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Did anyone hear the brilliant Janey?

(56 Posts)
Farzanah Mon 13-Jun-22 13:38:47

Janey Godley on BBC 4, 7.30pm last night?
She was in the middle of chemo for ovarian cancer when she recorded this and she was magnificent. Very very funny and she really lifted my spirits and was also open and informative about her diagnosis and treatment.
I loved her before, and love her even more now.

BlueBelle Mon 13-Jun-22 18:23:06

Never heard of the lady so did a little Google not much further forward but good luck to her whoever she is ?

Glorianny Mon 13-Jun-22 18:48:47

I'd only seen her a couple of times on HIGNFY and found her funny. I just listened to the interview she gave and her apology. Her regret seemed genuine and I do wonder if you have a traumatic childhood, although you may disguise the hurt and laugh about it, can the anger sometimes emerge in unguarded moments.
She is incredibly talented and funny.
I do like her response that she should never have taken the government's money and the public had a right to expect high standards from her.
I hope she recovers and returns to comedy.

Aveline Mon 13-Jun-22 18:54:19

I'm not 'kicking her when she's down' volver I just don't fall in with the adulation because she's had a hard life and now has cancer. I never found her funny before and am uncertain of the sincerity behind her apology.

volver Mon 13-Jun-22 20:51:24

This is Janey. Warning - VERY strong language.

She did this through the worst of the pandemic but she's not "naice", and some people don't like her for that.

She's a national treasure.

twitter.com/i/status/1341028368867844096

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=4810614599011757

Zoejory Mon 13-Jun-22 21:02:46

I agree, she's hilarious.

And comedians can and do sail close to the wind as it were. Thank goodness.

The problem here is tweets. Very unpleasant. They're there. If you read those tweets and were told they were from some Tory toff or a right wing comedian you'd probably be outraged. An apology wouldn't cut the mustard. Are there any right wing comedians? I know Kenny Everett was and he's long dead, but they are few and far between today.

Twitter really is a cess pit and the sooner it loses its appeal the better. There was a young Manchester girl a few years ago. Chosen to be a youth commissioner in the Police force. Lots of fanfare. Happy girl. Then someone discovered her tweets from a couple of years earlier. And she had to go.

Stay away from Twitter! Apart from James Blunt. I quite like him on there.

Aveline Mon 13-Jun-22 21:03:29

She was the Scottish Nationalists 'treasure' until some of her appalling tweets came to light and she was sacked.

Nightsky2 Mon 13-Jun-22 21:04:27

Googled her and no, I’ve never seen or heard of her.

volver Mon 13-Jun-22 21:23:16

The problem here is tweets. Very unpleasant. They're there. If you read those tweets and were told they were from some Tory toff or a right wing comedian you'd probably be outraged. An apology wouldn't cut the mustard. Are there any right wing comedians? I know Kenny Everett was and he's long dead, but they are few and far between today.

Of course I was outraged. The tweets are disgusting. So we can all keep raging about it forever or we can behave like adults.

Right wing comedians? Geoff Norcott.

LOUISA1523 Mon 13-Jun-22 21:34:47

FRANK get the door

BlueBelle Mon 13-Jun-22 21:46:08

nightsky I don’t feel so bad at least there’s two of us never heard of this lady

Shinamae Mon 13-Jun-22 21:56:55

BlueBelle

nightsky I don’t feel so bad at least there’s two of us never heard of this lady

And a third..

BlueBelle Mon 13-Jun-22 22:00:59

??

grannydarkhair Mon 13-Jun-22 22:44:47

My feelings about JG are dichotomous: I loved all her “Get the door Frank” videos (and I’m a fan of neither NS nor the SNP), and also love her wee animal voice videos. (*Volver*, imo, you didn’t pick the funniest of the NS clips, but I realise you probably went for those with the least swearing).
She participated in four of The National Theatre of Scotland’s “Scenes for Survival” films that were made during the COVID pandemic and was staggeringly good in them.
As an aside, if you’ve never watched any of the “Scenes for Survival”, I thoroughly recommend them, some wonderful actors took part, Brian Cox, Mark Bonnar, Richard Rankin, Peter Mullan, Alan Cumming amongst them.
Since going public about her cancer, she’s been a strong voice for women getting checked out if they have any of the common symptoms and signs of ovarian cancer.
But, there’s those Tweets and Fc’bk posts and they are awful. Anybody who uses “mong” as a descriptor deserves all the abuse they get imo.
She’s also a strong supporter of trans rights and has made some very misogynistic and homophobic comments.
Should we forgive and forget? Do we excuse comedians who make jokes about disability, racism, the Holocaust? Do we “cut JG some slack” because of her background and her cancer?

volver Mon 13-Jun-22 22:50:18

I did try to avoid the very sweary ones grannydarkhair ?

