Janey learned most of her comedy skills and crowd control in a bar that she owned and ran in East Glasgow for 14 years.
She also used to run her own comedy club in the city and now regularly MCs at clubs in Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool. She not only headlines as a stand-up in major clubs throughout the UK, but regularly plays dates in Holland and entertains Scots & Irish crowds in Queens, New York.
She was, for a time, a Radio 5 Live entertainment correspondent, reporting for Edwina Currie's Currie Club show from London, New York and New Zealand.
On her 2002 tour of New Zealand, she won Best Show Concept and critical acclaim at TV2's International LAUGH! Festival. At the New Zealand Comedy Guild Awards, she was nominated as Best International Guest and as Best Visiting Comedian.
At the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe, her stand-up comedy show Caught in The Act of Being Myself and her harrowing one-woman play Point of Yes received critical acclaim.
In 2004, she performed at the Glasgow Comedy Festival and on BBC1 Scotland's series Floor Show.
In May, a Radio 4 documentary series on relationships to which she contributed Stuck in The Middle won a gold at the Sony Radio Awards.
In June, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival, where she also became the first woman ever to compere the often unruly late show in the Cabaret Marquee.
Throughout August, she performed her new 60-minute stand-up show Good Godley! at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, winning 40 stars in reviews - 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 December, she performed Good Godley! at the Soho Theatre in London's West End and contributed to Channel 4's four-hour The 100 Greatest Christmas Moments.
In 2005, she again performed at the Glasgow Comedy Festival. In June, the non-humorous autobiography of her life before she became a comedienne - Handstands in the Dark - was published in hardback in the UK and Ireland by Random House/Ebury Press.
That same month, a new version of her one-woman play, re-titled Smack - The Point of Yes played at the Soho Theatre and she again performed at Glastonbury.
In August, she contributed to We're All Grown Ups Here, another radio documentary by Stuck in The Middle's Sony Award-winning producer; other appearances included the Radio Scotland football show Off The Ball and the BBC TV documentary Scunnered.
Her new stand-up show Janey Godley is Innocent was staged throughout the Edinburgh Fringe to rave reviews.
Janey now has her own column in the Scottsman newspaper every Monday
REVIEWS OF JANEY'S STAND-UP COMEDY
(Metro Life)
Godley's appeal is in her unapologetic frankness...Every review of Janey describes her as 'unique', but it's really the only word that explains why you shouldn't miss this show.
(Observer)
Take equal pinches of Billy Connolly and Jerry Sadowitz and you are getting some way towards the storytelling genius of Godley. (London Evening Standard)
There are plenty of hysterical jokes but that's not the reason you should see her. Janey Godley is broadening the comic genre and it's exhilarating to watch.
(Fest)
This is real cutting edge comedy and Godley goes into areas others would need a social worker, three counsellors and a police dog to even think about. (Glasgow Evening Times)
Godley is foul-mouthed, sarcastic and so down-to-earth she's underground, but she has a spark of surrealism. (Independent on Sunday)
Side splitting hilarious hour... guilty of almost killing me with laughter, tears rolling down my face, jaw and sides aching.
(one4review.com)
A fantastic rapport with the audience... darkly comic anecdotes that induce gales of laughter... her totally unpretentious storytelling style allows an hour to pass by in a flash.
(Metro)
The East End gangster's moll is rude, mouthy and full of gags... She is fresh, dark and sharp... This is not for the faint-hearted but is spot on for those who want a good laugh. (Three Weeks)
Compelling stand-up…ballsy personality...Were it not for the whiff of Semtex and laundered banknotes, you'll call Janey Godley a breath of fresh air.
