DELRAY BEACH – Scottish stand-up comedian Janey Godley isn’t a household name in America, but her story should be.
A few years back doctors diagnosed the 62-year-old comedian with ovarian cancer. After treatment led to an “all-clear” declaration, the cancer returned. She’s dying. But not before one last tour.
At the moment her “Not Dead Yet” tour only travels to England and Scotland, and there’s no reason to expect a trip to this side of the Atlantic. That doesn’t make her undertaking any less noteworthy.
How many comedians would be able to launch a tour knowing their time on earth was about to end. How could they find the energy or inspiration to be funny?
Those shows would seem like morbid events, but according to the review below they aren’t. Here’s hoping that this tour lasts longer than Godley could possibly imagine.
Also in today’s Stand-Up Spotlight, there’s a feature on Lizzy Hoo, a fast-rising Australian comedian who didn’t launch her career until age 32. There’s also a feature on comedian Nick Offerman. Finally, five Ottawa business leaders are trying their hand at stand-up comedy as part of a fundraiser to fight cancer.
Gotta love funny for a good cause.
STAND-UP SPOTLIGHT – March 23, 2023
Janey Godley is a comic with the common touch – her final tour is as much communion as standup
Not Dead Yet is Janey Godley’s last tour, she has announced. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021 and given the all-clear after treatment – but the cancer has since returned. That’s a very particular context in which to perform a comedy show; one might expect Godley’s mortality to cast a long shadow. But it doesn’t. OK, so the night begins with what Godley’s daughter and support act Ashley Storrie describes as a “sad funeral montage” of snapshots from the 62-year-old’s life. And yes, she addresses her health at the top of the show, with lots of jokes about the state of her “fanny” and a story about her husband bringing her the wrong sort of underwear for a hospital stay.
Lizzy Hoo gave comedy a crack at 32. Now she’s one of our brightest new talents
When Lizzy Hoo was a child, she was so shy she wouldn’t speak. Her mum became so worried, she sent Hoo to speech and drama classes to build her confidence. But inside, Hoo knew what she wanted to do.
“If people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say comedian, which is wacky,” says Hoo. “And my family, I think they used to laugh at it. And I used to love that they laughed at it, but I was obsessed.
Nick Offerman: Stand-up Comedy’s Handyman Gets the Job Done
You have got to love a person who bills themselves as “Actor, Author, Humorist, Woodworker” before giving you their list of credits, especially if their list of credits is as long as Nick Offerman’s is.Along with having made waves within the last several weeks, acting stirringly as part of an older gay couple in HBO Max’s zombie drama The Last of Us, Offerman has been part of Fargo, Parks and Recreation, The Founder, the NBC reality competition series Making It with Amy.
Click here to view original web page at Nick Offerman: Stand-up Comedy’s Handyman Gets the Job Done
Meet the five brave souls trying standup comedy at inaugural Laugh for the Cure
Cancer is no laughing matter, except when it raises money for a worthy charity, such as the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation.
This Tuesday night, five Ottawa business leaders will do what requires nerves of steel and reserves of self-esteem: go before hundreds to perform a five-minute set of stand-up comedy at the National Arts Centre.
