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Breaking Bread with Tom Papa

Episode 328 - Taylor Tomlinson

09 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the significance of community in podcasting?

0.031 - 5.945 Taylor Tomlinson

It's honestly so nice to have a community where everyone has a podcast.

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5.965 - 17.246 Tom Papa

It really is. Because even if we were to just meet for dinner, you don't get to ask all these questions. It would be weird to be like, tell me about when... God left your life for a minute.

0

17.266 - 23.94 Taylor Tomlinson

Yeah, and there's no guarantee that I'll turn it on. I'll tell you anything you want to know, but I won't be like, really?

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24.441 - 27.187 Tom Papa

Yeah, no, I'm glad you say that. I feel the same way.

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27.407 - 34.322 Taylor Tomlinson

But I do think comedians are like that. I mean, I think comedians in green rooms do talk to each other like this, don't you think?

34.522 - 34.803 Tom Papa

Yeah.

Chapter 2: How does Taylor Tomlinson view her comedic inspirations?

34.923 - 37.007 Tom Papa

At dinner? No, there's very little fluff.

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36.987 - 56.173 Taylor Tomlinson

Which is what's hard about then getting dinner with your friends who are like teachers and lawyers who are like, oh, I don't talk to people like that. They'll talk to you like that, but I've been in situations where they're talking about someone we both know or that they know and I go, well, what are they doing? How's their marriage or whatever?

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56.193 - 77.829 Taylor Tomlinson

And they're like, well, you can't ask that at a dinner party. You can't go, so how's your marriage and how are you feeling about it and where are you guys at? And I go, oh, sorry, I'm just used to comedians. And that's exactly what we do because we're driving from one city to the other and we have three hours to kill. And so, yeah, I need to know which kid's your favorite and which one hates you.

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79.011 - 81.435 Tom Papa

It's breaking bread. I baked you this bread today.

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81.616 - 82.878 Taylor Tomlinson

I know it looks gorgeous.

82.978 - 83.259 Tom Papa

Yeah.

83.599 - 84.521 Taylor Tomlinson

What kind of bread is it?

84.862 - 88.377 Tom Papa

It's a country loaf. Sourdough. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

88.558 - 90.58 Taylor Tomlinson

And sourdough is supposed to be like the best for your gut.

Chapter 3: What challenges does Taylor face with her writing process?

184.912 - 187.635 Taylor Tomlinson

Netflix thinks it's them, but it wasn't. It was this right here.

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187.855 - 192.46 Tom Papa

Was it the impact of that first special that really just popped?

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192.68 - 198.647 Taylor Tomlinson

Yeah, 100%. I mean, kind of did everything I could have hoped it would do.

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198.887 - 200.589 Tom Papa

What was the name of that one?

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200.869 - 201.73 Taylor Tomlinson

Quarter Life Crisis.

201.81 - 202.531 Tom Papa

Quarter Life Crisis.

202.551 - 216.416 Taylor Tomlinson

Yeah, but that was crazy. That came out... Six years ago. Yeah. Now. Yeah. And I remember it came out because it came out in 2020 and you and Fortune also had specials come out like right around the same time.

216.516 - 217.318 Tom Papa

Yeah, that's right.

217.498 - 225.535 Taylor Tomlinson

And I heading into the pandemic, which was kind of did your rep say something similar of like great time to have something out? This is everybody's at home watching stuff.

Chapter 4: How did Taylor's upbringing influence her comedy?

311.498 - 328.721 Taylor Tomlinson

That's also a very real possibility. But I'm scared that people will say, this is pretty good considering she's a clown. You know, like that's the best I can hope for. I know. And I wonder if you had any of that writing books or if you were just like, this is just an extension of my standup. I'm just, these are bits.

0

328.941 - 337.753 Tom Papa

These are jokes. Yeah, no. No, I want to be a writer. Yeah. Right? Yeah. So you want to be a writer. And yeah, it's like with everything.

