Review of the Glaswegian comic's new Radio 4 series

‘I like to talk about the darkest parts of my life,’ says Janey Godley in her new Radio 4 series, The C Bomb. ‘I like to think I can make them funny. I think it's easier for me to deal with if everybody else laughs at the dark.’

And the comic has had plenty of dark episodes to speak about in her stand-up, including her mother’s murder, her childhood sexual abuse and – since being diagnosed in 2021, her ovarian cancer, confirmed to be terminal six months ago.

The titular C-bomb might refer to this, or the favourite swear word she famously used to troll Donald Trump at his Aberdeenshire golf course – possibly even attracting the attention of Dolly Parton who wrote a song with the lyrics: ‘Janey got a sign to carry in the fight.’

But Godley also says ‘the ultimate C Bomb for me [is] counselling,’ having finally sought help, after a lifetime torn between pushing her emotions down - and sharing them with strangers from the stage. No that having a therapist is going to stop that habit, as this four-part series amply demonstrates.

It’s not stand-up, but a conversation with her daughter Ashley Storrie, also a comedian. That gives The C Bomb the looseness and the intimacy of a podcast – although the studio audience means the storytelling is inevitably a performance, however randomly put-together the conversation seems.

Godley brings to Radio 4 a background – and indeed a strong Glaswegian accent – rarely heard on the station. Episode one focusses on her youth, growing up in poverty (she didn’t have a fridge until she was 19) and at a school where she was once punched in the eye by a teacher,  an act returned in kind by her mother.

Yet while mum might have been keen to defend young Janey against errant educators, she was clearly less protective when it came to abuse within the family, which Storrie interrogates her about – evoking complex issues neither can hope to reconcile.

If this all sounds heavy – well it is, and can make for sad listening. Yet many of the stories, especially from the alien past, growing up in ignorance of how little the family had, are full of the laughing-at-adversity humour that has defined Godley’s comedy career. It’s not about jokes, but honest anecdotes that bond her to the audience.

Nor does her illness define the show – other than to focus her scattergun mind, at least occasionally, on documenting her story. That may evoke a rollercoaster of emotions, but prime among them is of a woman who embraces life, even at its toughest.

• Janey Godley: The C Bomb is on Radio 4 at 6.30pm tonight

Review date: 20 Jun 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett