Janey Godley

[Brian Freeze]

Always feels like serious business starting a thread in Comedy Chat but I was blown away by Janey once again on R Herrings podcast. The book review one this time.

Presumably a few people here have seen her live? Would be interested to hear how it was.

Her honesty about many things had me gasping while I listened.

I must look out for her books as well, also presumably they've been read by a few of you too?

I think she's quite active on  twitter? but don't know nothing about any of that as I've only heard her the three or four times she's done RHLSTP and enjoyed all of them.

Thanks.

[Radicalised Sitcom Writer]

Is 'active' a euphemism for being a massive racist?

[Brian Freeze]

I think she makes the racists furious but it's not my area of expertise.

She did have her old posting history trawled through* and she got a lot of grief for some of the stuff she'd written years ago. I think it was inappropriate language and the like but she apologised and took ownership of her mistakes. I really think she's on our side against the twats and pricks of the world.

*possibly by twats who she'd upset.

Don't want this to be about Twitter though, just wondered what she's like live really?

[Twilkes]

Saw her in Glasgow a few decades ago and she got by far the biggest reaction from a Saturday night Stand audience that I've seen, got the comedy nerds and the local first-timers absolutely howling alike. There's something to be said for a home audience but not seen the like again since. Never really seen much else of what she's done, but she and her daughter also did some mental lockdown videos. And the Sturgeon voiceovers. And the Trump is a cunt sign.

[GMTV]

Written about her lots of times, really should have my summary text ready each time something crops up about her. Fake edit found it saved as a note yasss.

Started in the early/ mid 90s with godawful shagging, tits/ fannies shock comedy. Grinding out a low level career on the comedy circuit.

Helped her privately educated daughter to become "Britain's youngest comedian", with an act that seemed suspiciously like a lightly cleaned up version of her own routines. Horrific.

Moved her act around a bit and nothing stuck, cleaner act centred around her hilarious life as a mother with my kid, husband etc.

Faded into obscurity to the point by 2014 she was nearby the scene of the Glasgow bin lorry crash, providing quotes on the subject initially being referred to as an "eyewitness", before managing to secure an upgrade to "comedian janey godley".

Started to gain a bit of attention on twitter with her anti trump tweets and protest at his golf course. Things on the up she had finally gained her best run as a Scottish independence figurehead, with her impressions of Nicola Sturgeon fairly well regarded. At least some vaguely positive work for the CV.

A couple of year ago had reached the heady heights of Elaine C Smith heir apparent with her being booked for a panto.

Then only gone and fucked it up with her "offensive, hurtful language" tweets. It took her the best part of 30 years to get to that point so she must've been absolutely gutted about getting found out so close to her cementing her place as a Scottish National Treasure. 

At the time in Scotland independence trumped pretty much anything else so there was apparently a route back for her. Nicola Sturgeon praised her "dignified" apology.

Not long after this she was diagnosed with cancer and posted a lot about her tough battle with it.

Must admit not heard much from her recently, is she back doing gigs?

Her daughter Ashley grinding out a living off of BBC money, late night radio show, starred in a comedy recently.

I guess to offer up some counter argument of praise, she's certainly managed to keep herself on some level relevant in the public eye for decades. I guess the trump protest stuff was kinda interesting and successful. And they both did a Harry Potter parody thing which seems to have been a hit on YouTube?

[McDead]

I'm put off by the half rhyme of her name, a mistake she has perpetuated with her daughter. I'm not being glib, it really annoys me, and I can't get past it.

[steve98]

Can't stand her. As funny as toothache.

[beanheadmcginty]

Is this that chimp lady?

[Thosworth]

I knew about the racist tweets, and just looked them up and they are just pointlessly spiteful and humourless. I mean 50 Cent can be a twat, but Kelly Rowland? Really? And a history of many other examples of slurs; the disabled, Gypsies, Pakistanis. Also I just learned she was a tory activist in her late 20s, who met Thatcher in the late 80s. She's now retconned this as working as an 'insider' who was trying to save the pub she owned.

