Legendary Scottish Comedian Janey Godley has lost her fight against ovarian cancer aged 63. She had been receiving palliative care but her illness forced her to cancel her Why Is She Still Here? tour this September.
Pivoted into public consciousness for her viral dubbed videos of Nicola Sturgeon’s Covid briefings during the pandemic, and for waving a placard with an offensive slogan at Donald Trump during a visit to Scotland in 2016, Janey became a recognisable media presence. She later became friends with the former first minister who described her as ‘a true force of nature, and one of the funniest people I have ever known’.
Janey was a regular co-presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends, as well as fronting BBC Radio 4 series The C Bomb. In 2023 she was honoured at the inaugural Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival and received an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow from her hospice bed just this week.
Her daughter Ashley Storrie thanked Janey’s many social media fans and the wider comedy community for their kindness and support in a video posted earlier today, saying: ‘I wanted to tell you face to face because it felt very much what she would have wanted.
‘She went peacefully, and I want to say a big thank you to all the staff at the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice.
‘I believe in my heart of hearts that she felt every bit of love you sent to her. I think it kept her going, genuinely we got her longer because of all the support and the love in the world.’
Ashley ends the video with a poignant ‘Bye Ma’, adding: ‘Frank, get the door’ as a call back to a character in Godley’s famed voice overs of Nicola Sturgeon.
Janey revealed she had ovarian cancer in November 2021. She was given the all-clear in 2022 but a later scan revealed that the disease had returned.
Born in the east end of Glasgow in 1961, Janey was a pub landlady before establishing herself on the comedy circuit. An accomplished author and artist, as well as an extraordinarily talented comedian and storyteller, she was kind and generous to those who knew her from the comedy circuit.
Ashley has followed in her mother’s comedic footsteps and stars in the BBC Three comedy Dinosaur. She was recently nominated for a Bafta Scotland award.
Commenting on Janey’s death, Lynne Parker, founder of Funny Women said, ‘Everybody who has come across Janey will have a story to tell about her kindness to all of us and her generosity of spirit. She loved performing live comedy and having to cancel her tour this autumn must have been a hard call.
‘Janey was such a pivotal influence on the comedy circuit. She leaves a big gap in the hearts of all of us who’ve encountered her sharp wit and sense of mischief. A very sad day.’
Julia McKenzie, Radio 4 comedy commissioning editor, said Janey was a ‘brilliant storyteller’ who ‘embodied the stoic nature of Glasgow’.
‘Her stories were raw and truthful,’ says Julia, ‘both devastating and uplifting, very often in the same sentence; and all shot through with her sharp wit and ability to bring characters to life.’
RIP Janey Godley – we will miss you.
