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I woke up at 7am in Glasgow, decided I didn’t want to be in this business anymore and curled back under duvet. The warmth engulfed me and I went away on a happy dream about wee squirrels and singing shoe horns. Then woke up with a start and realised that I am going to be late for my run through of the play at Assembly. I managed to wash bits of me that would make me appear clean and ran for a train. I fell asleep on the train, I got to the Assembly rooms, met my two techies (Yum Yum, have you seen these boys? Suddenly I am Joan Collins- what is wrong with me?) Anyway, I stood on stage and completely forgot my script, then took a breath and it was there. All good. I then called round to Clouds Accommodation, Mark had a flat all set up with internet and clean sheets and even drove me there in his silver Porsche...so I was happy, I am a princess. My flat is the new building in Fishmarkets Close; it stands tall and looks into the archway of the Royal Mile. The sliding door windows are fabulous and the newness of the whole place appeals to me. I am really turning into a princess! Ashley and I love it - her dad unpacked for us both and went off to get shopping done and we headed down to Underbelly to do the tech run of Square Street, the sketch show she wrote. I keep laughing all the way through the sketches and I am sure I will not be able to do this right. I am not used to sharing a stage with anyone, let alone my crazy daughter. Then as I was helping husband get out of a tight parking space by running round the car checking for him, my feet slipped on the rainy ground (I love rain after all that fucking heat) but I just tit slammed the concrete, I could feel my jumper pulled up and my boobs cold against the ground, I just lay there assessing the damage to me knee and palms. Husband sat in the car with his head in his hands. I did get up and opened the car door and said quickly "Its Ok I am Ok" "Janey, I was scared to look, please fucking stay on your feet, you have three shows a day and I had visions of you with a broken leg" The UDDERbelly party in Bristo Square was cool, getting to catch up with all the comics and friends. I am off to Glasgow again today to do the BBC Radio show 'Today Programme' then I come back to Edinburgh and we open with Square Street |
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Well last night Square Street opened. It is the sketch show that my daughter Ashley wrote and produced, and that we both perform. Ashley has not performed comedy at Fringe since she had her own show at 13 years old and was worried that what she now finds funny- no one else would. We had four reviewers in and a nice audience. I stood backstage with her and watched her face turn a puggled shade of yellow. Then we went on stage and did the whole thing, some of the show has wee bits of improvised chats and I must admit i almost laughed aloud and I am not allowed to, but if you are standing as a mother to the side of a stage and hear you lovely big child describe anal sex for cash as an Aberdonian hooker who sings a jingle to her punter, then you cannot tell me that somewhere in that moment you are not allowed a giggle. It reminded me of her standing in a stiff school uniform in that snooty private school aged five singing 'Pink Floyd's The Wall' to the school assembly welcome open parents day. How I laughed then...and now! So first night over for Square Street. The audience laughed aloud, I even saw the wonderful Mr Bennet sit there and giggle happily. I hope they all enjoyed it as much as we did...only another three weeks to go then! So I then dashed off to show number two of that night. I did Janey Godley's Blog Live! To a nice house and a couple of more reviewers. Today I start doing all three shows a day and i cannot wait. The only down side is that my play The Point of Yes is at Assembly and that feels a wee bit far away for me and involves hills that need to be walked and I have already bashed my arms and tits on a pavement and suffered smoke inhalation from a car that burst into flames on the M8. Next a tiger will escape from a zoo and bite my eye.... |
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I woke up in a cold sweat worried sick that my play The Point of Yes would completely fall out of my head just as the show opened today in Assembly Rooms yesterday. Husband walked me up to the venue, laughing at my shaky scared knees tremble, as I slipped and tripped over the evil cobble stones in Edinburgh. “You will be fine, you know the script” he laughed as he walked behind me. I reached the High Street and saw the whole of the worlds press gathered outside Supreme Court ready for the verdict on the Tommy Sheridan Libel case that is being and fought there, the verdict was due. Tommy was taking the newspaper The News of the World to court over their allegations of him being involved with