Podcast Summary: You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes

Episode: Taylor Tomlinson #3 (February 18, 2026)
Podcast Theme: Everybody has secret weirdness, Pete Holmes gets comedians to share theirs.

Episode Overview

In her third appearance on 'You Made It Weird,' comedian Taylor Tomlinson joins Pete Holmes for a vibrant, candid, and laughter-filled conversation. The pair dig deep into Taylor’s upcoming Netflix special "Prodigal Daughter," the intricacies of religious material in comedy, the comedy grind, the weirdness of promoting yourself online, and candid insights about dating as comedians. They share personal philosophies, insecurities, and process, toggling between spiritual musings, industry shop talk, and gut-busting bits about family, faith, and relationships.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Taylor’s New Special: "Prodigal Daughter"

• Release: February 24, Netflix.
• Pete’s Praise: Pete repeatedly calls it her best hour yet, commending Taylor’s honesty, joke density, and her ability to excavate comedic "diamonds" from her upbringing.
  • “It’s phenomenal. Effortless, but clearly the result of effort.” (08:44)

Religion, Family, and Personal Growth

• Taylor discusses how this special is less about religion itself and more about her relationship to her religious upbringing and family still within it.
  • “I think it’s more about who I am in relation to my religious upbringing...” (10:50)
• The duo riff on Bible stories as childhood folklore—questioning their role in children’s education and poking fun at the sanitized versions.
  • “So Noah, God kills everybody on earth... why is this the mural in the preschool?” – Pete (06:10)

Material Development & Tag-Stealing in Comedy

• The two dissect the underground world of comics swapping tags (joke punch-ups), the ethics of attribution, and how "special thanks" in comedy specials matter.
  • “LA’s dirty secret... we all have Scar brother tags!” – Pete (05:31)
  • Taylor shares, “Every time somebody says, ‘I love that line,’ I go, that wasn’t me. Because I feel like I have to... honest.” (07:17)

2. Religion and Comedy: Shared History, Different Takes

• Both comics grew up religious—Taylor in a devout Christian household, Pete with similar influences—and examine the overlap with their on-stage material.
• They celebrate being able to now treat past anger with compassion, using comedy for transcendence instead of revenge.
  • “What’s weird is it’s never as interesting as the person who’s gone full circle and goes, ‘it all belongs.’” – Pete (109:42)

Notable Bit: The Christmas Story

• Comparing Jesus’ New Testament origin as anticlimactic to a Marvel end-credits scene.
  • “Jesus is barely in the Christmas story. He’s like the end credits scene in a Marvel movie.” – Pete (16:04)

3. Stand-Up Craft: Jokes, Structure, and Social Media

• Taylor reveals her meticulous outlining process for joke-heavy sets.
  • “Your jokes have like 75... you really pack them in.” – Pete (93:08)
  • “My set lists are longer than maybe a lot of people’s...” – Taylor (93:40)
• Both discuss the change in the stand-up landscape with social media clips, their evolution from skepticism to embracing online content.
  • “To just retire a bit into a black hole – now I post it.” – Pete (42:15)
• They debate whether audiences care if they’ve seen a joke online, landing on the idea that most people just want to see the comedian do what they do.
  • “No one cares what song Elvis plays. They just want to see Elvis.” – Garry Shandling, quoted by Pete (44:03)

Vulnerabilities & Comedy Truth

• The importance of honesty in jokes—and asking “Do I actually feel that way?” instead of just chasing the laugh.
  • “If you’re saying things that you don’t believe or aren’t true to who you are, even if they work, nobody’s seeing you.” – Taylor (48:19)
• The magic of cutting jokes that aren’t authentic, even if they "kill."

