence, books and pens. I am gonna be friends. Can tell that we are gonna be Speaker 4 (1:09) friends. Speaker 3 (1:11) Hey there, and welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. Conan here, Sona Movsesian. Speaker 4 (1:16) Hello. Speaker 3 (1:17) Okay. Business casual. Wow. She's out for the kill. Hello. And, of course, Matt Gourley. Hello. We have exciting news, which is, Sona, you have a book out. I do. A new book. Speaker 4 (1:33) Second Speaker 3 (1:34) book. My second Speaker 4 (1:35) book. Speaker 3 (1:36) Book two. This is incredible. Speaker 4 (1:37) Yeah. Speaker 3 (1:38) Tell us about this book. Speaker 4 (1:39) Well, my first book was called The World's Worst Assistant. Speaker 3 (1:43) Yes, yes. I agree with the title. Yeah. Speaker 4 (1:45) I Speaker 3 (1:45) agree with everything that you Speaker 4 (1:46) wrote. Speaker 3 (1:46) The thesis holds. Speaker 2 (1:48) But Speaker 3 (1:48) that book was a big success and really funny and cool. Now you're back for round two and tell us about this book. This Speaker 4 (2:00) one's called The World's Worst Mom. Yes. So it's pretty much carrying on with the same theme of I don't know what I'm doing. Right. But this time the stakes are higher. No offense. Right. But the stakes are a lot higher. Why do you think Speaker 3 (2:11) they're higher? Speaker 4 (2:11) Because they're like humans I created as opposed to inheriting someone else's creation. Someone else's damage. It's like you're Frankenstein. Frankenstein's monster. Yeah. Speaker 3 (2:23) Okay. I understand that. These are your progeny. Speaker 4 (2:28) Yes. These Speaker 3 (2:29) are your genetic bundles. So you care about them more than. My Speaker 4 (2:33) genetic bundles. Yeah. Speaker 3 (2:34) Yeah. Speaker 4 (2:35) No, you're right. They're my genetic bundle. Those are my kids. That's Speaker 3 (2:38) what you call Speaker 2 (2:38) your kids. I Speaker 3 (2:39) do. Genetic bundle. Other genetic bundle. We get along great. So what is the process of getting the word out on this book, Ben? Speaker 4 (2:51) Well, you're not involved this time. So like as in you didn't write the foreword. It's not about like my time working for you. So this is like the first time I've done anything that's just like me. being a mom and stuff, it's very weird and very different. And Speaker 3 (3:06) when you do, there are giant crowds and they start shouting, where's Conan? Speaker 4 (3:09) Yeah, people get violent. Yeah, good. Guess what? Speaker 3 (3:13) That's me in the crowd, by the way. I put on fake mustaches and ladies bonnets. Speaker 4 (3:18) Where's Conan? Speaker 2 (3:19) Both at the same time. Speaker 3 (3:21) Where's Conan? I am bearded men. Speaker 4 (3:24) But it's, I do realize I don't like doing things without you. If that's cool. I'm just gonna. ride this. Well, Speaker 3 (3:31) we have a good time together. Speaker 4 (3:32) I'm going to ride your coattails forever. Yes, but Speaker 3 (3:34) you've written a very I've yes, I've read this book. It's really funny. Thank you. And the artwork is great. That's Speaker 4 (3:40) tack. I Speaker 3 (3:41) know. Yeah, Speaker 4 (3:41) that's tack. And the guy who helped me, I did because I can't do social media stuff. My friend Brad helped me with social media stuff because I need help from other people to do things. Speaker 5 (3:50) But Speaker 4 (3:51) no, I mean, this book took me two years to write when I first started writing it. Like I had my house and I lost my house throughout the whole process. So it's been really it's been really fun. It's like a fun documentation of my time as a mom and becoming a mom. Now, Speaker 3 (4:06) do you have to hit the road soon and start making appearances in different places? Speaker 4 (4:10) Yeah. Tonight I'm at Largo with Flanny. Oh, that's so cool. Yeah. Yeah. And Laurie Kilmartin is going to be there. One of your old writers who also works with you on the Oscars. Laurie Speaker 3 (4:19) Kilmartin, one of the best comedy writers I know. Speaker 4 (4:22) Yeah. And she wrote a book called Shitty Mom. That came out a few years ago. Oh, wow. So she and I are going to have like a conversation at Largo. Then tomorrow I'm