The Skinny on... Johnny McKnight

What’s your favourite place to visit and why?
Oh that’s a tough one. Anywhere there’s sunshine in the sky, no work to be heading to and a strong cocktail at the ready. I thought Venice was magical when I first arrived there. In terms of Scotland… I don’t know if you can beat a dawner round the TK Maxx in Sauchiehall Street.

What's your favourite food?
Steak, chips and peppercorn sauce. Cos I like any food that’s been drowned in a sauce (see also top food chips, cheese and gravy or for extreme hangovers mashed potato and gravy). Can I also have a shout out too for crisps. Any flavour. Any make. I love them all, and would happily replace a dinner with them.

What's your favourite colour?
I’m going to show how basic a gay I am here. GREY. It goes with literally anything. Can be warm or cold for a room decor. Always looks classy – pretty much like me.

Who was your hero growing up?
I’ve always really had the same two people – Madonna and Kylie. Both from similar worlds but Kylie’s the light, Madonna’s the dark. One’s for fun and frivolity and joy, the other was always about sexual expression, liberation and pushing boundaries. I still love both of them. From Like a Prayer to Your Disco Needs You, all their music is so utterly wrapped up in the last 35-plus years of my life and memories.

Whose work inspires you now?
There’s soooo many. As a writer, Julia Davis is wickedly funny and pushes the envelope in everything she does, but there’s so many people I’m inspired by... Victoria Wood, Janette Krankie, Damon Lindelof, Sally Wainwright, Kylie, Miss Piggy… shows like The Other Two, Schitt's Creek, The Boys… I like work that is both accessible and challenging, that connects an audience, that takes its own viewpoint, that takes something we’ve known and seen and twists it in a completely different direction.

What three people (living or dead) would you invite to your Christmas dinner and what are you cooking?
Dolly Parton. Joan Rivers. Kelly Clarkson. Imagine the laughs and the songs we’d be getting that night. I’d do the full Xmas dinner – roast tatties, honey roasted parsnips, carrots in orange, mashed tatties, roast beef and gravy.

What’s your all time favourite album?
Like A Prayer by Madonna. That album was seminal to me when it came out. It had a leaflet talking about Aids and HIV. The album cover was scented. The songs are all bangers. All of them.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?
Hmmm… It’s always the law of diminished returns for me… some sequels should be left alone. Did any one of us need Home Alone 4, Cruel Intentions 3, Mean Girls 2? And did I watch them all? Well, yes, course I did.

What book would you take to a desert island?
Can I take an audiobook? I like falling asleep to the sound of people talking. Currently I’m doing the Britney Spears autobiography read by Michelle Williams… but that’s juicy so there’s no sleeping to it… I’d take something like the History of The World, something like that.

Who’s the worst?
Oh that’s a long list. And I keep that list close to my chest.

When did you last cry?
Hnmmmmm……… there was a home makeover show the other day, they did their home lovely, everyone was overjoyed… I cried.

What are you most scared of?
Dying’s not exactly a welcome thought. But I’m also terrified of coleslaw. I know it’s completely irrational but vegetables and mayonnaise is the work of the devil.

When did you last vomit and why?
I’ll have been drunk. It’ll have been my own fault. I’ll have been mixing my drinks.

Tell us a secret?
I’ve never seen any of the Star Wars films. And I have absolutely no interest in doing so.

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?
If its a war of words then I reckon I could take on quite a few people, if it’s actually put-em-up then I’m in trouble… I’m a lover not a fighter.

If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be?
It would have to be a dog. They have a nice life. They get to sleep a lot, get fed, and for the majority of the day their tail is wagging.

As the reigning dame of Scottish panto, you've got a busy December ahead. How do you prepare yourself?
I spend all year basically say I’m going to get gym fit. Lose the weight. Take up a new skill (this year I was going to be able to roller-skate). Then I get to now and realise I’ve done none of that and spend a few weeks panicking I’m never going to manage it. I live quietly for the month of the run. I don’t really go out, barely drink, sleep a lot, take my vitamins, book in a wee weekly physio or massage. It’s the only way to do it if you want to not only survive the Panto run, but enjoy it.

What are you hoping Santa will bring you?
Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is a stress free year for me and all my loved ones. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

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Aladdin, by Johnny McKnight, Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling, 1-31 Dec
Oran Mor presents Snow White and the Seven Maws by Johnny McKnight, produced by A Play, A Pie and A Pint, 28 Nov-6 Jan
Aganeza Scrooge, by Johnny McKnight, Tron Theatre, 29 Nov-7 Jan