Yes, she's not to everybody's taste. But then I like Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr. ?

And nobody "deserves" abuse.

grannydarkhair Mon 13-Jun-22 23:19:29

Volver Can’t stand Jimmy Carr, that laugh is just too much for me. I’m also in two minds about Frankie Boyle, I can completely understand why some people find him offensive.
The funniest joke I ever heard live was by Craig Charles (another Marmite comedian) at my local Rep many years ago and if I posted it here, I’d almost certainly be banned and would also be a hypocrite as it was, in a roundabout way, about a certain condition. Some of the audience gasped with shock, and others, me included, were helpless with laughter.
Talking of comedians, have you heard any of Gary Meikle’s stuff? He’s been on the comedy circuit for years, but became a “instant” success because of the video he made about his daughter’s eyebrows. He’ll never be a Billy Connolly, but is very funny and well worth checking out.
And I disagree about not deserving abuse, some words/actions are beyond the pale.

Esspee Mon 13-Jun-22 23:36:46

She is sometimes funny but too often her foul mouthed rants are just embarrassing. I am sorry she is ill but on Twitter she currently seems to be milking the situation and in the past she has said some truly unforgivable things.

volver Tue 14-Jun-22 05:04:16

And I disagree about not deserving abuse, some words/actions are beyond the pale.

Really? You think it's ok to abuse people if they offend you? We do live in different worlds.

Aveline Tue 14-Jun-22 08:37:52

confused I don't understand your point. JG has foully abused vulnerable others. Is she immune to people complaining about her?

volver Tue 14-Jun-22 08:49:03

Are we adults or children complaining that " she started it"?

Is the fact that she made unacceptable tweets justification for us doing the same back? Complain all you like. Disbelieve her if you like.

But if someone abuses her because she started it, that's just untenable.

Glorianny Tue 14-Jun-22 08:58:48

I watched her on you tube doing her mum and friends partying in the 70s and singing. It was funny. She may have said some awful things but she has apologised and admits they were wrong. She also pointed out that she isn't a politician and there are politicians who have said some awful things, never apologised and never been held to account (Step forward one Boris Johnson). One rule for some and different rules for others?

Farzanah Tue 14-Jun-22 09:32:11

I believe that early environment does matter to a child, and if it is challenging, or violence is the norm it is bound to influence future thought and behaviour.
We evolve as we mature, and circumstances change us, and I think it’s great that she has survived whatever life has thrown at her with a talent for humour.

I do not believe anyone is irredeemable. She has shown awareness of hurtful and abusive things she has said and thought in the past, perhaps because of her sudden vulnerability, and has publicly shown remorse.
What do some want to do, burn her (metaphorically) at the stake?

MawtheMerrier Tue 14-Jun-22 10:06:25

Esspee

She is sometimes funny but too often her foul mouthed rants are just embarrassing. I am sorry she is ill but on Twitter she currently seems to be milking the situation and in the past she has said some truly unforgivable things.

Oh dear-can anybody be said to be milking (possibly terminal) cancer?

An apology due to all cancer sufferers, survivors or not- perhaps?

volver Tue 14-Jun-22 10:15:20

Janey’s parents were both alcoholics and her mother was murdered, probably by her own boyfriend, and her body was found floating in the Clyde. She and her sister were sexually assaulted over a period of years by an uncle who eventually they brought to court and who was imprisoned. She grew up in seventies Glasgow, ran a pub there and her husband’s family were probably involved with the gangland culture there, they had guns in the house. Her husband has Asperger’s and her daughter is autistic, and she’s been married for 42 years. She lives in a tenement flat in Glasgow. The environment in Seventies Glasgow isn’t the past Scotland of pipers and the White Heather Club, she is a product of industrial Scotland from that time.

She has owned her past behaviour and apologised for it. She is developing. She didn’t apologise and then turn round and say she’d do the same again, unlike some PMs I could mention.

I like her not just because she is funny, but because she shows how she can come from a background that most of us can’t even imagine and make a better life for oneself. If she’s never allowed to move on, what hope is there for anybody? Maybe some of us can identify with her. Others, less so.

Aveline Tue 14-Jun-22 10:26:48

volver to me, she's just not funny. Humour is very subjective. You either laugh or you don't You can't force someone to like another person. Re Twitter posts - if you can't stand the heat etc.
Lots of people come from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds. No need to descend to the foul mouthed abuse she has done in the past. Now she's the biter bit and you don't like it. That's life.

volver Tue 14-Jun-22 10:49:18

Fair enough. Nobody's forcing you to find her funny.

I don't like it when people try to improve themselves to be told that they were bad in the past and can never move on. That's life.

(Image from Janey's twitter account this morning.)