Jonny Porkpie Press
After 31 Cities, 5 Countries, 3 Continents, Grab My Junk gets its first review!Erotic Review, Wednesday, November 16
"If only all diplomatic missions were this fun. After touring through 31 cities in five countries, self-appointed burlesque mayor of New York City Jonny Porkpie finally brought his outrageous game show parody to the British capital. Grab My Junk hit London with a cross-section of local burlesque talent, offering a fresh, fast-paced take on the hackneyed genre of game show parody...
Porkpie owns the evening with the unfaltering wit of his rapid-fire banter. In addition to his brilliant turn as MC, the Mayor boasts edgy boylesque acts of his own, full of uproarious antics. His first number at the London debut saw Porkpie twirling tassels after rapping about the implications of having a small penis, sending waves of laughter through the crowd with hilarious metaphors (or similes). Vegas, the follow-up, is a physical theatre tour the force...
The game show shtick is what makes Grab My Junk unique. Not because of the nature of the jokes - largely parodies of the popular TV genre - but because of its subject matter. Even if you've never seen the featured performers before, it's hard to resist the temptation of finding out personal indiscretions about the men and women who have just stripped for your pleasure... Unapologetically capitalizing on the lurid appeal of voyeuristic audiences, Grab My Junk is a guilty pleasure like no other burlesque show I've seen.
But it's more than that as well. It's a fierce display of the underrated boylesque genre, an intelligent take on media sensationalism, and one damn funny show to boot. ...American audiences are quite fortunate to have a show like this touring the country. Do yourself a favour and don't miss it, regardless of which side of the Atlantic you're on." full article
Time Out London Recommends Grab My Junk
, Saturday, November 5
Porkpie drops by Aguilera's place to host some show
http://www.christinaaguilera.com, http://www.christinaaguilera.com, Wednesday, February 23
Style Blog calls Porkpie "Strangest Male Burlesque Star"
, Refinery29, Friday, January 14
"Jonny Porkpie, Tigger!, Jo 'Boobs' Weldon et al. Set for Tribute to Gypsy Rose Lee at NYPL"
TheaterMania, Thursday, January 6
Time Out on Porkpie: "impresario, fiction writer, comedian, bottom-pincher and good-natured bon vivant"
Time Out New York, Saturday, November 13
Time Out / NY Press feature Shocks, etc.
, Thursday, November 11
"Forget about waiting for Burlesque--Jonny Porkpie's Bad Ideas is back and 100-percent beefcake. Enjoy the lengthy talents of boylesque sensations Go-Go Harder and Tigger! as they entice you with the tri-tassel twirl. Show up early for a complete night of full frontal sausage love... Bottom Line: Cheaper than a strip club and still kind of "arsty," this is your chance to publicly ogle dong without feeling like a complete creep." NY Press
NY Press names Porkpie NY's "Best Naked Impresario", comments on size of his ego
New York Press, Thursday, October 28
Huffington Post Corners Porkpie in a Coffee Shop
Huffington Post, Wednesday, August 11
Boston Phoenix visits Porkpie & friends in Boston
The Boston Phoenix, Monday, July 26
A Rare TheaterMania plug
TheaterMania, Monday, May 17
Time Out Calls Porkpie "Be-Hatted, Be-Bearded"
Time Out New York, Friday, January 15
Popmatters calls Corpse "A twisted, sexy and hilarious tale of murder and mystery"
Popmatters, Friday, December 11
Reader finds "Corpse" Educational
His Futile Preoccupations, Wednesday, November 18
Porkpie (who takes his last name from the type of hat he wears) must be a very busy man. In his real life (in other words-anything not inside the pages of his first novel), Porkpie also co-produces Pinchbottom Burlesque with his Missus.- Nasty Canasta. I'd hazard a guess that Porkpie is a really interesting character as he unabashedly places himself in his novel with a generous dollop of self-deprecating humour. To take the piss out of oneself takes a strong, confident personality, and Porkpie does just that, and he does it well with The Corpse Wore Pasties-a light-hearted, entertaining, slick, crime-centred romp through the glamorous world of burlesque.
The novel opens in an East Village bar with a Dreamland burlesque show, and Porkpie is the host for the evening's performances, replacing Dreamland's regular producer and host, LuLu LaRue. This should be an easy gig for Porkpie, but things begin to go wrong when Victoria Vice unexpectedly appears to join the line-up of performers. Victoria is the "rare performer that absolutely nobody liked," not only is she a first-rate bitch, but she's a "thief" and a "plagiarist." And in burlesque, this is "the worst kind of thief you can be." Many other burlesque performers have suffered from Victoria's "creative larceny;" she's notorious for visiting shows and ripping off acts. So when Victoria appears to join the evening's line up, the atomsphere in the ad-hoc chaotic, changing room shifts to rage. And before the evening is over, someone ends up dead.
Although there are no lack of suspects, Porkpie manages to top the list, and after a brush with the cops, he decides that as number 1 suspect, he'd better try solving the crime himself. Against the sage advice of his ever-patient wife, Nasty Canasta, Porkpie plunges into the investigation in true noir style. Soon Porkpie is questioning burlesque characters such as: Brioche a Tete, Cherries Jubilee, Eva Desire, Angelina Blood, and Jillian Knockers. Can it be any wonder that he finds himself "running at top speed across the Brooklyn Bridge, half-naked, in the middle of the night, pursued by all five members of a heavy metal band."?
I have a weakness for Hard Case titles that blend crime with a large dose of humour (Somebody Owes Me Money, Fifty-to-One), so for my twisted tastes, The Corpse Wore Pasties was a delightful, funny read. I began the book knowing next to nothing about burlesque, and I learned a few things about the biz-including the meaning of the term "sexual misdirection." This diverting pulp novel, with its lurid elements added to just a hint of camp, is a great deal of tongue-in-cheek fun (my favourite part is when Porkpie is questioned by the cops). I looked forward to this title for months, and it was exactly what I hoped it would be-an entertaining, behind-the-scenes look at the world of burlesque.
I sincerely hope that this won't be a one-shot wonder, and that Porkpie has more novels up his sleeves or perhaps even in his Super Jonny Porkpie outfit....
Porkpie Gossip on Page 6
New York Post Page 6, Tuesday, November 10
According to one reader, "Corpse" is "The official Go-To book for underwear metaphors!"
Kristopher Cowell, Sunday, November 8
News Feed: Candidate Porkpie on Video
, Saturday, October 31
Library Journal on "Corpse"
Library Journal, Wednesday, October 28
Publishers Weekly on "Corpse"
Publishers Weekly, Monday, October 19
Booklist Reviews "Corpse"
Booklist, Wednesday, October 14
First review of "The Corpse Wore Pasties"
Vince Keenan.com, Sunday, October 11
Odds & Ends
NY Daily News, Monday, September 7
Naked Cowboy Suspends Mayoral Campaign
The Village Voice, Monday, September 7
Goodbye My Porkpie Hat
City Hall News dot com, Monday, August 10
Jonny Porkpie, New York's "Mayor of Burlesque," Wants To Be New York's "Mayor of New York"
The L Magazine, Thursday, August 6
Jonny Porkpie Lives in Mary Carey's Shadow
New York Press, Thursday, August 6
