[3] Karen Burshtein of Condé Nast Traveler called Govani's column "the first thing potentates and plebs turn to—and where they hope to see their own names in boldface.

Carla Lucchetta of The Globe and Mail described Bold Face Names as "frothy and fun" but also wished that Govani would put "his obviously creative brain to more imaginative literary use.

"[5] Morley Walker of the Winnipeg Free Press wrote that Bold Face Names "offers incontrovertible proof of an author who can neither write nor think.

[8][9] In 2017 he hosted the closing night party of the rooftop bar inside Toronto's Park Hyatt Hotel.

"[13][14] Poet Mark Abley has described Govani's writing as "the language of hype, dead at the heart.