JANEY GODLEY

'Janey Godley' (b. 1961) is a Scottish stand-up comedian, writer and raconteur.

Contents
Early life
Early career
2002-2004 - First recognition
2005 - Autobiography published
2006 - Nominee etc
2007
Social involvement
Books
Stage shows
Newspaper interviews
References
External links

Early life


She was brought up in Shettleston, Glasgow, Scotland. Aged 19, she married into a Glasgow gangster family. Her 2005 autobiography ''Handstands in the Dark'' describes working-class Glasgow in the years 1961-1994.

Early career


For 14 years, she ran a public house the Weavers Inn (formerly the "Nationalist Bar") in the tough Calton area of Glasgow where she staged the first performances by comedian and magician Jerry Sadowitz.
She later became a full-time stand-up herself, ran comedy clubs including "Jesters" in Glasgow, and regularly compered at clubs in Glasgow, Manchester, and Liverpool as well as regularly playing dates in the Netherlands, and successfully playing in New York City.
She was, for a time, a BBC Radio Five Live entertainment correspondent, reporting for former British MP, Edwina Currie's ''Currie Club'' show from London, New York, and New Zealand.

2002-2004 - First recognition


She first gained wider attention on her 2002 tour of New Zealand, where she won Best Show Concept at Television New Zealand’s TV2 International LAUGH! Festival. At the same year’s New Zealand Comedy Guild Awards, she was nominated as Best International Guest and as Best Visiting Comedian.
In August 2003, Godley's non-humorous one-woman play ''The Point of Yes'' about Glasgow's heroin problem in the 1980s was premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
In April 2004, she started writing her daily on-line blog on the Chortle comedy website; it continues today on her own website. In May 2004, ''Stuck in The Middle'' a BBC Radio 4 documentary series on relationships to which she contributed won a gold at the Sony Radio Academy Awards.[1] In June, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival.
Throughout August, she performed her new 60-minute stand-up comedy show ''Good Godley!'' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, winning 40 stars in reviews. [2]
In October, she appeared for a fortnight on the daily Channel 4/E4 (channel) reality show ''Kings of Comedy''. In December, she performed ''Good Godley!'' at the Soho Theatre in the West End of London and contributed to Channel 4's four-hour ''The 100 Greatest Christmas Moments''.

2005 - Autobiography published


In June 2005, her non-humorous autobiography ''Handstands in the Dark'' [3] was published in the UK and Ireland by Ebury Press, a division of Random House. It told the story of her sexual abuse as a child between the ages of 5 and 13, the murder of her mother, Glasgow's heroin 'plague' of the 1980s and her troubled marriage amid a world of gangsters.
That same month, a revised version of ''The Point of Yes'' was staged at the Soho Theatre. In August, she contributed to ''We're All Grown Ups Here'', another radio documentary by ''Stuck in The Middle's'' Sony Award-winning producer Sara Conkey. Her new stand-up show ''Janey Godley is Innocent'' was staged throughout August's Edinburgh Fringe.
Other appearances included regular spots on BBC Radio 4 chat show ''Loose Ends'' both as interviewee and interviewer and a major profile/interview on award-winning Swedish TV Arts show ''Kobra'' [4] as well as contributions to the BBC TV documentary ''Scunnered'' [5] about the Scots dialect.
In December, she performed ''Janey Godley Is Innocent'' to 100 long-term prisoners (including lifers) inside Glenochil high security prison, Stirlingshire[6]... and an extended two-hour version of the show at London's Cochrane Theatre. Her book ''Handstands in the Dark'' was voted a 'Best Read of 2005' by listeners of BBC Radio 4's ''Open Book'' series[7].

2006 - Nominee etc


In February, she performed at the Hackney Empire, London, in the five-hour ''Malcolm Hardee Memorial Show''.[8]
In March, she started a video blog; and she performed ''Janey Godley - Unscripted!'' at the Glasgow Comedy Festival. She continued to be a regular on ''Loose Ends'' and on chat shows on various BBC channels.
In May, she performed ''Good Godley!'' at the ODDFELLOWS New Zealand International Comedy Festival; she won the Spirit of The Festival Award [9] and "Good Godley!" was nominated for Best International Show.
In August, her autobiography was released in a paperback edition becoming a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller [10]and she performed in 83 shows in 24 days [11]at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival including, each day, her three separate hour-long shows: her play ''The Point of Yes'', her new stand-up show ''Janey Godley's Blog - Live! ''(premiered at London's Soho Theatre in June) and ''Square Street'', a comedy sketch show co-written and co-performed with her daughter Ashley Storrie. [12]
In October, she was nominated as Scotswoman of The Year [13] in the 44th annual contest, reached the final six shortlist [14] and was runner-up. In November, she sang for charity on BBC1 Scotland's annual "Children in Need" appeal night [15]and blogged for Amnesty International[16]. In December, she was nominated by the New Zealand Comedy Guild as Best International Guest of 2006[17].

