Judi Love has said that fans confusing her with Alison Hammond is something that often happens to Black women, but has never offended her.
The Loose Women panellist told Metro she often laughs off the mix-up with her fellow ITV mainstay, because confusing one person for another is a mistake she’s also prone to.
‘To be honest with you, we’ve got big personalities, big smiles, big laughs and we’re both juicy, beautiful ladies so it’s always a compliment to me,’ the Last One Laughing star told us in her 60 Seconds interview.
‘The reality is that it happens to Black women all the time. I just laugh when it happens because I’ve mixed people up before, and not everything is necessarily led by ignorance, racism or misogyny.’
It might come as no surprise that Love is able to see such interactions in a positive light. After all, she’s hoping to do a PhD in the next couple of years, focusing on how laughter affects our emotional and mental well-being.
But for now, she’s embarking on a new stand-up tour – aptly titled All About the Love – in which she’s hoping to show a bit more of herself than viewers get to see from her TV appearances.
‘There’s a perception that people on telly have got it together, but we’re human,’ she said. ‘There are moments in your life where you question yourself, your ability and your purpose.
‘Maybe people will think: “Oh my gosh, she thinks like us,” or “She’s had experiences like us”.’
She continued: ‘When you do stand up, it’s specific to yourself and your audience. It’s live, it’s in the moment and you have that hour to explore the subject in detail.
‘On TV when you’re being interviewed it’s very short and sharp, and sometimes you want to go into more in depth, but you can’t.’
The stand-up show will dig into Love’s own journey with love, whether for ‘good or bad’, sharing what she’s learned over the years.
Last One Laughing became a megahit for Amazon Prime last year – ‘I’ve had a multitude of different people in different countries coming to me to say they’ve loved those shows,’ Love said – with a second season already on the way.
But she’s hoping to try her hand at more acting roles, either of the profound variety or the more lighthearted. On the latter front, she’s got a role in the upcoming Rebel Wilson comedy Girl Group, about a has-been popstar who’s forced to coach a group of teens for stardom.
‘I’d love to make a short film and to develop my acting – do a serious role or play a cop,’ the TV presenter told us.
‘Or maybe I could play the person who gets involved in the cop world by accident after tripping over a bag in a petrol station, handing it in to the police and then having the gangsters following me because they think I’m someone I’m not.’
Judi Love is on her All About the Love tour from January 30 to June 19. Tickets are available here.
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