I mean this regular reinvention could possibly be wanting to always be on the winning team; pivoting from Thatcherism, to becoming a Sadowitz/Boyle provocateur, to 'Trump is a cunt' activism, to becoming a cozy Radio 4 treasure. I don't know or particularly care - she's not now or has ever been funny to me personally but YMMV.

[dissolute ocelot]

She has been strongly defending trans people on Twitter in recent years, and has got a lot of stick for that. So that's one good thing.

I've not seen much of her comedy except her videos where she does funny voices over politicians, which are stable-floor-level satire for me, although I know someone who finds them hilarious.

Anyway, she'll soon be dead.

[TheAssassin]

Can't stand her. As funny as toothache.

At least there's a cure for toothache.

[Plovdiv]

She destroyed Andrew Tate in a vid about the time the cunt got lifted

[Radicalised Sitcom Writer]

Just realised I totally forgot, I saw her on a bill a lifetime ago at a some special event that almost nobody turned up to. She complained her whole set about how awful the atmosphere was, and how we were a shit audience, and what a waste of time the whole thing was.

In her defence, another comedian crumbled on the same bill too, resorting to complaining about the venue and crowd as the turnout was very poor.

The final guy by contrast just cracked on with his routine, not a single complaint from him, and everyone was wetting themselves laughing throughout the entire thing. Just showed it's not the venue or crowd at fault, but the comedian not having the confidence or respect to get on with things in the face of adversity.

[lauraxsynthesis]

I've seen her a couple of times and would recommend her live for sure. It's also worth following her on social media because she often posts little animal videos with Glaswegian voiceovers. Cheers me up when they appear in my feed. You can also see them on her YT:

Her daughter slightly spoiled her comedy for me though. She pointed out that Janey

Spoiler alert

doesn't actually have any material, she just talks about her life. Fair play though I've found it entertaining.

[close]

I don't get the unwillingness to believe that people can sincerely own up to the shit things they've done in the past and apologise and atone for them. When the racist tweets came out, she started the gigs on her next tour doing just that, and not with a single line and move on - it was extensive and thoughtful.

[Drebin]

I knew about the racist tweets, and just looked them up and they are just pointlessly spiteful and humourless. I mean 50 Cent can be a twat, but Kelly Rowland? Really? And a history of many other examples of slurs; the disabled, Gypsies, Pakistanis. Also I just learned she was a tory activist in her late 20s, who met Thatcher in the late 80s. She's now retconned this as working as an 'insider' who was trying to save the pub she owned.

I mean this regular reinvention could possibly be wanting to always be on the winning team; pivoting from Thatcherism, to becoming a Sadowitz/Boyle provocateur, to 'Trump is a cunt' activism, to becoming a cozy Radio 4 treasure. I don't know or particularly care - she's not now or has ever been funny to me personally but YMMV.

Plenty of people's views change over 30+ years. The journey from hard left to hard right or hard right to hard left is not an uncommon one.

I don't find her particularly funny though.

[Thosworth]

Plenty of people's views change over 30+ years. The journey from hard left to hard right or hard right to hard left is not an uncommon one.

Ricky Tomlinson was a member of the National Front, read The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists in prison, and immediately became a socialist.

[Chapwithwings]

The documentary about her that came out earlier this year sums it up quite neatly really.  A very shallow, unlikeable bit of retrospective halo-polishing disguised as a 'final tour' video (a follow-up tour to which, promoting the doc, has already run).

It's mainly about putting over her ubiquitous daughter as heir apparent and what a beloved, GBOL woman of the people she is by having Sturgeon show up to praise her and Jimmy Carr appear to tell her it was dreadful she got cancelled.

The absence of anyone else from her family or friends (bar one never-named pal who accompanies her to her cancer treatments), or from the Glasgow comedy scene, speaks volumes given it's basically a 'tributes before she's properly dead' thing.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Just realised I totally forgot, I saw her on a bill a lifetime ago at a some special event that almost nobody turned up to. She complained her whole set about how awful the atmosphere was, and how we were a shit audience, and what a waste of time the whole thing was.

