Janey Godley dies aged 63

Saturday 2nd November 2024, 9:55am

• Janey Godley - who has been performing stand-up comedy since 1994 - has died aged 63
• She had been receiving palliative care at a hospice after being diagnosed with cancer
• Her agent said she died peacefully surrounded by her loved ones

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Janey Godley has died. She had been receiving palliative care at a hospice after being diagnosed with cancer.

The Glasgow-based comic has been performing stand-up since 1994, only stopping in September upon medical advice. Beginning in small clubs early in her career, she went on to front a number of sold-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival, deliver multiple long-running tours around the country, and play venues such as Glasgow's 3,000-seater SEC Armadillo.

On Thursday she was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow while in her hospice bed. Her daughter, comedian and actor Ashley Storrie, shared a photo on social media of Godley holding the certificate. She said the honour had brought her mum "so much joy in the final beats of her life". She added: "Janey is so honoured and I am so immensely proud of her. I am always proud of her. Congratulations Doctor Godley."

Her manager Chris David announced the news this morning that the stand-up star had died, saying: "It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our client Doctor Janey Godley on 2nd November. Janey died peacefully in the wonderful Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow surrounded by her loved ones.

"She will be hugely missed by her family, friends and her many fans. She will be remembered for her legendary voiceovers of Nicola Sturgeon during the pandemic, her hilarious and outspoken comedy, but most of all for just being 'Janey'."

She was 63 years-old.

Ashley Storrie posted a video on Instagram this morning, saying: "Earlier this morning Janey passed away in her sleep. Her family were with her. The love and support from all her friends and fans during this cancer journey brought her enormous joy. It has also been a huge comfort to us, her family and close friends, thank you. We will take time now to comfort one another and wish to thank everyone for respecting our privacy at this time. Remember her in your laughter, she would have liked that."

In 2023, Godley won the inaugural Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award. Billy Connolly said during the presentation: "She's a great girl, a great comedian and an extraordinary life story to dwell on."

In May this year, Godley published her second autobiography, Janey: The Woman That Won't Shut Up, in which she spoke about topics such as her first battle with cancer, and when she brought a case - and won - against the uncle who'd abused her as a child.

The book was a follow-up to Handstands In The Dark, the 2005 autobiography about the early years of her life. The blurb for that book explains her backstory: "Brought up amid near-Dickensian squalor in the tough East End of Glasgow and sexually abused by her uncle, she married into a Glasgow criminal family as a teenager, then found herself having to cope with the murder of her mother, violence, religious sectarianism, abject poverty and a frightening family of in-laws.

"First-hand, Janey saw the gangland violence and met extraordinary characters within an enclosed and seldom-revealed Glasgow underworld. From the grim and far-from-Swinging 60s, to the discos of the 70s, to the tidal wave of heroin addiction that swept through and engulfed Glasgow's East End during the 1980s, Handstands In The Dark is an evocative, intimate and moving portrayal of a woman forced to fight every day for her family's future."

Janey, a film released in March, follows the comedian on her 2023 Not Dead Yet tour around Scotland whilst being treated for terminal ovarian cancer. It sees her reflect upon topics including being "cancelled" for historic social media messages, and protesting Donald Trump's visit to Scotland in 2016.

In September, Godley had to cancel her planned stand-up tour on doctor's orders.

She said: "It is really difficult to admit, and especially for me, that I can't do this. My doctors have advised me not to work any more, and that's been possibly the hardest news in this whole cancer journey. I want everybody to know how hard it is for me to be able to accept I can't work because working, to me, is life. Being a comedian is the only thing that makes me feel alive. But this chemo is absolutely kicking me to bits."

Tributes have poured in on social media to the comic's talents. Nicola Sturgeon wrote on X: "A bond was forged between us in the darkest days of Covid when her famous voiceovers of my daily briefings went viral. In the toughest of times, she made people laugh - and that was precious. She did more that that though. In managing to project the serious public health messages of my briefings to a much wider audience than I would have managed alone, she helped save lives", adding "I was so proud to call Janey a friend and will miss her hugely. My heart goes out to her family and many friends - they are in my thoughts today."

With the US election approaching, pictures of her holding a sign at Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in the summer of 2016 are now trending on social media:

See X post

Both series of Godley's BBC Radio 4 comedy The C Bomb are currently available to hear on BBC Sounds.