(Guardian)
Hilarious show...She delves depths of depravity like Jerry Sadowitz, but also exudes a real warmth...you can't help but like and admire Godley. (Edinburgh Evening News)
Married into a family of big-time Glasgow crooks at the age of 17, Godley is a hard-as-nails gangster's moll who honed her patter on the mean streets and in the pubs of the city's East End… Her patter is as quick and confident as you would expect from a woman who knows how to talk to men whose faces have been slashed from ear to ear… Godley has the ear of a natural storyteller and a fearless line in: 'I can't believe she just said that' punchlines which have the audience screaming with laughter. (The Scotsman)
Like most professional comics, Janey gets her raw material by throwing an empty bucket down the well of experience. But her personal well is far deeper than most - and considerably darker. (Glasgow Evening Times)
Janey Godley's not your average comedian ... the genuinely sinister backdrop gives her an angle that other comics can never hope to emulate
(chortle.co.uk)
Sends a chill through you even as you are laughing... mindbogglingly colourful stories... a mix of giggles and incredulous gasps (London Evening Standard)
Some of the sharpest-elbowed comedy in the world
(New York Times)
The female Billy Connolly
(Sun)
PRESS REACTION to her autobiography
Against all odds, she has turned her life story into an inspirational book Daily Mail
A remarkably engaging and fluently written memoir of a life that makes the McCourt family look like the Von Trapps Observer
It's doubtful you'll be able to choke back the tears.
Metro
A fantastic book. You will keep turning those pages. You do cry and you laugh and it's raw No punches are pulled… but it's absolutely not a 'poor me' book Janice Forsyth, BBC Radio Scotland
Her story is exhilarating, uplifting and often extremely funny… She's brave and honest enough to reveal her innermost emotions and it's this raw sincerity that gives her streetwise revelations such savage bite Guardian
Gothic biography...Amid such dark subjects it's easy to forget that Godley is very much a limelight sort of woman. Not just courageous but mouthy and irrepressibly funny The Scotsman
I found myself laughing... and crying
Sunday Post
A natural storyteller... For someone so refreshingly gobby, it's hard to imagine how she ever kept the secret that she did Daily Record
This is Janey's life story and it's gripping stuff! - FOUR STARS OK magazine
Genuinely compelling… she deserves the sales…
Glasgow Herald
She is making waves with her hard-hitting autobiography
Mail on Sunday
READERS' UNSOLICITED REACTIONS
Brilliant - couldnt put it down.
Colette, Liverpool
I thought this was the best book I have read in a very long while. I laughed and cried at the same time. You will be an inspiration to a lot of people.
Margaret, Glasgow
I just couldn't put it down, I was totally gripped by it.
Lorraine, Cheshire
So funny although there is a lot of sadness as well.
Trevor, Littlehampton
I'm 15 and I would just like to tell you how much your book has helped me with abuse! Your book brought light on my life and made me realise I can get through it and I will! Anonymous, Birkenhead
I found your book one of the most amazing, brave accounts of someone that has lived a life of abuse... I can't put into words how I felt reading your book ~ emotional, angry, sad, amazed and encouraged to keep going myself (I have been abused). Thank you for writing it. India, Bristol
I just couldn't put it down - I felt sad, pity, anger and then admiration.
Jackie, Cheshire
I found it very disturbing at times but it also made me smile as well. At times I wasn't sure if I wanted to carry on reading as you seemed to suffer so much, but then I thought hey this poor woman has already lived through this I am but reading it not having to live it, so I continued. Although your life was so tough and dark most of the time you managed to make the book easy to read, I really don't know how you managed it, WELL DONE. I myself have been abused as was my sister by an uncle, like yourselves we didn't find out about each other`s abuse until we were adults. My abuse was nowhere near as severe as yours and as for my sister she won't go into any detail. It really helped me to read your book. Carole, Warwickshire
Just finished Handstands in the Dark, and would just like to say....well quite frankly it was brilliant! I just couldn't put it down!! although I have now mastered the art of holding a conversation with my husband and not having to lift my head away from the book for a second - one word answers only but had him fooled until very last page. so,thank you so much for sharing your story.
Donna, West Midlands
Just finished your book... Am amazed at how much you've been through but you've still remained such a positive and hilarious person - we could all take lessons from you! Book is now winging its way to Australia for my Aunt to read. Thanks Janey for giving us an insight into your painful yet at times hilarious past.
