CBS Taylor Tomlinson Late Night Series After Midnight Premieres Gonna Fun Right

CBS debuts new late night series "After Midnight" with minimal fanfare, a panel series with comedian Taylor Tomlinson as host.

CBS launched its new late-night series "After Midnight" with minimal fanfare on Tuesday night, premiering the show at 12:37 a.m. behind "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." The series, hosted by comedian Taylor Tomlinson, is taped on the Paramount lot in Hollywood.

The decision to keep the premiere lowkey is intentional, allowing the show to find its voice before the return of first-run scripted series in February and the Super Bowl, when more viewers will be tuning into broadcast networks.

In the first episode, Tomlinson introduced the show as a place where three comedians enter, one wins, and two will regret participating. The show features panelists cracking jokes about pop culture, headlines, and "the dumbest things on the internet." While it looks like a game show, the points are assigned at random by Tomlinson and based on the panelists' responses.

The premiere episode featured segments such as "Group Chat," "Hashtag," "Tik Chopped," "What I Can't Live About," "Suburban Dictionary," "To Smash or Not to Smash," and "Is This Still Cool?" The comedians participating in these segments included Whitney Cummings, Aparna Nancherla, and Kurt Braunohler.

The show had a slow start as both Tomlinson and the panelists were feeling out the new format, but as the hour progressed, the energy picked up, and the jokes got edgier. The show will feature guests such as Paul F. Tompkins, Sophie Buddle, Carl Tart, Max Greenfield, Ike Barinholtz, and Robby Hoffman in upcoming episodes.

"After Midnight" takes over the late-night slot previously held by "The Late Late Show with James Corden" and is based on "@midnight," a panel series that followed "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" from 2013 to 2017. Tomlinson, who recently signed a deal with Netflix for her next two stand-up specials, is also working on a film based on her upbringing.

The show is produced by CBS Studios, Stephen Colbert's Spartina Industries, and Funny Or Die, with Jack Martin and Eric Pierce serving as co-showrunners and executive producers. Comedian and writer Jo Firestone is the co-executive producer and head writer, while Alexx Wells also serves as a co-executive producer. Other executive producers include Carrie Byalick, Stephen Colbert, Evelyn McGee Colbert, James Dixon, Tom Purcell, Whitney Hodack, Mike Farah, Joe Farrell, Henry R. Muñoz, and Jason U. Nadler.