Jonny McGovern Go-Goes for the Gold

It has been over two decades since Jonny McGovern’s moniker The Gay Pimp hit the New York scene with pointed comedy, raunchy gay-themed music videos, and a mission to stir sh*t up. That, he certainly has. Though his modern-day approach to media is less youth-inspired angst, his political, social, and pop culture views are no less visceral and continue to push the envelope. Not afraid to share his opinion, he is more concerned about entertaining and getting his message across than he is in being politically correct, even towards the LGBTQ community. After years of staying ahead of the LGBTQ media curve, this talk show host, podcaster, comedian, writer, producer, and musician is not concerned with who does or doesn’t like him – and his fans can’t get enough.

Jonny’s unique view of the world started from his upbringing. Though he was born in Brooklyn, he grew up in Egypt and Thailand, learning about American culture from bootleg videos of 227 and Golden Girls and copies of US Magazine.

I was a creative kid – obviously gay – though it took me until college to come out. My room was covered in pictures of The Golden Girls and Aretha Franklin. All CLUES that I was a first-class homo in the making. It was amazing to live internationally, travel the world, and experience lots of different cultures, but I did feel very much of an “other” when I went back to living in the states for college.

Though his coming out would lead to his entertainment career, it was less than dramatic.

I went to acting school where everyone was gay and assumed I was gay, so it was pretty easy to come out.  I came out to my parents on Christmas morning, the greatest gift you can give your parents. Luckily, they have always been very supportive and they said “as long as you are happy and have good sex that’s good with us.”

After graduating from Boston University’s School for the Arts, he headed to New York City where he would become a provocative fixture in the theatre world as well as nightlife. His first solo show Alter Ego, called “delightfully un-p.c.” by the local gay rag, earned him The Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival Nomination for Best Short Play and was included in a collection of one-acts from Dramatic Publishing. From there he would ingratiate himself into the scene exploring his alternative comedy combining theatre, music, political commentary, and yes, raunch, and became a founding member of the Grindhouse-A-Go-Go, a collection of like-minded comedy progressives. He fused theatre and the nightclub scene together, becoming a (according to Time Out NYC) “whirlwind.”

NYC nightlife is where I made my closest friends to this day. I really came into my own in that world. It was also an extremely inspirational time for me, creatively. Going out to the huge clubs all night and experiencing icons like Kevin Aviance and Junior Vasquez and houses from the ballroom scene, then later getting to work with these people when I started throwing parties and doing shows, are experiences that are still influencing me today.

The birth of “The Gay Pimp” was on the horizon as Jonny used his platform and skill to lash back at the blatant homophobia that was being promoted by rapper Eminem. The musical The Wrong Fag to Fuck With: THE GAY PIMP vs. Eminem was born and featured Jonny as pop star The Gay Pimp attending the MTV Music Awards to battle it out with the rapper. Somehow the show ended up with Eminem taking it up the rear. The show was a success and played extended runs to sold-out audiences and even earned a GLAAD Media nomination.

There was no going back for The Gay Pimp and Jonny’s music inspired by the character became a hit in nightclubs and his single, “Soccer Practice,” would become a music video and would also propel Jonny to mainstream media with appearances on many VH-1 commentary shows like Best Week Ever and 40 Dumbest Celebrity Quotes, as a correspondent for The Ricki Lake Show, as well as on Comedy Central’s Out on the Edge with Alan Cumming. Even with the allure of mainstream exposure, he did not cut back on the overt sexuality in his comedy. Songs like Girl, I Fucked Yo’ Boyfriend, Dick Swang Out!, and Bossy Bottom were still on the horizon.

Our sexuality should be celebrated. I don’t think trying to fit into some kind of “acceptable” heteronormative box is progress. 

And his craziest memory from New York City?

The party I did called The Rambles at The Park was wild. It was a super fancy three-floor restaurant during the day and at night it became the wildest gay party spot with a line around the block, naked go-go boys, a backroom, shows by legendary drag queens, and customers like Alexander McQueen and Dolce and Gabbana getting their freak on in the bathroom with all the NYC club crowd. The people having fancy lunches there during the day had no idea what was happening at night!

After 12 years of hitting the scene hard, he traveled to the West Coast. Dealing with a breakup from a seven-year relationship and being less enchanted with nightlife, Hollywood came calling. Rosie O’Donnell handpicked Jonny to appear in her project The Big Gay Sketch Show on Logo TV. The show would run for three seasons and featured Kate McKinnon, Julie Goldman, Stephen Guarino, and Erica Ash, all of whom would celebrate their own future success. Though the show was hilarious and well-received, it was still ahead of our current LGBTQ media boom where our comedy gets mainstream attention and celebration. The Gay Pimp was nowhere to be found and we were presented with a watered-down version of McGovern.

