Janey Godley, the stand-up comedian and writer, and irresistible force of storytelling, died in November, aged 63. Opinionated and outspoken, Godley had an irrepressible stage presence, robust sense of justice and keen nose for bullshit. She leaves a treasure trove of raucously funny tales shared in clubs and theatres across the UK, a powerful memoir about her tough 1960s upbringing in the East End of Glasgow, countless viral online videos, and the indelible image of her raising a placard on Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course, reminding the returning US president that he is, and always will be, ‘a cunt’.

Like her idol Billy Connolly, Godley never had a setlist. Given to introducing herself as an ‘overfriendly cleaner’, she honed, polished and drew upon classic anecdotes of her deprived childhood, of the gangster family that she married into, of meeting celebrities such as Prince, and ultimately, of coping with the cancer that robbed the British comedy scene of her once-in-a-generation talent. Like Connolly, she was also a sexual-abuse survivor. And if her time on social media was defined by the hugely popular voiceover videos she produced of gossipy animals and her friend Nicola Sturgeon, it was also there that she established herself as a staunch ally of the trans community.

Often pugnacious and occasionally intimidating, Godley had a fierce intelligence and exceptional drive, was unfailingly emotionally honest, and could be devastatingly candid. She held her hands up to mistakes and had a rock-solid sense of her audience, which was still growing in the fourth decade of her career, even as she passed. Indeed, those final years were marked by a creative flurry, featuring the well-received release of her first novel, radio series and an intimate documentary about her life, even as she maintained a relentless commitment to touring that would have broken lesser spirits and talents.

She is survived by her husband, Sean, and her daughter, the comic and writer Ashley Storrie, who, to the family's great credit, was for so long an inextricable part of Godley’s career but has flourished as an entirely distinct and successful performer in her own right.