Taylor Tomlinson bids farewell to “After Midnight” in emotional final monologue

Key Points

• Taylor Tomlinson gave her last After Midnight monologue on Thursday night.

• The comedian announced her decision to leave the late-night show in March.

• “It was my dream that I would get to finish off this season and hand it off to a new host. I really wanted CBS to replace me,” she said.

Comedian Taylor Tomlinson said goodbye to her late-night show After Midnight with a heartfelt monologue — and a note of disappointment in the show’s network, CBS.

Calling it a “very emotional night,” the comedian — who announced her decision to leave the show in March — admitted that she had hoped CBS would keep After Midnight going with a new host. (Instead, the network canceled the show and chose not to replace it with any original programming.)

“I am so grateful that I got a chance to do this,” Tomlinson said in her final monologue. “I never thought that I would be able to host a late-night show. This was never something that was on my vision board at all… While unfortunately I couldn’t keep doing this show, it just wasn’t sustainable for me, I can’t believe that I got to do it as long as I did. It was my dream that I would get to finish off this season and hand it off to a new host. I really wanted CBS to replace me because I just think there are so many amazing comedians who would have done a great job with this show.”

Watch her full monologue below:

Tomlinson — a comedian who was a finalist on Last Comic Standing in 2015 and released her first stand-up special, Quarter-Life Crisis, in 2020 — chose to leave After Midnight so she could go back to touring as a stand-up comedian.

“Hosting After Midnight has genuinely been the experience of a lifetime, and I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity to be part of this incredible journey,” Tomlinson said in a statement at the time. “Though it was an extremely tough decision, I knew I had to return to my first passion and return to stand-up touring full-time. I appreciate CBS, Stephen Colbert, the producers, and the entire After Midnight staff and crew for all the love, support, and unforgettable memories.”

A reboot of @midnight hosted by comedian Chris Hardwick, After Midnight premiered in January 2024, replacing The Late Late Show with James Corden. Executive producer Colbert told Entertainment Weekly in 2024 that he was a fan of the comedian prior to After Midnight.

“When she was just starting out, the algorithm started feeding her to me years ago,” Colbert said. “I remember thinking, ‘Who is this special woman?'”

Tomlinson ended her monologue by thanking the late-night show’s production team.

“I had no idea how to be on TV every day,” she said. “I just want to say on camera to the staff and crew for After Midnight, thank you so much for having me as your host.”

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly