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

]