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Magazine: TimeOut New York
Written by: Michael Rucker

Jonny McGovern caps a string of successes with a new pop extravaganza.

Using equal parts charis- ma and chutzpah, Jonny McGovern has made quite a name for himself on the New York gay scene over the past several years. Every few months, it seems, the 25-year-old actor-singer has something new brewing. In the past year alone, he's showcased his talents as a singer in club gigs at Luxx and cabaret appearances at Fez, and has collaborated with Dean Johnson on nightlife ventures, thereby adding "party promoter" to the growing list of hyphenated job titles before his name—one that includes writer, dancer and composer. "I consider myself an all-around entertainer," says McGovern during a recent phone interview, his resonant baritone voice belying the boyish looks he uses so effectively in his act.

As an actor, McGovern is best known for portraying the Gay Pimp, an alter ego he developed as a member of the eclectic Lower East Side theater ensemble Grindhouse-a-Go-Go. The Pimp is a supermasculine kind of guy, and McGovern says the character is his way of injecting some testosterone into a gay entertainment scene often dominated by feminine personalities. After appearing in several popular Grindhouse productions, including The Wrong Fag to Fuck With and Velvet Rope Smackdown, the Gay Pimp moves to P.S. 122 this week to open the "musical extravaganza" Lookin' Cute/Feelin' Cute: Dirty Gay Teen Pop Superstars in Concert.

The show features original electropop tunes by McGovern, who brought in dance-music producer Secret Agent Gel to update his sound. "We took songs from my previous shows, remixed them and showcased them in our own $5 version of a pop-concert spectacular," McGovern says. Despite the shoestring budget, he and collaborator Martin Beauchamp have managed to include all the decadent details of the lavish Britney-Janet-Madonna-style productions the show satirizes. There are backup dancers (among them, former Abercrombie & Fitch model Rick Shubert), elaborate choreography (by original Stomp cast member Kim Marie Lynch) and special guest stars, including a gay rapper called Homo Thug and a drag queen known as Koko. The show's message: Being gay is the coolest thing in the world. "Gay boys are lucky," McGovern gushes. "We have the most fun and we're the cutest."