Jonny McGovern’s career in entertainment launched twenty years ago with Dirty Gay Hits, his collection of gay themed songs that received over five million downloads before YouTube even existed. It caught the eye of Rosie O’Donnell, who cast McGovern as a lead player on her comedy show, The Big Gay Sketch Show alongside Oscar nominee Coleman Domingo and SNL’s Kate McKinnon.
Today, Jonny McGovern is best known for his popular television shows including GoGo for the Gold (second season streaming now on OUTtv) and Hey Qween!, his talk show streaming new episodes now, exclusively on World of Wonder’s SVOD platform WOW Presents Plus. For even more gay laughs and hijinks, you can catch him in Jonny McGovern is Gay AF, the comedian’s new weekly podcast show where he puts a homo spin on all of the latest celeb news. We spoke with Jonny McGovern from his home in LA.
What is it like to be gay AF in Hollywood today?
There’s never been a better time to be gay AF!
Gay comedians are hot right now! There’s Fortune Feimster, Matteo Lane, Tig Notaro, Bob the Drag Queen… the list goes on and on.
Yes, it’s great. I think apps like TikTok have really helped make this possible. They take a lot of the gatekeeping away. It’s no longer some straight person telling you what you can and cannot talk about. The audience can decide for themselves what they find is funny, and when something or someone gets a big reaction from a digital audience, comedy clubs and the industry take notice.
Were you always gay AF?
I may have tried to hide it in my younger years, but when I stopped trying to be what society told me was proper and started fully expressing my true self is when I started to make a name for myself.
What inspired you to launch your podcast, Jonny McGovern is Gay AF?
I started podcasting in 2006 and my podcast audience has been my most devoted audience. I have people that have been riding with me for almost twenty years and that’s special.
Gay Pimpin’ was a real pioneer in LGBTQ podcasting!
We were the first gay show to crack the top 10 of iTunes podcasts.
How is Jonny McGovern is Gay AF different from Gay Pimpin ‘?
Spiritually, they are both from the same place. Format wise, they are different. Gay Pimpin’ was a snapshot of my life at the time with a very large group of friends on the mic with me. Gay AF is more intimate. It’s created to be like you, as the listener, are sitting down with me one on one to gossip, throw shade, kiki about which OnlyFans accounts are good and which are not worth our coins. We break down the stories of the day and deep dive into DL gay celebrity scandals and blind items.
Where do you find the topics?
I keep a list of everything that I see that stands out as “of homosexual interest” on social media, in magazines, movies, TV, and music. From diva rap battles like Nicki vs. Megan to the gay couple airport meltdown to Diddy’s alleged gay sex parties; no topic is off limits!
How did your podcast shows prepare you for Hey Qween!?
I was working in nightlife while recording The Gay Pimpin’ shows and I spent a lot of time with drag queens and ballroom legends. It was a natural evolution to make Hey Qween! a place where queens share their journeys.
This season, the show moved to Wow Presents Plus!
We had access like never before to the world’s top queens! We were the first sit down TV interview for the eliminated queens of season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, so we got the tea piping hot! Not only did I have some of Drag Race’s Emmy winning producers working with me on the show, but we were also able to get call-ins from Drag Race legends and we regularly featured actual iconic props from the season. It felt great to be in the eye of the storm and on the mother ship of WOW.
Was there anything you were not allowed to ask an eliminated queen?
Not really, but I never wanted to ask anything that was going to make anyone feel or look bad. These queens are our homegrown stars and I’m about celebrating them.
No doubt the late Lady Red Couture is smiling down from heaven at your success.
It’s bittersweet to have finally gotten to this place that we always dreamed of traveling together and not have Lady Red beside me. She’s always with me in spirit and I keep a candle with her picture on it next to me on my desk so she’s always represented. I miss her and I know she’s up in heaven cheering me on.
Speaking of legendary angels, what would Dorian Corey or Pepper LaBeija think of the state of LGBTQ+ representation in entertainment today?
Paris is Burning and all of the people in that movie have been extremely inspirational to me. I would hope they would love it and be huge TikTok stars, especially Dorian Corey who I quote to this day!
Favorite Dorian Corey quote?
That’s easy. If you shoot an arrow and it goes real high, hooray for you.
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