Hairline caught Janey last year as part of the regular line up of Scotland’s Best and Guests in the Underbelly, and despite being a little scared at the time, we ventured back to see her one-woman show, Caught in the Act.
Yes, scared, and probably a bit intimidated also. You see, Janey is a Glaswegian comic, and as such is possessed of the terrifying accent and vicious working-class humour that the City’s best stand ups export to the east coast every summer. And as an interesting aside, she also frightened someone out of committing suicide on the Fringe’s opening weekend (no, we’re not joking), and she’s recently enlisted some homeless drug addicts to promote her other Underbelly show, Point of Yes, which is about heroin addiction.
Despite the obvious warning lights currently flashing in your thoughts, the trip to the Cowgate is well worth it, as Janey presents her life story through strange anecdotes, biting punchlines and an honest, down to earth persona, not to mention an incredible impression of what happens when you attend a school interview whilst eating exploding hash meringues. Make no mistake, this is not highbrow humour, but the laughs are of the out-loud variety, and they come regularly and often.
She leaves the impression that her show may not be quite as spontaneous as it’s made out to be; if it were, she’d get three stars for effort and an extra half for luck. Rather, I feel she retains clever control and drive over her material instead of letting it run away with itself; she really does exploit the wonderfully sly continuity of humour that Scots comedians excel at.
To our great dismay, she also does a much better line in publicity quotes than we do, so may we suggest that you go and see her and add your favourite one to the end of this article: “Janey Godley is……………………………………………………” HAIRLINE.
4/5
Simon Ferguson
