Nicola Sturgeon has spoken out to share her condolences following the death of Janey Godley.
Scottish comedian Janey died at the age of 63 three years after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Janey found fame in the Covid lockdown after her videos mocking Nicola went viral.
Speaking out today, Nicola wrote: "Knowing for the past few weeks that this moment was fast approaching didn’t make it any less heartbreaking to hear the news early this morning that Janey had died.
"Janey Godley truly was a force of nature, and one of the funniest people I have ever known. I was able to visit her in the hospice a couple of weeks ago and though she was fragile, she still had me in stitches. Janey was also incredibly kind. And she made the world a better place.
"A bond was forged between us in the darkest days of Covid when her famous voiceovers of my daily briefings went viral. In the toughest of times, she made people laugh - and that was precious. She did more that that though. In managing to project the serious public health messages of my briefings to a much wider audience than I would have managed alone, she helped save lives.
"The photos on this post are from an event we did together last year - it was a special night. I was so proud to call Janey a friend and will miss her hugely. My heart goes out to her family and many friends - they are in my thoughts today. I know Frank will have been there, holding the door for her as she went - with a tear in his eye, as I have in mine. RIP my friend."
Godley found viral fame with her dubbed pastiches of then-Scotland first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s coronavirus news briefings during the pandemic.
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Today a spokesperson for Janey, her manager Chris Davis said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our client Doctor Janey Godley on 2nd November. Janey died peacefully in the wonderful Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow surrounded by her loved ones.
“She will be hugely missed by her family, friends and her many fans. She will be remembered for her legendary voiceovers of Nicola Sturgeon during the pandemic, her hilarious and outspoken comedy, but most of all for just being ‘Janey’.”
Janey revealed in September she had been receiving palliative care in a hospice.
After building a career as a comedian, actress and writer, Janey Godley did not let a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2021 stand in her way.
Godley, from Glasgow, even found dark humour in her illness, naming the tour she was due to embark on this autumn Why Is She Still Here?.
Born on January 20 1961 as the youngest of four children, Godley was raised in Shettleston in the East End of the city, and attended Eastbank Academy.
She left school aged 16 with no qualifications, but went on to become a highly renowned comedian, first starting her career in the business in 1994.
Godley performed stand-up around the world, including in New York and New Zealand, and was a regular co-presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends, as well as fronting BBC Radio 4 series The C Bomb.
Having regularly performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, she won the Fringe Report Award after being crowned best performer at the 2008 festival.
Godley found viral fame with her dubbed pastiches of then-Scotland first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s coronavirus news briefings during the pandemic, but her career has not been without controversy.
After offensive tweets by her came to light following an investigation by the Daily Beast website, the Scottish Government coronavirus adverts she featured in were pulled.
Godley profusely apologised for the tweets and donated the fee she was paid (£12,000) to charity.
She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in November 2021 but later returned to touring and told how comedian Jimmy Carr encouraged her to continue performing despite her diagnosis.
In a March 2024 episode of ITV’s Lorraine, Godley said: “The year before last, before I got into the tour, I was told that the cancer had come back.
“So, I decided to cancel the tour, and my mate Jimmy Carr said, ‘Is your mouth not working?’ I went, ‘Yeah, my mouth works’ and he said, ‘Well get back on tour.’
“And I thought, he’s right. What am I going to do? Sit in the house and draw wee cats?”
She added: “I have so much on that I keep forgetting that I have a terminal diagnosis.”
Her daughter BBC Radio Scotland presenter Ashley Storrie confirmed in October that Godley was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University Of Glasgow, something she said had “brought her so much joy in the final beats of her life”.
Godley was also a playwright, blogger and author and once had a column in The Scotsman newspaper.
One of her influences was Sir Billy Connolly, a fellow, highly successful, Scottish comedian.
In a memoir published in 2024 titled Janey: The Woman That Won’t Shut Up, she recalled meeting Sir Billy.
Godley said: “Billy and I chatted for over an hour. I managed to calm down, and tried hard not to gabble and talk utter shite.
“He has a way of putting you at ease – he is such a warm, genuinely lovely man.”
When considering Sir Billy’s influence, she recalled watching TV in her childhood.
“It was all Monty Python,” she says of the famous comedy team, adding: “And it was all men dressed as women.
“I never saw anybody that sounded like me.
“So I didn’t think comedy was for people like me.
“And then this man with long hair, and big wide flares of all many colours and platforms and not wearing a suit and telling a joke… I remember coming to the TV and going somebody sounds like me.
“And that just changed my life.”
In 2023 the comedian became the winner of the inaugural Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.
Godley appeared in a number of TV shows, including River City and Have I Got News For You, and in the film Wild Rose.
In 2020, she wrote and starred in a number of short films titled Alone about a woman whose abusive husband had recently died of coronavirus.
Godley recently said she had accomplished everything she had ever wanted in life, stating in her 2024 memoir: “People keep asking me have you got a bucket list… there isn’t anything I haven’t done.
“I don’t want to jump out of a f****** helicopter or climb a mountain… I’ve done everything I want to do.”
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