0

337.733 - 363.268 Tom Papa

you vacillate between you know I would love to be David Sedaris yes I might be Dave Barry yeah I may be somewhere in between I'm you know what I mean like like yeah but these are all inspirations of what of the best version of what you could be right so you're striving to do those things and you're going to just be you ultimately yeah and that's okay so wherever that kind of like

0

363.974 - 374.727 Tom Papa

You know, you have your motivations and your inspiration and why you work hard and are really trying to be truthful and do all that stuff. And then it'll be what it is. And that's...

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374.977 - 384.831 Taylor Tomlinson

Well, and I can't believe, I mean, I don't know specifically who, but I've just heard that a lot of people don't write their own books in show business.

384.931 - 386.313 Tom Papa

Yes, there's a lot of that.

386.453 - 387.274 Taylor Tomlinson

What's the point of that?

387.294 - 388.275 Tom Papa

Yeah, why would you do that?

388.295 - 398.87 Taylor Tomlinson

Why would you do that? I mean, I guess if you're a big actor or something, it's just sort of a cash grab, but I'm like the- A million dollar advance. Yeah, but I'm like, I wanted to do it because I wanted to write it.

Chapter 5: What impact did Taylor's first special have on her career?

471.359 - 472.921 Taylor Tomlinson

Cause you've been doing this for how many years now?

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472.941 - 475.303 Tom Papa

33. Yeah.

0

475.764 - 480.328 Taylor Tomlinson

So it's like, I can't even, does it just kind of blow your mind?

0

480.949 - 506.212 Tom Papa

It does in a way. I mean, it's all kind of natural. Like it all, it's like a slow moving like ship rather than, you know, uh, What's really interesting is to sit when I talk to young comics and see their trajectory and what they're trying to do. And there was only one way to do it when I started. It was like, try and get into these clubs, try and get onto those shows. And that was it.

0

506.412 - 526.111 Tom Papa

And if you got denied, you got denied. And You just had to keep hammering in the same direction. And now the freedom and the ability to be funny in any way and just do it on your phone and just express yourself any way, that's pretty fascinating. Like to watch that change is really nuts.

526.131 - 536.713 Taylor Tomlinson

Do you think it's in some ways, do you think it's harder or easier now? because now there's no clear cut path. And back in the day there was a clear path and these are the steps and this is what you need to do.

536.733 - 537.976 Tom Papa

Yeah, I don't know, what do you think?

538.738 - 551.036 Taylor Tomlinson

I don't know, I tend to think it's easier now to be successful and do this for a living. I think it's easier to get to that point. I do think it's harder to know what to do.

551.657 - 552.137 Tom Papa

Right.

Chapter 6: How does Taylor navigate the balance between personal life and career?

635.1 - 636.762 Taylor Tomlinson

What makes you qualify.

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637.248 - 656.769 Tom Papa

I haven't been on the list. My one was close to being on the list, but I didn't even know what that meant. And then when I talk to people in interviews and whatever, and they're like, I'll tell you how to do it. And they're like, Tell you what to do. Yeah, they have like bulk buys or do this kind of... Like they work it.

0

656.829 - 658.012 Taylor Tomlinson

Like they buy it themselves?

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658.072 - 661.038 Tom Papa

They work it. I don't know if they buy it themselves.

0

661.078 - 668.835 Taylor Tomlinson

I have heard of that. I've heard of you can do that. And I was like, what? But to me, that's like having someone write your book for you.

669.115 - 669.356 Tom Papa

Right.

669.376 - 670.478 Taylor Tomlinson

I'm like, how does that...

670.458 - 697.327 Tom Papa

feel good yeah i don't really care right yeah i mean i respect when people just want to be successful and they don't care how they get it i know that looks so nice that looks relaxing all the time oh my god if you just didn't care just don't care about do whatever you have to just whore yourself out yeah and just do it and be cool with it yeah i know It's wild. I know it is wild.

