Comedy / Janey Godley
‘Still alive by popular demand’: the inimitable Janey Godley hits Bristol
Multi-award winning Glaswegian comedian Janey Godley (born Janey Currie), also a best-selling author, artist and playwright, is perhaps most accurately summed up as a force of nature.
She is a staunch self-described “anti-tory” known for her political activism, her satirical voice-overs, and her opposition to Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort, which went viral in 2016.
Her extraordinary childhood and young adulthood was tumultous, beset by abuse, trauma, parental alcoholism and drug use, gangsters, and her mother’s suspected murder when she was just 21.
is needed now More than ever
Janey Godley – photo: Anna Moffat
Entering the world of standup comedy in her early 30s, she decided to renounce her married name of Storrie as well as her family name of Currie, choosing instead to use her middle name and legally become Janey Godley.
Although not always a stranger to controversy, in the 30 years since, she has performed all over the world. She has won awards not only for her speaking and her comedy but for her character, too – most often at the New Zealand Comedy Festival where she was invited to return on multiple occasions in the 2000s.
An ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2021 forced Godley to cancel a string of tour dates, and she went on to undergo a hysterectomy and treatment that proved, for a time, successful.
Since that time, however, her cancer has returned. While she is “still alive, by popular demand,” Godley’s response has been to take to the road once again, this time with a brand-new show entitled The Not Dead Yet Tour.
Janey Godley protests Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in 2016 – photo: courtesy of Janey Godley
“It’s time to laugh, live and celebrate after dealing with this dreadful disease,” she says.
“So many stories of heart-warming love and outpouring of support, to the occasional daily messages hoping I might die soon because… well, I am a woman who answered back.”
Janey Godley: The Not Dead Yet Tour is at the Redgrave Theatre on February 10 at 8pm. Tickets are available at www.redgravetheatre.com.
Main photo: courtesy of Janey Godley
Read more: Ania Magliano brings critically acclaimed tour show to the South West
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