There are a few things that incite strong feelings in Janey Godley – Scots complaining about the cold, Inverness architecture and making people laugh.
“My favourite memory of Inverness is walking about at night when all the lights are on the wee bridges and going for a coffee in the late-night places,” said comedian Janey.
“I love Inverness. I love the buildings. I’m a big architecture freak and I do watercolours and paintings.
“I’ve done a couple of paintings of the River Ness with the buildings at the side of it.
“It’s just got the feelings of the Highlands about it but it’s also a busy city centre metropolis and then I love a city with a river.”
When asked if she ever gets cold when sketching on-site in the city, the Glaswegian whose Nicola Sturgeon voiceovers became iconic during the Covid lockdowns, was quick to express outrage.
Recalling a recent trip to The Fife Arms in Braemar – where the Aberdeenshire sheep did not appreciate her stand-up – Janey added: “I love the cold. I’m Scottish.
“I don’t understand people who say it’s very cold, put on a jacket then.”
Touring keeps Janey energised
Having visited the Highland capital six times, Janey said she is excited to return to Eden Court with Janey: On Screen + On Stage and of course, get back on tour.
Especially as she thought her last one Not Dead Yet in 2023 was her last hurrah after facing a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Since being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021, Janey has carried on gigging, touring and creating – not just painting – all while struggling with a myriad of symptoms.
Acting as her “weird magic juice” and tonic from boredom, she said being on stage gives her a boost of energy.
“I know the symptoms can change from the day-to-day with the cancer,” she added.
“The hernia can hurt, my bowels can go dodgy but I always seem to manage to get on stage and I just have to accept that I’m living with a terminal disease.
“I just want to go on stage and make people laugh and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
‘I had a pre-funeral party, it was called a film premiere’
But this tour is slightly different.
While there will be stand-up from Janey, audiences will first watch a new documentary about Janey’s life story.
The feature delves into her childhood and Janey’s relationship with her daughter, a fellow comedian, Ashley Storrie, as they navigate living with cancer on tour.
Audiences will also be treated to a journey through the film’s outtakes and live Q&A.
“I’m doing everything but dancing,” Janey joked.
“It’s a very unique event. You never get to see a film with stand-up from the person in the film.
“To hear the audience cheer at the end, it’s so uplifting.”
The feature film sold out at the Glasgow Film Festival in March and sharing the experience with family and friends was a real highlight for Janey.
“You see the thing is,” she commented. “They’re all going to be there at my funeral so this was like getting the party before the funeral.
“I had a pre-funeral party, it was called a film premiere.”
Living with cancer and online haters
Despite her humour and openness when talking about her battle with cancer, Janey admitted that to cope with living with it, most of the time she ignores it.
“You don’t think about it because there’s no solution,” she said. “It’s like knowing that there’s a comet coming to Earth to kill us all so what do you, think of that every day?
“You don’t because you can’t because there isn’t an answer.
“You just go ‘Ah well that day will come, it’s not today’ and as my husband says ‘not today’.”
One thing she has limited however is using social media.
After some historic racist tweets of Janey’s were uncovered, the comedian has severely cut back her time on X (formerly Twitter) after being harassed by hateful accounts.
Hit with mock gravestones and “being told to die quicker” mainly from “far-right men”, she said hopping onto X for 24 hours once a month works well: “It’s brilliant in that way. I can pop on and then deactivate the account again.”
Celebrating the wins
Janey said she has a solid team of friends, family, a psychologist and the Maggie’s Centre in Glasgow around her for the bad days.
Especially with her daughter Ashley, who pops in to steal a pen at one point while we chat.
Janey explained Ashley is also being interviewed at the same time for the six-part series Dinosaur as the co-writer and lead actor.
Very much the proud mum, Janey said: “We celebrate each other’s wins all the time. I’m her biggest cheerleader and she’s mine.”
The pair recently jetted to London to celebrate being nominated at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2024 with the Radio 4 series Janey Godley: The C Bomb with a “Whoop-dee-doo party”.
This usually consists of a girlie sleepover, Ashley complaining about Janey’s snoring and then eating a burger.
With her new book Janey: The Woman That Won’t Shut Up out in May, Janey is keen on staying busy.
“I’ve always been a grafter,” she admitted. “If you leave me to be bored then trouble happens.”
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