Jonny McGovern: Gay Pimp of All Media

If you're a gay man on the Internet, it's statistically likely that someone sent you a TV commercial parody called "Gay Juice" last week. Even if this viral smash somehow missed your in-box, you probably know the work of its creator, queer comedian Jonny McGovern.

He's part of the talented ensemble of Logo's Big Gay Sketch Show -- I particularly love the bits where he transforms from a straight guy into a catty queen when the moon is full -- and the comic music videos featuring McGovern as his Gay Pimp persona are long-standing faves at gay video bars and on YouTube.

McGovern's comedy empire also includes his popular podcast, Gay Pimpin' With Jonny McGovern, a raucous and rudely funny show featuring a number of memorable recurring characters, including trans man Jojo and the dangerously overweight Waffles, and celebrity sketches involving topics like Britney Spears's bad parenting skills and Madonna's advancing age. (The latter bits, which cross the Material Girl with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner's 2,000-Year-Old Man, include hilarious zingers like the singer confessing, "I lost my first apartment to Pangaea.")

If you're looking to catch up to McGovern's world, a new two-CD set features favorite moments from Gay Pimpin', a show that the performer says works as "a laboratory where I'm able to experiment with new characters and songs." In a recent interview we talked about queer comedy, wanting to be Whoopi Goldberg, and how Tyra and RuPaul are revealing gay secrets to the world.

Tell me a little about how the podcast began.
Well, a couple years ago -- it shocks me, we've been doing the show almost three years now -- a producer had approached me before I had started BGSS about the idea of doing a podcast. I actually had no idea what that was. Once I found out that it was a way to bring content directly to your audience, without any middleman, I thought it was a great idea.

You have a recurring cast of characters, the people on the show have things they goof on each other about -- it's almost like you have your own satellite radio show.
Exactly. There's no rules, and it's definitely in that format, that long-form Howard Stern type of ... the shows are as long as we want it to be and the format allows us to do or say what we want. People come on and ask, "Can I curse?" And I say, "They ain't no rules on the podcast!" [ Laughs ]

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Reader Comments

Back to top Report Abuse
Name: Don Charles
Date posted: 3/12/2009 5:44:00 PM
Hometown: Kansas City

Comment:
It's easy to take cheap shots at a despised, disenfranchised minority group. It's also incredibly mean. How appropriate that Jonny McGovern likens himself to a pimp.

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