in Seattle and I'm going to see your father-in-law. Speaker 3 (4:32) That's right. You're going to see Jake Powell. Yeah. Speaker 3 (4:37) Liza's dad, who's an amazing human being and a mean jazz guitarist. Really? Really? Yeah, he's really talented. Oh, Speaker 5 (4:45) I Speaker 3 (4:45) didn't know that. He's Speaker 4 (4:46) the Speaker 3 (4:46) real deal. Oh, that's Speaker 5 (4:47) cool. Speaker 3 (4:47) So that's so cool. You're going to be in Seattle. I love Seattle. I'm Speaker 4 (4:50) in Speaker 3 (4:50) Seattle all the time. You're going to love it there. Speaker 4 (4:52) I know. And then I go to San Francisco, well, Menlo Park. And then I'm going to see Veronica, my best friend who lives out there. And then I'm going to go to San Diego. And then that's it. That's my tour. And Speaker 3 (5:04) we did so much time in San Diego with Comic-Con. Speaker 4 (5:06) Oh, that's where I met Tack. That's right. Yeah, at Comic-Con. That's right. Oh, Speaker 3 (5:12) my God. I've just created your life. Speaker 4 (5:15) Okay. You Speaker 3 (5:16) really have. I really have. Speaker 4 (5:18) Wow. I mean, Speaker 3 (5:19) not in a good way. My Speaker 4 (5:21) life sucks. Speaker 3 (5:22) No, you're doing well. But remember how you met Amanda at an I Hate Conan O'Brien convention? I do. That's right. Speaker 2 (5:29) And that's Speaker 3 (5:29) before I knew you, but you... Remember? Yeah. And there were like tens of thousands of people there. That thing is so packed. Speaker 2 (5:36) I mean, it's so big now that you couldn't even meet anyone. There's just too many people. These are back in the cool days when it was really cool to be hating Conan. Now kind of everyone does. So I don't know. Speaker 3 (5:48) Back then it was like really fringe. It was. It was cool to hate Conan. Yeah. It wasn't the national media. I Speaker 2 (5:54) hated Speaker 3 (5:54) Conan Speaker 2 (5:55) before it was cool. Speaker 3 (5:57) And so did Amanda. And America. Well, congrats. Thanks, Speaker 4 (6:01) Cones. I'm proud Speaker 3 (6:02) of you. That's two books now. I know. So Speaker 2 (6:04) what's book number three? Speaker 4 (6:06) I can't do this again. How about... There's so many words. Will you write a book? I've never heard an author. Speaker 2 (6:13) All these Speaker 3 (6:15) words. Speaker 4 (6:16) You have to type so many words. You have to put Speaker 3 (6:18) them in the right order. Yeah. Speaker 4 (6:20) I Speaker 3 (6:20) remember Shakespeare said that. All these words. How goest King Lear? Words. It's like he's Hulk. Words hurt Shakespeare's brain. Speaker 3 (6:38) Shakespeare wants you smashed. Well, congrats. I'm happy for you. And I'm going to it's going to be a great stalking stuffer. Speaker 4 (6:48) OK, yeah. For a mom in your life. I Speaker 2 (6:50) know a mom in my life. Yeah. I both have a mom and I'm married to a mom. Yeah. Speaker 4 (6:56) It's a lot. Being a mom is not not easy. I know I'm saying something. Looks like a piece of cake to me. Yeah, I know. All I know Speaker 3 (7:03) is that I'd go off to work and when I came home, everything was taken care of. Easy peasy. It can't Speaker 2 (7:09) be that hard if you got time to write a book about it. Speaker 3 (7:11) Yeah. Speaker 4 (7:12) Come on. Oh, God. Yeah. You should Speaker 3 (7:15) write a book. Your third book should be all the things that went wrong with your kids while you were writing the second book. Just them wandering into traffic while you're in the background. Words, words, words. All right. Well, congrats. It is impressive. Congratulations. World's worst mom. Run. Don't walk to your nearest bookstore or Speaker 4 (7:37) walk. If it's safer, you Speaker 3 (7:39) should run. You Speaker 4 (7:39) should walk, too, if it's just safer to walk. Sounds like Speaker 3 (7:42) pretty Speaker 2 (7:42) good mom advice. Speaker 3 (7:43) Maybe you Speaker 2 (7:43) learned a thing or two. Speaker 4 (7:44) Thank you very much. Yeah. Speaker 3 (7:46) World's worst mom would say run with your eyes closed. Yeah. Nearest bookstore. Yeah. Speaker 2 (7:52) All right. Let's do this. Speaker 3 (7:54) My guest today is a hilarious comedian. I really admire her. She has