4. Comedy & Dating: Expectations, Core Insecurities, and Finding Your People

• Taylor and Pete compare notes on how performing and stage personas influence personal lives and dating.
  • Taylor: “I can be good and impressive for 90 minutes far away. But if you get me at a party, I’m horrible.” (59:02)
  • Pete: “One of my core negative beliefs is I’m too much. Then I also have I’m not enough. It’s a real Vitamix of flavors.” (59:14)
• They agree that true partners delight in your quirks, and it’s healthiest to “slow gas leak who you are” rather than firehosing someone with your everything on date one.
  • “If they don’t pass out, that’s your person.” – Pete (66:31)

5. Tech & Generational Angst: AI, Porn, and What Changes (and Doesn't)

• Comedy bits and honest fears about AI companionship, ChatGPT, and how kids or even adults will become emotionally attached to “empathetic” chatbots.
  • “Everybody’s lonely... wanted to update [ChatGPT] to just say, that was great. And that’s the beginning.” – Pete (83:05)
• Awkwardness and personal boundaries regarding online adult content, and acceptance that formative wiring is hard to shake.
  • Taylor: “I can’t undo everything that was done... I used to feel bad that I couldn’t have sex with people quicker... and now I’m like, this is just how I’m wired.” (81:12)

6. Full Circle on Faith and Community

• The value, limits, and evolution of faith communities—finding spaces for realness, acceptance, and brokenness, versus spaces for appearance.
  • Taylor shares that her new material is a "love letter" to the family members doing Christianity right: “...finding a way to do an hour about religion that was like, hey, I’m not a Christian and I’m not religious, but I think it’s okay if you are, as long as you’re not doing it this up way.” (108:56)
• Reflection on how growth & authenticity are the more “holy” thing for comedians than just being “clean.”
  • “Keeping that secret is more of a missing the mark to me than being authentic and being like—sometimes I just think it.” – Pete (105:57)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Comedy:

• "The worst feeling – you get offstage and you’re like, goddammit, I forgot the whole... and it’s usually the first show of the weekend." – Pete (95:29)
• "You can get too old or just old enough for a joke. Like, I’ve had jokes I had to grow into and jokes that I grew out of." – Taylor (49:45)

On Personal Growth:

• "I just don’t want to grow anymore. I get why older people are like, I’m not changing the words I say... I’m tired of trying to be better all the time." – Taylor (81:52)

On Finding Your People:

• "You want to find someone who—what’s annoying about me, she thinks is amazing." – Pete (62:22)

On AI & Loneliness:

• "If you don’t think you’re watching porn, you are. Everything’s porn." – Taylor (81:01)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:19 – Inside joke/tag sharing & the LA comedy scene
• 05:56 – Joke attribution, “special thanks,” and ethics
• 08:44 – Pete’s praise for Taylor’s special and her craft
• 16:04 – The Christmas Story, Bible stories as bad origin tales
• 37:27 – Posting comedy clips, vulnerability online
• 48:19 – Stand-up half-truths, creative honesty
• 59:00 – Dating as a comedian, the “on” persona, and insecurity
• 66:31 – “Slow gas leak” philosophy of dating
• 83:05 – ChatGPT, the beginnings of AI emotional dependency
• 105:57 – Authenticity vs. clean comedy as “holiness”
• 108:56 – Taylor’s "love letter" to family doing faith right

Flow & Tone

The conversation flows loose but deep, shifting from playful bits to stark honesty—sardonic, reflective, sometimes irreverent, but always respectful of the inner weirdness. The banter is densely packed with jokes, callbacks, off-the-cuff wisdom, and threads of mutual admiration. Neither avoids hard truths or big ideas, but the irrepressible urge to laugh is always close at hand.

In Summary

This episode is a must-listen for anyone who loves stand-up comedy, grew up religious, or wrestles with how to be authentic in public. Both Taylor and Pete model the art of mining personal history for comedy, balancing self-critique, compassion, and the collective weirdness that brings people together—on stage, online, or just in the comments. Their warmth and openness remind us that being "too much" or "not enough" is the baseline for being uniquely human, and the best comedy digs into the dirt to remind us we’re not alone.

Key Quote to End:
"If they don’t pass out, that’s your person." – Pete Holmes (66:31)

Taylor Tomlinson: Prodigal Daughter debuts 2/24/26 on Netflix. Don’t miss it.

(All timestamps MM:SS. Quotes attributed for clarity.)