Fasten your seatbelts there's a new gay fest that is not to be missed. Queer Fest America presents a benefit for El Rescate Independent Transitional Living for Homeless and HIV/AIDS Youth at Reggie's Rock Club.
Jonny McGovern from Logo's The Big Gay Sketch Show will Skype in his appearance during the show and Nightspots talked to him about his journey to becoming a Gay Pimp.
Randy Pubert: Hey, Jonny. How did you hook up with Queer Fest America?
Jonny McGovern: I just love gayness and gay things, gay people, especially ones who are trying to be all things homo together through the arts. Community-minded projects are something I love. While they didn't have the budget to fly me in, I wanted to participate in some way so this is what we came up with.
RP: How long have you been rapping?
JM: I would barely call it that [laughs]. Many parts of my songs include rhythmic speaking but I would never call it rapping.
RP: I watched your video for "#TOTDF." I wanted to ask you if it's really safe to "text on the dance floor?"
JM: I'm just as guilty as texting on the dance floor as anyone else but I am able to call myself out on it.
RP: It must have been fun casting the video.
JM: Luckily I have a whole mess of boys that travel with me already. I am able to cast around from them. Once the videos come out other boys see them and want to be in them. It is a wonderful process that keeps growing and growing.
RP: I watched your "Sexy Nerd" video. Nerds are so popular these days!
JM: First of all they are and there is something to be said for a man that is not only sexy but can fix your computer, program your phone, tell you how to use Twitter, and answer all of your questions, even set up your internal hard drive on a network. That is truly erotic!
RP: How did the Gay Pimp character come about?
JM: Gay Pimp started years ago. It was a little idea that I had. It was right around the time—this is so dating me—when Eminem came out. He was really throwing the word "fag" around in all of his songs. I remember even watching The View and the ladies gave him a pass on using it. It is really hard to protest a super big record label machine except in a very underground way. I decided to protest it by writing a midnight musical that played on the Lower East Side called The Wrong Fag to Fuck With. The Gay Pimp was a pop star in this alternate universe who sang songs like "Girl I Fucked Your Boyfriend." The play took place at the MTV Movie Awards where the Gay Pimp battles Eminem. The show became an underground hit and was written up in a lot of magazines. We had lines around the block.
RP: How did making videos happen?
JM: Eventually a Broadway producer came to see our show called Dirty Gay Teen Pop Superstars. We shot a video and suddenly it went around the world. It wasn't until later that I realized how gigantic it had been. It was played at video bars all over the country and on MTV Europe. It got downloaded from my website like four million times. It was all an accident but I am milking it for all it's worth ten years later!
Look for those videos, along with Jonny being skyped in on Sun., July 22 from 4 to 9 pm at Reggie's, 2105 S. State St. Contact queerfestamerica@gmail.com for more information with tickets at www.ticketfly.com .
Interviewed by Randy Pubert. Photos by Dick Mitchell