In her defence, another comedian crumbled on the same bill too, resorting to complaining about the venue and crowd as the turnout was very poor.

The final guy by contrast just cracked on with his routine, not a single complaint from him, and everyone was wetting themselves laughing throughout the entire thing. Just showed it's not the venue or crowd at fault, but the comedian not having the confidence or respect to get on with things in the face of adversity.

I'd be pretty pissed off if I went to a special event and two out of the three comedians acted like that. It's not the audience's fault that few people turned up or the comedian didn't like the venue.

[Icehaven]

Just realised I totally forgot, I saw her on a bill a lifetime ago at a some special event that almost nobody turned up to. She complained her whole set about how awful the atmosphere was, and how we were a shit audience, and what a waste of time the whole thing was.

In her defence, another comedian crumbled on the same bill too, resorting to complaining about the venue and crowd as the turnout was very poor.

The final guy by contrast just cracked on with his routine, not a single complaint from him, and everyone was wetting themselves laughing throughout the entire thing. Just showed it's not the venue or crowd at fault, but the comedian not having the confidence or respect to get on with things in the face of adversity.

"You have to play to the audience that's not there."

[Brian Freeze]

Glad I asked, thankyou for the replies.

[Kankurette]

Ricky Tomlinson was a member of the National Front, read The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists in prison, and immediately became a socialist.

That's quite the turnaround.

[McDead]

Yeah I didn't know that, fair fucks to the guy.

Don't despair/be annoyed Brian Freeze, it's made for an interesting thread.

[Brian Freeze]

Don't despair/be annoyed Brian Freeze, it's made for an interesting thread.

It's grand, honest.

Like I said, I only knew her from her chats with Herring and really appreciate everyones comments, thoughts and experiences.

 

[lauraxsynthesis]

I don't like seeing female comedians dragged on here so I'm going to have another word.

Maybe there really is a reason to hate Godley, but what I've seen in this thread strikes me as really OTT. There's an insinuation that the Glasgow comedy scene doesn't like her, but I'm trying to imagine which comedians would appear in a hagiography doc about a living comedian and what they'd say, and I'm struggling. Maybe it's odd that some of the women didn't appear, but then maybe none of them were influenced by her. Billy Connolly likes her, and she clearly gets on with other comedians on Twitter.

She's been slagged off for basically hustling in her career, but apart from someone like Jack Whitehall what comedians don't have to hustle?

In this video she says she became a tory to get the party to save the building where her pub was and where she lived. Maybe she's lying, maybe it's a poor excuse, but it's not the same as being a committed Thatcherite.

She's always getting into fights with Rangers fans, misogynists, transphobes and the Right on social media and her politics are pretty sound as comedians go. Some people hate her just for supporting the SNP, but I'm not sure that's a great reason to write someone off.

That leaves sending her daughter to private school, which fair enough is dodgy.

[Radicalised Sitcom Writer]

[trolling removed]

[Kankurette]

Not all Rangers fans, but there's a certain type of far right Rangers fan who Godley gets into arguments with.

[madhair60]

well on the one hand, she has said racist things, which i dislike, but on the other hand, she is a woman, which is of course fine. this matter remains open to the floor.

[CaledonianGonzo]

That's her saying sayonara as she enters end of life care.

https://x.com/JaneyGodley/status/1838972352702382461?t=JFBszCpgW2604JFaE9buYQ&s=19

[dissolute ocelot]

People claim they hate her because she's said racist things, but there's way less hostility in the Michael Richards thread.

[Jumblegraws]

And why would you put a set of football fans in with misogynists and transphobes, unless you're engaging in offensive stereotyping of what is essentially an extremely diverse group? I'd take umbrage with you if you called all Irish thick, or all Liverpool fans thieves, but you seem to be implying something about a group of football fans on the basis of your own prejudices.

What is this #NotAllMen shite? Even Rangers fans use "Rangers fans" as shorthand for the club's cunty sectarian supporter cohort.