697.808 - 712.223 Tom Papa

I don't have that. I think if there's like an ego meter, like you have to get to a certain threshold where that you're cool with that. And we all have it, but you can be a little lower on it, where that becomes problematic.

Chapter 7: What insights does Taylor share about the evolution of stand-up comedy?

824.613 - 848.624 Taylor Tomlinson

I think people like consuming art that they know another person made because that's what makes you feel less alone in the world is you see great art and go, oh my gosh, that's how I feel. And somebody else said it, which means I'm not the only one. But if a computer wrote it, then you're like, well, who... I guess they pulled this from a Facebook status that a lot of people had.

0

848.644 - 852.028 Taylor Tomlinson

It just doesn't hit the same.

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852.108 - 852.529 Unknown

It doesn't.

0

852.889 - 860.979 Taylor Tomlinson

Nobody seems to be... I mean, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe younger kids are more like, it's fine, but it doesn't seem like anybody likes it.

0

861.119 - 880.101 Tom Papa

I watched the Super Bowl at a friend's house. And with his daughter and all of her friends. And they were like 20, I don't know, 27, something like that. And I'm just watching the Super Bowl and watching all the ads and it comes on and I can't tell AI from the other thing.

880.402 - 891.034 Tom Papa

And anytime it was AI or sniffed of AI in the writing or the photography, anything, the whole room was like, boo, ah, this side. They were all like...

891.166 - 916.026 Taylor Tomlinson

on it and they saw the phoniness and were calling it out and i was like oh maybe this is this might be something like it gets me sometimes though i get sometimes i'll watch a video and halfway through i'm tearing up at a baby putting on glasses for the first time and i go to the comments and it's like this is ai i know and i'm like they got me they got me i know me you want to know my worst one yeah

916.006 - 936.478 Tom Papa

I got home after the comedy store late at night and I couldn't fall asleep yet. So I was just on my laptop and I looked at YouTube and I watched a 20 minutes story of Keanu Reeves when he showed up at the P. Diddy trial.

936.458 - 960.553 Tom Papa

And how when he walked in and when Diddy locked eyes with him and there was this big controversy and Diddy and Keanu told this whole story about how he got invited to Diddy's house for dinner one-on-one. And I was like, oh my God. And it was AI Keanu? Poor Keanu. The whole thing was AI. 20 minutes? The whole report. Keanu never went to his house. He wasn't in the trial.

Chapter 8: How does Taylor feel about her audience's connection to her work?

1041.872 - 1042.072 Tom Papa

Yeah.

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1042.212 - 1062.724 Taylor Tomlinson

Couldn't tell you one joke. I vaguely remember. Really? Yeah, I just, I mean, I forget, I feel like almost immediately. And then when people reference stuff, they go, oh, you have that one joke. I've had people reference bits from specials and I go, that's great. And they go, that's from your, and I go, are you sure about that? It happened writing the book a couple of times.

0

1062.744 - 1067.173 Taylor Tomlinson

My editor was like, well, you talk about this in your second special. And I go, I've never shared that with anyone.

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1067.413 - 1069.137 Tom Papa

How dare you?

0

1069.157 - 1071.421 Taylor Tomlinson

And then I was like, oh no, you're right. I did talk about that.

1071.441 - 1089.788 Tom Papa

I know. Yeah. I literally had to search my, I'm in the middle of my fourth right now, I'm like on a deadline, and I'm like, I think I've told this story. And I had to do a search on my computer to see if where I, and it was like in the second book or whatever. And I'm like, I'm gonna see if anyone catches me.

1091.65 - 1095.856 Taylor Tomlinson

Well, there's also certain things where you're like, I've talked about this before, but I have more to say about it now.

1095.876 - 1098.3 Tom Papa

Right, right. And jokes are like that too, right?

1098.48 - 1099.001 Taylor Tomlinson

Where you're like.

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