a fantastic new book out titled Actually Nevermind, which is out now. It is a real joy for me when she stops by. Taylor Thomason, welcome. Speaker 3 (8:19) I'll never forget the day I first met you. I was doing a tour with a bunch of stand-ups and they told me, oh, Taylor Thomas is going to come in. And because one person cycled out, you came in to join us and you show up. And they told me, Taylor's here. She's in rough shape. I don't know if you remember this, but you were really sick. Speaker 5 (8:46) Crazy to get. on a jet with someone as important as you fully ill. Like, this was pre-COVID. So it was like back when you were supposed to push through stuff. Speaker 3 (8:57) Yes. But Speaker 5 (8:58) in hindsight, that was so disrespectful of me. I went in full palm handshake. Yep. Just like on death's door, like, I'm Speaker 2 (9:09) going Speaker 5 (9:09) to sit by the bathroom on the plane. Speaker 3 (9:11) You were the palest. Yeah. She was. Because you are, you know, beautiful, light complexion, but you were... Speaker 3 (9:23) you looked like a corpse. Yeah, it was tough. You weren't saying much. Speaker 5 (9:28) Yeah. And you were like, I... And I had not reached a point in my career where I could say no to anything. Right. There was no like, take care of yourself. You know, the longevity of your career is more important. I was still at a place where it was like, we don't know if you're going to be around in a few years. You still got to prove yourself. I could have Speaker 3 (9:46) said to you, I'm concerned. I don't think you should go out there. But I didn't say that. No, you Speaker 5 (9:50) should have said, you should have left me on the tarmac. You should have been. Hey, I'm very important and I can't get sick. Hours Speaker 3 (9:56) after I met you, my lungs collapsed. I had a fever of 140, which I'm told is a record. No, but you were, you know, it's so funny because one of your things that you've said about yourself is you've been doing standup for such a long time. And you've said that you just now think you're really getting good at it. And I thought, well, that's insane because. I saw you, toured with you so many years ago, and you were phenomenal right away. And I remember at the time thinking, she's a kid. You were so young, but you were phenomenal right away. So the idea that you only now are saying to yourself, I think I'm getting the hang of this, is fascinating to Speaker 4 (10:41) me. Speaker 5 (10:41) Well, the other thing about starting so young is people are impressed that you're young, so that you kind of don't know. Like when I turned 30, people were like, they straight up said to me like, oh, you're a person now. Like, oh, it's like you have to be good for real kind of. Speaker 4 (10:55) And Speaker 5 (10:55) when you're young, you're like, am I just good for my age? Like, is that sort of influencing people's opinion of how talented I may or may not be? And now I'm like firmly in my 30s and I'm like, okay, I think I've done four specials. I think I know what I'm doing. And to then write a book, which is something I've never done. was a real good way to bring yourself right back down to zero and really humble yourself. And you just kind of have to keep doing new things that you don't know if you're good at or not, I guess. But yeah, it's so funny. I was talking to someone the other day. I was like, oh, I was complaining about being young all through my 20s, like onstage, offstage. I was like, oh, I'm so bad at being in my 20s. And now I'm in my 30s and I'm like, I'm not great at this either. I might just be bad at being a person. I thought it was the casing, but it's the meat. It's the meat of me that's lacking, as it turns out. Speaker 3 (11:59) Well, I do want to congratulate you because you have written this wonderful book called Actually, Nevermind. And also. I think a first on this podcast, as Matt Gourley pointed out minutes before we started, everyone comes in and they bring a copy of their book and it's always the same thing. It's just the cover because the book isn't ready yet. And so I'm always like, oh, wow, Al Pacino, you wrote a book. And he's like, yeah, I wrote a book. And I open it up and inside it says, you know. I realize that it's a book about a woman's menstrual cycle. That they've just taken any book. Yeah, I wrote it. I wrote it. I remember when I first got my period. I was like, hoo-ah! But I'm always blown away by like, what fucking book is inside this cover? But you actually got your shit together, Taylor. Speaker 5 (12:57) Well, those just came in this week. And yeah, the first like... you know, sort of unboxing video I had to do where I was like, my book comes out was not my book. It was just a cover on someone else's book. And so you're kind of like, hope no one can see me lying in the video that we're doing to promote this. And then I did like a real unboxing. And that's also just crazy to be like unboxing your book and trying to have a genuine moment with your accomplishment. But also there's a ring light and you're like, what's going to clip the best? Look excited, but also moved, but also grateful. Speaker 2 (13:34) Yep. Speaker 5 (13:35) And just kind of, but also angles. Speaker 3 (13:37) Yep. And it kind of Speaker 5 (13:38) ruins it, the need to turn everything into content. But it is important. Speaker 3 (13:44) Well, there's so much to talk about here. I always like to start with ways in which maybe you and I can relate. One is you spoke for many years about your big head. Speaker 5 (13:57) Yeah. Speaker 3 (13:57) I have a massive melon. And Speaker 5 (13:59) that's why I love coming in here. And, Speaker 3 (14:01) and, no, but this is someplace where we can bond because my head stuns people. Speaker 2 (14:08) There's no Speaker 3 (14:08) other Speaker 2 (14:09) way you guys can bond. There's nothing else. This means a lot to me. This Speaker 4 (14:11) is the go Speaker 2 (14:11) -to. Okay. Speaker 3 (14:12) Nothing about going into comedy. Okay. None of that comedy, struggling with our mental health. Boring. Okay. We've got giant, Speaker 2 (14:20) giant craniums. Speaker 3 (14:22) And, I just, you know. And I think you like hanging with me. If you do like hanging with me, the only reason would be because my head makes you feel good about your head. I Speaker 4 (14:35) love Speaker 3 (14:35) to Speaker 5 (14:35) be in a photo with you. I love to be in a photo with you for so many reasons. Hey, Sona, Speaker 2 (14:41) do you Speaker 4 (14:42) guys want to hang out later because our heads are normal sized? Normal Speaker 5 (14:46) heads. Yeah, let's hang out. No, it's this table Speaker 4 (14:48) segregated. Speaker 5 (14:49) No, I tell my friends to lean back when we take photos. I'm not kidding. I go, if we selfie, I go, I need you to lean back a little. Come Speaker 3 (14:56) on. Just about. Yeah. Just Speaker 5 (14:58) a little bit. It's not it's not the most. Another Speaker 3 (15:00) area of intersection. You were not a class clown. I was not a class clown. There's an assumption that people like us. I was not a class clown because and I think you can relate to this. Class clowns don't really care what the teacher thinks of them and they don't care if they get in trouble. I was the exact opposite. So I was so interested in comedy. I love making my friends laugh. But to me, that was something that was reserved for outside the classroom. Oh, yeah. And I used to sell people like, no, class clowns end up being killed in a motel shootout. Like, Speaker 2 (15:36) that's what happens to class clowns. The guy that's going like, Speaker 3 (15:39) hey, I just set the clock back. And hey, teacher, we're out of here. Speaker 5 (15:43) And they all have that accent. Hey, what's going on? Forget about it. Even Speaker 1 (15:48) at nine. Speaker 5 (15:48) It's so strange. Speaker 3 (15:49) You know, but if you go back, a lot of my... comedy heroes you investigate and no, they were very quiet. Speaker 5 (15:56) Yeah. Speaker 3 (15:59) So that was your story, right? Yes, Speaker 5 (16:01) but I'm surprised about you not being class clown because you are so on seemingly all the time. You know, even if on is just like very friendly and personable, like you never seem to like shut down and you never seem to make anyone walk on eggshells around you. You know what I mean? Speaker 2 (16:21)