Loni Love Is Having a Very Good Year

After 20 years, comedian Loni Love is now a bankable personality. No only is she a major presence on the hit E! show “Chelsea Lately,” she’s the senior sage on the new daytime talk show “The Real” now testing on the Fox network in 6 cities. “The Real” places Love with reality stars Tamara Mowry Hounsley and Tamar Braxton along with actresses Jeannie Mai and Adrienne Bailon. The multicultural mix works, but the show won’t be officially a go until after its test run, which ends in a week.

“We haven’t heard yet,” Love told the Tom Joyner Morning Show. “This is our last week on Fox. If we don’t hear by October, it ain’t get picked up.” Love is hopeful that it will, though, if nothing else because she and the other ladies are enjoying the run. “We’re having so much fun on that show, we really are.”

Love is a Detroit native who grew up in the city’s Brewster-Douglass projects, made famous by the Supremes, who also grew up there. Etterlene DeBarge, matriarch of the DeBarge family, was also a resident. The one-time Xerox engineer stayed at the company even after she became a regular at L.A.’s famed comedy starting ground, The Laugh Factory. But ultimately Loni’s talent won out and since leaving to pursue comedy full time, she’s worked steadily doing both TV, film and standup.

“I was trained by y’all. Doing the Tom Joyner show has taught me to calm down but still keep the funny,” Love told the TJMS crew.

Love has made forays into books, as well, penning two. Her last one “Love Him or Leave Him But Don’t Get Stuck With the Tab,” echoes the kinds of pragmatic advice as well as the hilarious stories she shares on “The Real.”

“Depending on what the topic is we have this thing called “Girl’s Chat” at the top of the show. That’s when we reveal certain stories. I’m 20 years into this so I have plenty of stories.”