Kirstie, Glasgow
I sat in my garden and read the whole book cover to cover. It was excellent and I cried my eyes out at the bit where your mother's death finally hits you.
Anne Marie, Dumbarton
It was the best book I have read in ages. How you have managed to come through all you have is amazing.
Aileen, Milngavie
It was funny, sad and inspiring all at once.
Lorraine, Aberdeen
A man in the pub told me that he read the most fantastic book. Well he was right I never put your book down. it was moving funny but most of all honest.
Lynne, South Lanarkshire
I'm currently on page 245 of your book and what can I say IM HOOKED!!!... I think you are a marvellous woman to still come out on top after all you have been through! I think you're an inspiration and I'm going to tell my sister all about you as she is going through a terrible time in her life and let her know there is always light at the end of the tunnel no matter what's happening to her and others around her! and well done for sharing your life with us.
Natalie, Liverpool
Best money I have spent in a long time. It provoked a mountain of memories. I worked and lived in Glasgow for a long time and still today I miss the humour of the Glaswegians. I loved the fact that they take you as you are but god help you if they find you wanting. Thank you for a bitter sweet read. Eileen, Dorset
Your book was amazing and so inspirational. I was crying and laughing throughout it. It made me realise that anyone can better themselves and has given me the inspiration to go and get a better life.
Dawn, Portsmouth
Good on you for being so honest and I'm so glad you and your husband and daughter are a family loved the way you stood up to your brother-in-laws you made me laugh and I thankyou. Carol, Renfrew
I think it's a really honest, personal account of your life. You are brave and I admire you for being so open and for facing your demons and I think you will inspire others who have had similar experiences... I kept turning the pages and my heart raced to see if Ashley had turned 16 and what had happened!
Nicola, Ayr
Got your book today got to page 55 of your book; had to stop. I was crying too much.
Roland, Manchester
She also used to run her own comedy club in the city and now regularly MCs at clubs in Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool. She not only headlines as a stand-up in major clubs throughout the UK, but regularly plays dates in Holland and entertains Scots & Irish crowds in Queens, New York.
She was, for a time, a Radio 5 Live entertainment correspondent, reporting for Edwina Currie's Currie Club show from London, New York and New Zealand.
On her 2002 tour of New Zealand, she won Best Show Concept and critical acclaim at TV2's International LAUGH! Festival. At the New Zealand Comedy Guild Awards, she was nominated as Best International Guest and as Best Visiting Comedian.
At the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe, her stand-up comedy show Caught in The Act of Being Myself and her harrowing one-woman play Point of Yes received critical acclaim.
In 2004, she performed at the Glasgow Comedy Festival and on BBC1 Scotland's series Floor Show.
In May, a Radio 4 documentary series on relationships to which she contributed Stuck in The Middle won a gold at the Sony Radio Awards.
In June, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival, where she also became the first woman ever to compere the often unruly late show in the Cabaret Marquee.
Throughout August, she performed her new 60-minute stand-up show Good Godley! at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, winning 40 stars in reviews - 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 December, she performed Good Godley! at the Soho Theatre in London's West End and contributed to Channel 4's four-hour The 100 Greatest Christmas Moments.
In 2005, she again performed at the Glasgow Comedy Festival. In June, the non-humorous autobiography of her life before she became a comedienne - Handstands in the Dark - was published in hardback in the UK and Ireland by Random House/Ebury Press.
That same month, a new version of her one-woman play, re-titled Smack - The Point of Yes played at the Soho Theatre and she again performed at Glastonbury.
In August, she contributed to We're All Grown Ups Here, another radio documentary by Stuck in The Middle's Sony Award-winning producer; other appearances included the Radio Scotland football show Off The Ball and the BBC TV documentary Scunnered.
Her new stand-up show Janey Godley is Innocent was staged throughout the Edinburgh Fringe to rave reviews.