sex parties and threesomes (how unusual for a politician to get caught up in that shit eh?) Anyway, shaky legs disappeared and I calmly walked up to the microphone and faced the barrage of cameras. I held up my flier and shouted out “Ok everyone listen up… news of a threesome, I am doing three shows a day” The journalists all laughed, and then I launched into some comedy. “Janey do you think Tommy will win his case?” A man from ITN News shouted out. “Yes, he is innocent all the way, I know him and he never tried to fuck me, so therefore they are all liars!” I quipped back. The crowd cheered and I carried on doing my stuff. Policemen gathered round, court officials hung out of windows, camera men vied for better positions and I laughed my ass off at the thought of forty flyer’s standing on the Royal Mile, trying to get attention and here was a huge collection of the International Press waiting for a performer to arrive…that was me. I told a few stories, plugged the shows, took a bow, enjoyed the applause and made my way to my opening of the play. I stood backstage at the Assembly Room’s small theatre space and breathed slowly as I gathered my thoughts to get the script into my head. I heard the audience arrive, I heard them taking seats, I heard my intro music and stepped into the light. It was great! I recalled the whole show and managed to get through it without fainting or forgetting huge chunks of script…everything went well! Only two more shows to go. After Point of Yes, I ran up to Bristo Square and Ashley and I did some stuff to camera for E4. Then we ran down to Underbelly and did the Square Street show. Again- all went well, Ashley and I sat with a nice journalist from The Independent newspaper and chatted, he is interviewing me in the morning. |
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Not exhausted yet! Everyone keeps asking me if I am tired, like I have cancer or something! Doing three shows a day is fun, I can’t imagine how lazy I was only doing one for the last two years….this is cool! Well the reviews are coming in, one two star and one four star for the very same show both reviewers attended of Square Street! Though I have to concede that both are correct…Mr Chortle Steve was appalled at the language and the piss taking and he should be. “Yes, it's pretty obvious this is comedy unbothered by political correctness” he said and he is right, it does what it says on the flyer! I did love the fact he said we got “Loud Guffaws” was great, thanks Steve. Ashley is so loving the controversy that the show is causing and the press reports are in fact putting bums on seats. Last night I had the lovely Mackenzie Crook and his adorable wife come to see my blog show, that was so nice to see a friendly face in the audience and they both seemed to enjoy the show. Am honoured! A real pirate of the Caribbean in my show made the night! I did tell him all about Ashley being addicted to Puzzle Pirates on the web….both he and his wife pissed themselves when I told them Ashley stayed up all night because she lost a galleon on rough seas and managed to drop 40 doubloons between the hours of 2am and 4am…she really needs to get a man. Ashley is studying hard just now as she has three Uni exams between shows next week. I am not partying too much as I am old, I don’t play internet games as I get sex. Was well chuffed to wake up today (Sunday) and see three big broadsheets covering all of our shows, one even had a nice big picture Duff publicity is the best! Must go, am off to shout at a special needs person who gives CPR to a small sheep with a lazy eye (Square Street). |
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Sorry I went a day without blogging, I was so fucked up and busy you have no idea how mental it’s been. Ashley and I went on the wonderfully funny Paul Provenzas Talk of the Fest show. It really is just a late night talk show that includes guest comics who talk about comedy from a ‘backstage’ premise yet in front of an audience. I wore a nice dress with dark tights but no knickers, as I hate wearing underwear and thick tights. I didn’t know that as I sat on the raised stage, stupidly opened my legs and had the strong stage lights shine up, that the film crew actually got a Basic Instinct shot! My cervix was probably on view! How embarrassing! Ashley is still traumatised by the whole event and refuses to even talk about it, even funnily! Tonight we had great fun on the sketch show, Ashley wrote a new sketch where she makes me break dance and grabs my ankles and spins me on the floor! That’s all I need…to be dragged around a manky floor in a fringe venue! I love doing all three shows and have been getting early nights. I am not really exhausted, I am just pacing myself. I got really good news, my paperback book Handstands in the Dark has just went into the Sunday Times Top Ten best sellers list! How cool is that? I am so proud and happy. |