Loni Love

Loni Love (born July 14, 1971) is an American comedian, television host, actress, author, and former electrical engineer. While working as an electrical engineer in the early 2000s, she switched to music engineering, until later launching a career in stand-up comedy. She was the runner-up on Star Search 2003 and was named among the "Top 10 Comics to Watch" in both Variety and Comedy Central in 2009. She was one of the co-hosts of the syndicated daytime talk show The Real, for which she also won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host in 2018. The show ran from July 15, 2013, and ended on June 3, 2022.

Life and career Love was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects. Prior to her career as a comedian, she was an electrical engineer, an experience she talks about in many of her acts. After graduating from Cass Technical High School in 1989, she worked for a time on the General Motors assembly line putting doors on 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlasses, work which ignited her interest in electrical engineering. While at Prairie View, she minored in music and was also a member of the Eta Beta chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. It was there that she discovered stand-up comedy after winning a $50 competition and then performed frequently during her college life. After eight years of working at Xerox, Love resigned to pursue comedy during a layoff to prevent someone else from losing their job. Since then, she has appeared in films and numerous television shows. Love was named "Hot Comic" for 2009 in Campus Activity magazine and one of the "Top 10 Comics to Watch" in both Variety and Comedy Central. In 2008 Love became the CNN correspondent for D. L. Hughley Breaks the News and covered the inauguration of President Barack Obama. In late 2009, Love recorded her first one-hour Comedy Central special, America's Sister, which aired on May 8, 2010. In July 2013, she released her first comedy advice book titled "Love Him Or Leave Him But Don't Get Stuck With The Tab". It was published by Simon & Schuster.

From July 15, 2013, to June 3, 2022, Love served as one of the co-hosts of the syndicated daytime talk show The Real originally alongside Adrienne Bailon, Tamar Braxton, Jeannie Mai, and Tamera Mowry. After premiering on July 15, 2013, on Fox Television Stations, The Real was picked up to series the following year. In 2015, she appeared in the comedy film Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, with Kevin James, and the action film Bad Asses on the Bayou, with Danny Trejo and Danny Glover. In the same year, Warner Bros. shopped for a revival of classic 80s/90s dating show Love Connection with Love as its possible host for a possible replacement for the syndicated interactive game show Let's Ask America that aired on several Scripps-owned stations. However, plans for it backfired since then. She also won the ninth season of Worst Cooks in America in 2016, winning $50,000 for her chosen charity. In 2018, Love and her Real co-hosts won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host for their work.

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Love hosts a show on Instagram Live under the hashtag #quarantinewithloni. Love's show attracts 50,000 to 100,000 viewers. Love currently hosts, alongside Alec Mapa, Squirrel Friends: The Official Rupaul's Drag Race Podcast since 2022.

Filmography

Awards and nominations Emmy Awards Year Category Work Result 2016 Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host The Real 2017 2018 2019

NAACP Image Awards Year Category Work Result 2017 Outstanding Talk Series The Real 2018 2019 2020 2022 Outstanding Host in a Talk or News / Information (Series or Special)