Janey now has her own column in the Scottsman newspaper every Monday
REVIEWS OF JANEY'S STAND-UP COMEDY
(Metro Life)
Godley's appeal is in her unapologetic frankness...Every review of Janey describes her as 'unique', but it's really the only word that explains why you shouldn't miss this show.
(Observer)
Take equal pinches of Billy Connolly and Jerry Sadowitz and you are getting some way towards the storytelling genius of Godley. (London Evening Standard)
There are plenty of hysterical jokes but that's not the reason you should see her. Janey Godley is broadening the comic genre and it's exhilarating to watch.
(Fest)
This is real cutting edge comedy and Godley goes into areas others would need a social worker, three counsellors and a police dog to even think about. (Glasgow Evening Times)
Godley is foul-mouthed, sarcastic and so down-to-earth she's underground, but she has a spark of surrealism. (Independent on Sunday)
Side splitting hilarious hour... guilty of almost killing me with laughter, tears rolling down my face, jaw and sides aching.
(one4review.com)
A fantastic rapport with the audience... darkly comic anecdotes that induce gales of laughter... her totally unpretentious storytelling style allows an hour to pass by in a flash.
(Metro)
The East End gangster's moll is rude, mouthy and full of gags... She is fresh, dark and sharp... This is not for the faint-hearted but is spot on for those who want a good laugh. (Three Weeks)
Compelling stand-up…ballsy personality...Were it not for the whiff of Semtex and laundered banknotes, you'll call Janey Godley a breath of fresh air.
(Guardian)
Hilarious show...She delves depths of depravity like Jerry Sadowitz, but also exudes a real warmth...you can't help but like and admire Godley. (Edinburgh Evening News)
Married into a family of big-time Glasgow crooks at the age of 17, Godley is a hard-as-nails gangster's moll who honed her patter on the mean streets and in the pubs of the city's East End… Her patter is as quick and confident as you would expect from a woman who knows how to talk to men whose faces have been slashed from ear to ear… Godley has the ear of a natural storyteller and a fearless line in: 'I can't believe she just said that' punchlines which have the audience screaming with laughter. (The Scotsman)
Like most professional comics, Janey gets her raw material by throwing an empty bucket down the well of experience. But her personal well is far deeper than most - and considerably darker. (Glasgow Evening Times)
Janey Godley's not your average comedian ... the genuinely sinister backdrop gives her an angle that other comics can never hope to emulate
(chortle.co.uk)
Sends a chill through you even as you are laughing... mindbogglingly colourful stories... a mix of giggles and incredulous gasps (London Evening Standard)
Some of the sharpest-elbowed comedy in the world
(New York Times)
The female Billy Connolly
(Sun)
PRESS REACTION to her autobiography
Against all odds, she has turned her life story into an inspirational book Daily Mail
A remarkably engaging and fluently written memoir of a life that makes the McCourt family look like the Von Trapps Observer
It's doubtful you'll be able to choke back the tears.
Metro
A fantastic book. You will keep turning those pages. You do cry and you laugh and it's raw No punches are pulled… but it's absolutely not a 'poor me' book Janice Forsyth, BBC Radio Scotland
Her story is exhilarating, uplifting and often extremely funny… She's brave and honest enough to reveal her innermost emotions and it's this raw sincerity that gives her streetwise revelations such savage bite Guardian
Gothic biography...Amid such dark subjects it's easy to forget that Godley is very much a limelight sort of woman. Not just courageous but mouthy and irrepressibly funny The Scotsman
I found myself laughing... and crying
Sunday Post
A natural storyteller... For someone so refreshingly gobby, it's hard to imagine how she ever kept the secret that she did Daily Record
This is Janey's life story and it's gripping stuff! - FOUR STARS OK magazine
Genuinely compelling… she deserves the sales…
Glasgow Herald
She is making waves with her hard-hitting autobiography
Mail on Sunday
READERS' UNSOLICITED REACTIONS
Brilliant - couldnt put it down.