BGSS never got the support it deserved. Personally, I struggled to have my voice heard in that creative process. I learned from that experience that writing my own material is an important key to my success and it was challenging to have people who didn’t really know my strengths writing for me.  But I made great friends and was grateful for the opportunity to be part of a groundbreaking gay show.

Always ready to create his own success and a platform for his voice, Jonny self-launched his drag-centric talk show Hey Qween! The multi-syndicated show is a pop culture phenomenon and has spun off into other short-form series, merchandise, and podcasts. Jonny brings his out-of-the-box flair and politically incorrectness to mix things up with his colorful guests and saucy chat. No doubt the Drag Race team quakes just a bit when Jonny interviews one of their queens because yes, honey, the tea will be spilled.

And what sparked Jonny’s obsession with drag queens?

I arrived in NYC at a time in which you could still see the legends of days past performing alongside the younger generations so I got to really experience the entire spectrum of drag from old school stars like Mother Flawless Sabrina and  Princess Xtravaganza to the queens I came up with, like Peppermint and Erickatoure Aviance. Plus, even before Drag Race, the drag queens I worked with in NYC were like the pop stars of the nightlife scene to me. So, I started writing songs for them and performing in shows and videos with all these queens. I was obsessed.

Certainly, the drag culture of today’s network visibility is a marked difference from those NYC club days. Jonny’s take on the media evolution of drag?

I think it’s amazing. It’s made being a drag queen an actual viable career where you COULD become a millionaire if you work it correctly.

Hey Qween! is at the center of Jonny’s life and doing the show has taught him his life lesson: teamwork makes the dream work; but hard work keeps the dream alive.

Part of that team was Jonny’s co-host, the unforgettable Lady Red Couture. Tragically, we lost Lady Red over COVID from a lifelong illness. Jonny’s Hey Qween’s special, “The Lady Red Memorial Special,” was a bittersweet, tear-jerking farewell.

I hope Lady Red is remembered for her humor her creativity and her glamour but also for her unstoppable spirit and the pride she had in being a trans woman.

No doubt being ahead of the LGBTQ media curve is not without its disadvantages. Being openly gay in a career restricting time and paving the way for future on-screen LGBTQ comedians with a bulldozer to see a new generation more easily reap the benefits cannot be easy. Does he have any regrets about being “so gay” so early in his career?

No regrets. It certainly might have been easier to be more mainstream-friendly, but it wouldn’t have been true to me.

In a crazy turn of events from the media world, “Man Areas,” a song that Jonny released ten years ago is currently enjoying some viral activity on TikTok as the straight community is latching on to the anthem for their “sexy” videos.

I LOVE IT. It is so wild that this song about partying and getting dirty at The Cock is now a thing that straight girls are shimmying to on TikTok. It’s funny because it’s just the first 10 seconds that all of TikTok has heard, so I love reading the comments when people discover the music video on YouTube and get what the song is actually about and are gagged.

Not one to let a pandemic keep him lazy, he debuts his latest project, Go-Go for the Gold for OutTV this Spring.

The show is a tongue-in-cheek look for “America’s #1 Champion Gogo Superstar.” It’s a reality competition show based on my many years working in nightlife with go-go boys. It’s so fun, so hilarious and sexy, but has a lot of heart. It really highlights the creativity and ingenuity of go-go boys and shows a wide spectrum of sexy, inclusive of different body types, and a wide range of ethnicities and gender expressions which we all thought was very important to spotlight on the show.

For Jonny, body positivity is not just a current buzzword. It is real and it’s here to stay.

In our community, a lot of us deal with low self-esteem and body dysmorphia no matter what you look like in other people’s eyes. I think the body positivity cheerleading that has happened over the last few years has been an incredibly positive thing and has even helped me be more accepting and loving of my own body.

Jonny’s relationship with go-go boys has been very long-lasting. Has he ever taken one home after a night out?

I plead the fifth.

With his new show debuting, his other projects going full force, and his unwavering need to create, the future is bright.

I love working in television and just want to do more of it. But the most important thing is to continue to be inspired and be creative, working with people I enjoy and representing the LGBTQ community.

Check out HeyQween.TV for a look at everything Jonny is up to.

Look for Go-Go for the Gold this spring on OutTV.