Janey Godley

Janey was brought up in Shettleston, in the tough East End of Glasgow, Scotland. Aged 5-13, she was raped and sexually abused by her uncle. Aged 19, she married into a Glasgow gangster family; her husband has Asperger's Syndrome - a mild form of autism. Her mother was murdered by a psychopathic boyfriend when Janey was 21. Her mother's boyfriend/killer, though known, was never prosecuted. For 14 years, Janey and her husband ran a pub (bar) in the Calton area of Glasgow's East End, at the time an extraordinarily violent and drug-ravaged red-light district where even crucifixion was not unknown. In the 1980s, 22 of her friends died from heroin in a 17 month period. In 1994, she successfully prosecuted her uncle for his abuse in the 1960 and 1970s; he was imprisoned. During her years running the pub, she staged the first performances by comedian and magician Jerry Sadowitz. She later became a full-time stand-up herself and ran comedy clubs in Glasgow. In 2002, 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 2003, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, she daily performed her one-woman play "The Point of Yes", about heroin in 1980s Glasgow; her daily comedy show "Caught in the Act of Being Myself" was hotly debated by the Perrier Comedy Award panel. It was eventually barred for consideration (according to two members of the panel) when it was realised she was ad-libbing the entire 60-minute show and therefore she was not performing the same show every night. In 2004, she started writing her daily online blog, which continues today. A BBC Radio 4 documentary series on relationships to which she contributed "Stuck in The Middle" won a gold at that year's UK Sony Radio Academy Awards. In August "Good Godley!", her breakthrough comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, won 40 stars in reviews - said in press articles to be more than any other comedy show. In October, she appeared for a fortnight on the daily Channel 4/E4 reality show "Kings of Comedy". In 2005, her autobiography "Handstands in the Dark" was published in the UK and Ireland. It became the number 3 bestseller in Scotland and was voted a 'Best Read of 2005' by listeners of BBC Radio 4's "Open Book" series. She also began regular guest spots on BBC Radio 4 chat show "Loose Ends" both as interviewee and interviewer. In 2006, her autobiography was published in paperback and became a UK Top Ten bestseller. She started regular guest spots on long-running BBC Radio 4 series "Just a Minute" and was nominated as 'Scotswoman of the Year' in the 44th running of the annual contest; she was runner-up, being narrowly beaten by a Polish doctor. In December, she was nominated by the New Zealand Comedy Guild as Best International Guest of 2006. In March 2007, she began writing a weekly column in "The Scotsman" newspaper every Monday. In 2008, she was named Best Performer in the Fringe Report's annual awards for live performances on the London Fringe. In April, readers of London's "Time Out" magazine voted her 3rd Best Comedian in the British Isles. At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, she won two Funny Women Fringe Awards - for Best Show ("Domestic Godley") and Best Stand-Up as "funniest woman on the Fringe" and "one of the most prolific and extraordinary stand-up comedians working in the UK". In November, the New Zealand Comedy Guild nominated her as Best International Guest of 2008.