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Taylor Tomlinson returned to Portland on her Save Me Tour. A preshow posting alerted attendees that her act would be professionally recorded, perhaps like her 2020 special Quarter Life Crisis filmed pre-pandemic at the Aladdin Theater. Tomlinson’s latest visit debuted newly inspired themes of religious trauma and queerness. The 31-year-old comedian sold out three shows at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall before adding a fourth for an Aug. 22–24 visit.
Warming up the crowd with her recognizable cat-skills precision at Saturday’s late show, Tomlinson probed audiences’ fears of artificial intelligence, asking the crowd in a poll of hands if they would rather find out they were dating their cousin or a robot. Ostracizing neither opinion, she discussed her preference, a dinner party with her robot partner, earning resounding belly laughs while pointing out why her robot would be a better mate than her sister’s hypothetical husband. And that is where the gay jokes crept in.
Tomlinson came out of the closet last year, and her content previously fell into three categories, as she described them: “dating is hard, family is weird and I have mental illness.” This tour shifted focus to her bisexual experiences as the self-proclaimed “female Pete Davidson” after landing a 10-out-of-10 bombshell and getting dumped by a polyamorous woman. She discussed her past religious experiences, making light of biblical stories like Noah’s Ark and Christmas. Her willingness to spell out both revered tales’ absurdities felt like a game of chicken with her conservative fans across the country.
The Save Me Tour’s material concerned Tomlinson’s management team, which pleaded for images of her hanging upside down on a cross to be axed from the programming. She laughed off their fear as only a rumor before adding that she had to then delete said pictures. Whether her newfound openness about her queerness and religious past is as controversial as her team fears, one does wonder if her more conservative fans will remain with her. But judging from the energy throughout her set, it seems Tomlinson will have no problem replacing anyone she loses on her journey of self-acceptance.
