Comedian Loni Love is gaining prominence for her straight-up comic sensibility and her support for gay rights, including marriage equality. Love’s support for gay rights in particular increased over the years with increased exposure.
The 40-year-old Love didn’t set out to be a comic. After a stint working on a General Motors assembly line in Michigan, she decided to get a degree in electrical engineering from Texas’ Prairie View A&M University. Soon after moving to L.A., she was inspired to hang up her helmet and hit the stage.
Love first came to national attention nearly a decade ago offering commentary for VH1’s pop culture series I Love Theâ┚¬Â¦, each episode focusing on a different decade. These days, she’s working on a book and currently part of a daytime talk show with Real Housewife Betheny Frankel, which airs on FOX. She’s a regular on national television, from truTV’s The Smoking Gun presents: World’s Dumbest to various E! shows and most significantly Chelsea Lately, where she appears biweekly.
Love is constantly touring, including a stint at the Orlando Improv Sept. 27â┚¬â€œ30. Watermark caught up with the observational humorist to talk about why Variety and Comedy Central have both named her among their â┚¬Å”Top 10 Comics to Watch,â┚¬Â her affinity for â┚¬Å”sugar sticksâ┚¬Â and of course, love.
WATERMARK: Tell us about the tour you're bringing to Orlando.
LONI LOVE: It's a show called â┚¬Å”Loni and the Lovers.â┚¬Â I'll be hosting. I bring on two guys with me that are very funny. I want everybody to come out because we're just going have a real good time. It's going to be one big party that weekend.
What made you decide to take the stage and do comedy?
My professional comedy career didn't happen until I was out in L.A. Basically, after researching stand-up, I realized there weren't a lot of women doing it. So, I decided that there needed to be more women in the field. There were a lot of issues not being talked about from a woman's point of view.
Who are some of your comedic influences?
When I was a feature act, I opened for a lot of people that influenced me. I really liked their work ethic and their style of comedy. Bill Maher, Eddie Griffin and â┚¬Å”Weirdâ┚¬Â Al Yankovic; they actually helped me to see that comedy can be entertaining and informative as well. Stand-up is one of the last true forms of entertainment that's unfiltered. People like to say, â┚¬Å”Oh, I can look you up on YouTubeâ┚¬Â but I tell them, â┚¬Å”No, there's nothing like seeing it live.â┚¬Â Just like when you go see a singer. You might hear them on the radio but seeing them live is a whole different energy.
You tweeted in favor of Jay-Z backing President Obama's stance on marriage equality.
I thought that it was really nice that after the president â┚¬Å”evolvedâ┚¬Â on his stance on gay marriage, for people like Jay-Z, who have influence, to make a statement, like â┚¬Å”hey, I got you.â┚¬Â People should be able to love whoever they want to love. And it seems we can always talk about when a celebrity does something bad or negative but here's a person that's backing a stance that is about not discriminating against people.
I read in a previous interview you mentioned that you were working on a book. How is that coming along?
It's going. I'm on chapter 7. It's a whole different animal when you say you're going to write a book. You have deadlinesâ┚¬â€Âcertain marks that you have hit. It's a very exciting process for me because this will be my first book. It's a comedy/love/advice book. It'll be out next year in Spring 2013. It's all comedy and just another form of me branching out to show my style of comedy.
How is it working alongside a fellow LGBT favorite, Chelsea Handler?
It's fabulous! I'm so happy to be a part of her group and her brand. Chelsea does a lotâ┚¬â€Ânot only for the gaysâ┚¬â€Âbut she also does a lot for women and comedy in general. I feel that because of her, there's a resurgence of stand-up comedy. I know a lot of people that had never been to a comedy club will come see me because they saw me on her show. I have to give her kudos for that because if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't be seeing the resurgence. That and she puts up with me.
Right now, everybody's into the reality shows but like I said, comedy is the oldest form of entertainment and if you get somebody that can do it and entertain people, you want that support. Her show has been a great vehicle. She puts so many females on. Adam Corolla makes his comments about females not being funny, and I feel like saying, â┚¬Å”Are you watching your television or just listening to your podcast?â┚¬Â It's not just about females, or gay or black or whateverâ┚¬â€Âit's comedy. People like Adam Corrolla have to be reminded that, hey, you got a whole brand of humor out there that comes from a different point of view.
Are there any behind the scenes tidbits you can reveal?
It's very cool. Chelsea is just like she is on TV. This is not an act for us. What we do on the show is try to make people laugh. She runs her business very efficiently. We're always on time. There's no drama or anything like that. That's why it's so easy to work on her show. She doesn't censor you; no â┚¬Ëœyou can't say this' or â┚¬Ëœyou can't say that.' She wants people to be themselves. When you're yourself, that's when the true funny comes out. And that's important in comedy.
Is there anyone special in the House of Love?
There's always someone in the House of Love. I'm never by myself for long. [Laughs]
What's next?
I have the book. I'm helping Betheny Frankel out with her new show. She's such an in-your-face kind of woman, so I'm excited to be part of her talk show. She's very engaging and it's been such a different experience. Chelsea's on late-night and Betheny is on daytime so it's a different kind of model. There's a few other opportunities. I'm trying to move into the daytime arena. I have a few other surprises coming up.
More Info
WHO: Loni Love
WHERE: Orlando Improv, Sept. 27-30
TICKETS: TheImprovOrlando.com
