Quarter Life Crisis
Netflix · 2020
A cynical stand-up hour about the misery of your twenties.
The twenties are usually sold as a decade of carefree adventure, but this hour is a highly structured defense of being a self-aware killjoy. The central thesis is that early adulthood is actually a miserable limbo. It is a time when you are too old to act like a teenager and too young to have anything figured out. The anchor of the set is a called-off engagement, with the onstage performance turning personal panic into a tightly written argument for keeping your expectations low.
Filmed at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon, the special debuted on Netflix in March 2020. At the time, Taylor Tomlinson was 26 but had already spent a decade performing, having started in church basements at age 16. That religious upbringing remains a presence in her material, particularly when she jokes about abstinence culture and her father’s choice to run a show choir while holding deeply conservative views.
She moves through topics like the competitive sport of judging weddings and why her engagement ring made her feel better than everyone else before it kept getting caught on sweaters and her own freedom. Her delivery is physically precise, utilizing the entire stage with broad act-outs that contrast with her deadpan punchlines.
Released right as pandemic lockdowns began, the hour served as a major breakout, turning Tomlinson from a club comic into a prominent name. Critical reception was strong, with reviews highlighting her mature writing style and her ability to make conventional relationship material feel fresh.
The set list
-
Comparing dating in your twenties to Charlie Bucket winning Willy Wonka's chocolate factory
Executed via a high-energy act-out contrasting romantic fantasy with the grim reality of the outcome.
-
Browsing greeting card aisles to find an appropriate card for parents
Struggling to find cards whose overly specific, idyllic messages match the reality of having a tough-love or dysfunctional childhood.
-
A date talking about his 'crazy ex-girlfriend'
Listening to the ex-girlfriend's alleged flaws and realizing she would actually get along with and be friends with the ex.
-
Women in their 20s comparing getting a dog to having a baby
Eviscerating the false equivalency and arguing that anyone equating the two is ready for neither.
-
An ex-boyfriend claiming he almost took another woman's phone number
Used as an opening gambit examining men expecting praise for barely resisting temptation.
How it plays
- Tone
- Irreverent, sharp, relatable, and introspective.
- On stage
- Self-assured yet self-deprecating, disciplined, and relatable, balancing old-school stand-up polish with an introspective and self-proclaimed anti-social perspective.
- Pace
- Smooth, seamless, and machine-like cadence with precise punchline delivery, interspersed with slight, effective physical flourishes and animated act-outs.
- About
- Mid-20s existential quarter-life crisis, Dating, relationships, and calling off an engagement, Abstinence, sex, and adult expectations, Parenting and childhood upbringing, Sobriety, edibles, and anti-social tendencies
What the critics said
Universally praised as an exceptionally polished, hilarious, and natural debut hour, with reviewers applauding her mature joke construction, self-assured timing, and lack of pretension.
In the room: Engaged, highly responsive, and roped into her scenarios with infectious laughter.
Backstory
Centers on navigating adulthood and existential dread in one's mid-20s; heavily shaped by calling off her engagement the summer prior to taping and retooling her set.
Details
- Released
- Where
- Netflix
- Topics
- After
- Look at You (2022)
More from Taylor Tomlinson
-
Prodigal Daughter
Netflix
-
Have It All
Netflix
-
Look at You
Netflix
If you liked this
-
Dwight Simmons Who's The Master?
YouTube
-
Nick Hoff Baby Daddy
Comedy Dynamics · Album
-
Seth Meyers Dad Man Walking
HBO Max
-
Brendan Sagalow Thin Lips
YouTube
-
Ty Barnett Comedy Central Presents
Comedy Central