Colette, Liverpool
I thought this was the best book I have read in a very long while. I laughed and cried at the same time. You will be an inspiration to a lot of people.
Margaret, Glasgow
I just couldn't put it down, I was totally gripped by it.
Lorraine, Cheshire
So funny although there is a lot of sadness as well.
Trevor, Littlehampton
I'm 15 and I would just like to tell you how much your book has helped me with abuse! Your book brought light on my life and made me realise I can get through it and I will! Anonymous, Birkenhead
I found your book one of the most amazing, brave accounts of someone that has lived a life of abuse... I can't put into words how I felt reading your book ~ emotional, angry, sad, amazed and encouraged to keep going myself (I have been abused). Thank you for writing it. India, Bristol
I just couldn't put it down - I felt sad, pity, anger and then admiration.
Jackie, Cheshire
I found it very disturbing at times but it also made me smile as well. At times I wasn't sure if I wanted to carry on reading as you seemed to suffer so much, but then I thought hey this poor woman has already lived through this I am but reading it not having to live it, so I continued. Although your life was so tough and dark most of the time you managed to make the book easy to read, I really don't know how you managed it, WELL DONE. I myself have been abused as was my sister by an uncle, like yourselves we didn't find out about each other`s abuse until we were adults. My abuse was nowhere near as severe as yours and as for my sister she won't go into any detail. It really helped me to read your book. Carole, Warwickshire
Just finished Handstands in the Dark, and would just like to say....well quite frankly it was brilliant! I just couldn't put it down!! although I have now mastered the art of holding a conversation with my husband and not having to lift my head away from the book for a second - one word answers only but had him fooled until very last page. so,thank you so much for sharing your story.
Donna, West Midlands
Just finished your book... Am amazed at how much you've been through but you've still remained such a positive and hilarious person - we could all take lessons from you! Book is now winging its way to Australia for my Aunt to read. Thanks Janey for giving us an insight into your painful yet at times hilarious past.
Kirstie, Glasgow
I sat in my garden and read the whole book cover to cover. It was excellent and I cried my eyes out at the bit where your mother's death finally hits you.
Anne Marie, Dumbarton
It was the best book I have read in ages. How you have managed to come through all you have is amazing.
Aileen, Milngavie
It was funny, sad and inspiring all at once.
Lorraine, Aberdeen
A man in the pub told me that he read the most fantastic book. Well he was right I never put your book down. it was moving funny but most of all honest.
Lynne, South Lanarkshire
I'm currently on page 245 of your book and what can I say IM HOOKED!!!... I think you are a marvellous woman to still come out on top after all you have been through! I think you're an inspiration and I'm going to tell my sister all about you as she is going through a terrible time in her life and let her know there is always light at the end of the tunnel no matter what's happening to her and others around her! and well done for sharing your life with us.
Natalie, Liverpool
Best money I have spent in a long time. It provoked a mountain of memories. I worked and lived in Glasgow for a long time and still today I miss the humour of the Glaswegians. I loved the fact that they take you as you are but god help you if they find you wanting. Thank you for a bitter sweet read. Eileen, Dorset
Your book was amazing and so inspirational. I was crying and laughing throughout it. It made me realise that anyone can better themselves and has given me the inspiration to go and get a better life.
Dawn, Portsmouth
Good on you for being so honest and I'm so glad you and your husband and daughter are a family loved the way you stood up to your brother-in-laws you made me laugh and I thankyou. Carol, Renfrew
I think it's a really honest, personal account of your life. You are brave and I admire you for being so open and for facing your demons and I think you will inspire others who have had similar experiences... I kept turning the pages and my heart raced to see if Ashley had turned 16 and what had happened!
Nicola, Ayr
Got your book today got to page 55 of your book; had to stop. I was crying too much.
Roland, Manchester
The quintessential attention-seeker, Jane is addicted to comedy. Like Billy Connolly, she simply walks on stage and spins out umpteen autobiographical anecdotes, laced with mordant wit... Godley is a unique talent.
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