Jonny McGovern (born July 12, 1976), also known by his character name The Gay Pimp, is an American stand-up comedian,

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, musician and

podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...

. He has recorded three albums as comedic singer The Gay Pimp, appeared as a cast member of

Logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

's ''

The Big Gay Sketch Show ''The Big Gay Sketch Show'' is an LGBT-themed sketch comedy program that debuted on Logo on April 24, 2007. The series is produced by Rosie O'Donnell and directed by Amanda Bearse. The program was originally titled ''The Big Gay Show'' but was ...

'', and hosts the internet talk show ''Hey Qween!''

Early life

Jonny McGovern was born to Mary McGovern and Rob Gutowski in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. His parents traveled often and McGovern grew up primarily in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. McGovern later returned to the United States to study acting at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

, where he earned a BFA. He is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

Career

McGovern stated that he was inspired to create his signature comedic character, The Gay Pimp, after listening to rap songs and interviews by Eminem. McGovern has said, After the songs from the show began to get heavy rotation in New York City nightclubs, McGovern was approached about making a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for one of his songs, "Soccer Practice". The success of the single garnered attention for McGovern, and he contributed commentary on a variety of VH1 shows (such as ''

Best Week Ever ''Best Week Ever'' is an American comedy series created and executive produced by Fred Graver. The series originally aired from January 23, 2004, to June 12, 2009, on VH1.Harris, Scott"VH1 Cancels 'Best Week Ever'". ''Inside TV''. January 13, 2 ...

'', ''Totally Gay'', and ''40 Dumbest Celebrity Quotes'') as well as earned a slot on Comedy Central's all-gay comedy show ''Out on the Edge'', hosted by Alan Cumming. McGovern hosts his own YouTube show on StreamTV titled ''Hey Qween!'', where he interviews various icons of the LGBT community. The show was co-hosted up until 2020 by the late Lady Red Couture. As a tribute to her passing, McGovern released the 3-track EP ''Flowers (Songs to Lady Red)'' in November 2020, with Adam Joseph as producer. McGovern hosts ''

Gay Pimpin' with Jonny McGovern ''Gay Pimpin' with Jonny McGovern'' is a bi-weekly free gay-themed podcast based out of Hollywood, California, originally out of New York City. The show, which is hosted by Jonny McGovern, began airing on January 16, 2006. McGovern announced ...

'', a weekly free LGBT themed

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

based out of Los Angeles since August 2010. It was based in New York City from January 16, 2006 to January 11, 2010.

Discography

Note: *In the twelfth episode of the third season of '' Queer as Folk'', ''Soccer Practice'' can be seen and heard in the background of the bar scene at about 18 minutes into the episode. *"Soccer Practice" is played in the HBO vampire series ''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on '' The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. A reboot is currently in development. The ser ...

'' in the third episode of season one. McGovern mentioned it on his weekly podcast and says he highly approves. *Artist and raconteur Robert W. Richards drew the album cover for ''Gays Gone Wild''. *The photographs used on Jonny McGovern's site and ReMix album where shot by Dick Mitchel. * By June 2007, the song "Somethin' For The Fellas (That Like the Fellas)" had held the top spot on

's '' The Click List: Top 10 Videos'' for over 15 weeks * The video for "Don't Fall in Love With a Homo (A Song for the Ladies)" was released on May 1, 2008 with 25,000 views in the first day. It eventually hit number 1 on Logo's Click List and stayed there for 6 weeks. *McGovern's gay parody video of "Like A G6" with transgender diva Calpernia Addams called "Likin Big Dicks" had over 400,000 views, and a club remix was produced by NYC electro-group Naked Highway. *McGovern's spoof of Duck Sauce's "Barbra Streisand" dance track entitled "Marla Gibbs" (honoring the star of 227) was mentioned several times by Andy Cohen on Bravo's ''Watch What Happens Live!'' *He also has a web series "Celebrity Donkey Punch" which comes out bi monthly.

References

External links

GayPimp.com
The Official Jonny McGovern Website *
Jonny McGovern's MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGovern, Jonny 1975 births American male comedians American Internet celebrities American male singer-songwriters American podcasters American male pop singers Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni American gay actors Gay comedians American gay musicians LGBT composers LGBT singers from the United States LGBT songwriters Living people Music promoters Musicians from Brooklyn Singer-songwriters from New York (state) 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers House of Aviance 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people