Leighann Lord facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Leighann Lord
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Leighann Lord at DragonCon in 2018
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| Education | B.A. Baruch College |
| Occupation | Comedian, writer, actress |
| Known for | Star Talk Radio |
Leighann Lord is a talented American comedian, writer, and actress. She is known for her funny stand-up comedy shows. She has also been a co-host on the popular Star Talk Radio podcast with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Leighann Lord helps host other podcasts like Center for Inquiry's Point of Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer Presents. She is also a member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, which promotes critical thinking.
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Early Life and Education
Leighann Lord grew up in the South Jamaica area of Queens, New York City. Her parents were from the West Indian islands. She says that her family's culture and wanting to avoid being teased as a child helped her get into comedy. She shared, "People started to laugh with me and not at me. I was an 11-year-old sixth-grader with a game plan that led me in the right direction."
She went to Baruch College at the City University of New York. There, she studied journalism, creative writing, and theater because she was interested in show business. In 1989, she graduated with high honors, earning a BA degree in journalism and creative writing.
Comedy Career and Writing
After college, Leighann Lord worked in corporate communications for five years. However, she still loved show business and soon started performing at stand-up comedy clubs.
She has performed stand-up comedy on many TV shows. These include Lifetime's "Girls Night Out," HBO's "Def Comedy Jam," and Comedy Central's "Premium Blend." She also won the "Hilarious Housewives Contest" on ABC's "The View." She looks up to comedians like George Carlin, Marsha Warfield, Carol Burnett, and Bertice Berry.
Besides performing her own comedy, Lord was a writer for The Chris Rock Show. She also writes a funny newspaper column called "The Urban Erma."
In February 2015, Leighann Lord was a guest on Star Talk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson. They discussed topics like "Warp Drives to Cloaking Devices: Star Trek Cosmic Queries."
Leighann Lord is also connected with African Americans for Humanism. In 2012, this group had a media campaign with billboards. These billboards showed Lord and other modern activists alongside famous African American humanists like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Frederick Douglass.
In 2019, Lord was the host for CSICon, a skeptical convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. She used her humor to ask interesting questions, such as "What if Adam was made from Eve's rib?" In 2021, she released a special for Dry Bar Comedy called Leighann Lord: I Mean Business. She also appeared on Showtime's 'Even More Funny Women of a Certain Age'.
As of 2025, Lord is a fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. She also co-hosts the Center for Inquiry's Skeptical Inquirer Presents web series. She was the host for the American Banker's Most Powerful Woman in Banking event in New York City on October 5, 2023. At CSICon 2023, Lord performed a stand-up comedy routine called “And Now for Something Completely Different: Enlightening and Entertaining.”
Books by Leighann Lord
- Leighann Lord’s Big Book of Book Titles: When You Don’t Have Time to Read a Whole ... Book
- Leighann Lord's Dict Jokes: ALTernate DEFinitions for Words You’ve Probably Never Heard of But Will Definitely Never Forget (2014)
- Leighann Lord's Dict Jokes: More ALTernate DEFinitions for Words You've Probably Never Heard of But Will Definitely Never Forget (2014)
- The Great Spanx Experiment: The Urban Erma's Best Humor Essays of 2011 (2014)
- I Wish Facebook Had a Hate Button: The Urban Erma's Best Humor Essays of 2012 (2014)
- Happy Black Men: The Urban Erma's Best Humor Essays of 2013 (2014)
- Real Women Do It Standing Up: Stories From the Career of a Very Funny Lady (2016)
Awards and Recognition
Leighann Lord was voted "Most Thought Provoking Black Female Comic" at the 4th annual Black Comedy Awards. She was also nominated for Best Play and Best Director for her one-woman show The Full Swanky. This nomination was at the Riant Theatre Women's Play Festival.
Images for kids
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Lord dressed as Ida B. Wells at Dragon Con in 2018
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Lord presenting at Dragon Con in 2018
