Stand-up comic Janey Godley says she was left feeling ‘anxious and isolated’ by fellow comics

She has been one of Scotland’s most successful – and controversial – comics of modern times.

Now Janey Godley has lifted the lid on the prejudice she faced as a woman trying to break into a male-dominated industry. The stand-up, actress and writer has recalled being verbally abused, patronised, banned, mocked and sneered at by fellow comics, promoters and venue managers in Scotland as she struggled to make a name for herself.

In a new memoir being published this month, Godley recalls how she felt humiliated when she was told off for being “too rude” after an appearance at a late-night Fringe event, and was left feeling “anxious and isolated” at her treatment by certain “snarking” male Scottish comics.

Janey Godley visited the Glasgow Film Theatre ahead of the world premiere of a new fly-on-the-wall documentary on the comic in March. Picture: John Devlin

She tells how she discovered “spurious claims” that she was difficult to work with and a “drunk” were circulating around the Scottish comedy circuit, and that was regularly given the “silent treatment” backstage after performing well.

Writing in Janey: The Woman That Won’t Shut Up, Godley claims she knows “many female comics” who have suffered sex assault, rape and abuse at the hands of “certain men in the industry” and were “protected” by comedy promoters.

She also recalls how it was “pretty normalised” for male comedians to “get naked” onstage and make “extremely lewd” comments to women in their audience when she was starting out in the industry.

Godley, who has appeared on BBC shows like Just a Minute, Breaking The News and Have I Got News For You, suggests she has been criticised for swearing too much on stage because she is a working-class woman, drawing a contrast with the treatment of Kevin Bridges, Frankie Boyle and Billy Connolly.

Janey Godley's new book 'Janey: The Woman That Won't Shut Up' is published on 9 May.

She recalls turning her back on running a pub in the Calton district of Glasgow to pursue a dream of becoming an actor before she started to perform at open mic comedy nights in the city, despite having never seen live comedy before.

Godley tells of her determination to show off her “shouty comedy skills” at the Fringe and found herself going on stage at a late-night event after two naked performers carrying a plank of wood, who were booed off. But she said felt she had made a good impression with the audience with her own material.

Godley writes: “When my time was up, I ran through the crowd to see the promoter, fully expecting to be told I was good. If only.

"The promoter scowled at me as I approached. ‘You were too rude,’ they said. ‘Nobody wants to hear jokes about women’s vaginas.’ Still glowering, they walked away to the bar with some famous comics I had seen on the telly. I was so embarrassed."

Godley writes about regularly travelling to London and paying her own way to attend a festival in New Zealand to try to advance her career while struggling to win acceptance and get work in Scotland.

She recalled: “Scotland’s clubs were getting better, but the one that had the real clout, The Stand, barred me for asking why they had a nefarious rule that if you worked there one week, you couldn’t work at any other comedy club for two weeks either side, which was insane.

"How were you supposed to make money and build a name for yourself if a club inhibits you? So I went to the actors’ union Equity and they complained on my behalf to the club, but it didn’t change anything. It just meant I was barred from the only decent comedy club in Scotland.”

Godley writes about how she eventually found herself headlining above most of the acts who had been “snarking” at her.

A new documentary followed the comic Janey Godley while she was on tour around Scotland last year.

She said: “We sometimes performed together in other clubs and watching them flounder with new audiences outside of their wee comedy gang hut was the sweetest revenge – I never seemed to struggle in front of new audiences.

"Although sometimes this came back to bite me. If one of the guys hadn’t had a good gig, it would automatically be my fault. A part of me used to dread going on because if the audience really liked me, the guys would feel like I had ‘stolen laughter’ off them. So I would get the silent treatment in the green room.

"I remember how, in the early years, some of those Scottish male comedians really made me feel anxious and isolated at times. As the years went by, I stopped making myself small, and just got better and better – it was up to them to deal with their own insecurities.”

Godley writes about how she was asked backstage in several major comedy clubs to be “more gentle” and “less aggressive” on stage.

She said: “After six years of shouting back at hecklers and taking on tough crowds, my strong and fearless approach and penchant for swearing were annoying some of the male comics. Swearing had been a big part of my act since I started. But swearing was, and still is, an irritating issue for women in comedy in the UK.

”I don’t know why it is something that females have to be told not to do. Is it really that bad? Has anyone ever really hated Kevin Bridges,’ Frankie Boyle's or Billy Connolly’s language on stage to the point where they discuss it with a pursed mouth?

“When Dara Ó Briain says the word ‘feck’ life on television, we all know it means “f**k.’ Does Dara get belittled for being an uneducated, ill-informed swearer? No, he doesn’t. He is known for being one of Ireland’s most intelligently funny men.

"Is it a class issue? I have seen very well-spoken, middle-class English women swear in comedy and somehow it is more acceptable. Does my swearing sound worse because I am a working-class Scottish woman?

“It’s a tough tightrope to walk as a woman, to stand up for yourself without being labelled as ‘aggressive’ or ‘too much’. On top of that, if I did better onstage than the guys, they’d sometimes hit back at me with snarky remarks. It always felt like I was stealing their slice of the pie, as though there’d have been more for them if I hadn’t been there.”

Janey Godley: I was banned, mocked, humiliated and told off for swearing trying to break into Scottish comedy

Comments