2007


In March, she performed a new show ''Janey Godley - Live!'' at the Glasgow Comedy Festival[18] and began writing a weekly column for the Monday edition of ''The Scotsman'' newspaper.[19] In May she performed her play ''The Point of Yes'' and her stand-up show ''Good Godley!'' in The Green Room at 45 Bleecker Street, Manhattan and, in June, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival (her third consecutive appearance - there was no Festival in 2006). In August, she appeared in two daily shows throughout the Edinburgh Fringe Festival: ''Janey Godley - Tell It Like It Is!'' at the Pleasance Dome and ''Janey Godley's Chat Show'' at The Green Room (a sister venue to the New York theater); both shows received 5-star reviews. [20]

Social involvement


Godley ran comedy workshops at the 2001 London Comedy Festival. After the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe, as well as continuing her stand-up work, she was commissioned by the Scottish Health Board and several local Scottish councils' social service departments to perform her play ''The Point of Yes'' to housing associations in 'problem areas', to drug forums around southern Scotland and to the inmates of Shotts prison in North Lanarkshire.
She was also commissioned by a Scottish Drug Forum to run comedy workshops for 15 -18 year olds and drama workshops for recovering heroin addicts, using their own experiences as inspiration. In 2004, 2006 and 2007, she ran 'Confidence in Kids' comedy workshops in Glasgow and, for Equity, a comedy industry workshop at the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe.

Books



★ Godley, Janey (hardback, 2005). ''Handstands in the Dark''. Ebury Press/Random House. ISBN-10: 0091900298 / ISBN-13: 978-0091900298

★ Godley, Janey (paperback, 2006). ''Handstands in the Dark''. Ebury Press/Random House. ISBN-10: 0091908779 / ISBN-13: 978-0091908775

Stage shows



★ "Full Measure of Scotch" (2002)

★ "Caught in the Act of Being Myself" (2003)

★ "The Point of Yes" (2003)

★ "Good Godley!" (2004)

★ "Janey Godley Is Innocent" (2005)

★ "Janey Godley - Unscripted!" (2006)

★ "Janey Godley's Blog - Live!" (2006)

★ "Janey Godley & Ashley Storrie's Square Street" (2006)

★ "Janey Godley - Live!" (2007)

★ "Janey Godley - Tell It Like It Is!" (2007)

★ "Janey Godley's Chat Show!" (2007)

Newspaper interviews



Daily Telegraph, 10th August 2006

The Scotsman, 15th July 2006

Sunday Times, 2nd July 2006

Sunday Times, 19th February 2006

The Scotsman, 15th June 2005

Observer, 12th June 2005

Sunday Herald, Glasgow, 25th July 2004

Evening Times, Glasgow, 1st March 2004

References


1. Sony Radio Academy Awards 2004 winners
2. Reviews cited from August 2004 with date of review following title are 5 stars (Fest magazine, 16th) + 4 stars (Edinburgh Evening News, 12th; Glasgow Herald, 24th; The Scotsman, 12th; Three Weeks, 15th; chortle.co.uk, 8th; one4review.com, 15th) + 3 stars (Guardian, 28th; Metro, 18th; Financial Times) + 2 stars (The List)
3. Random House listing
4. Swedish TV "Kobra" programme, 26 October 2005
5. BBC TV "Scunnered" programme, 22 August 2006
6. Guardian, 17 December, 2005
7. BBC Radio 4 "Open Book" list
8. Chortle comedy industry website review, 6 February 2006
9. NZ Comedy Festival Award List
10. Sunday Times Bestseller List, 17 September 2006
11. Glasgow Evening Times Diary 2nd page, 15 September, 2006
12. Daily Telegraph, 10 September, 2006
13. Glasgow Evening Times, 10 October 2006
14. Glasgow Evening Times, 13 October 2006
15. Glasgow Herald, 7 December 2006
16. Amnesty website, 25 November 2006
17. Glasgow Evening Times, 8 December 2006
18. Scotsman review, 10 March 2007
19. The Scotsman
20. Reviews cited: Glasgow Herald, 8th August 2007 + one4review.com, 9th August 2007.

External links



Janey Godley's official website, including newspaper cuttings, TV and radio interviews

Janey Godley's written blogs

Janey Godley's video blogs

Janey's Scotsman columns

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