Carole Montgomery is sassy. You need to be if you’re doing stand-up comedy, as she has for the last 40 years. Showtime recently released Funny Women of a Certain Age with Fran Drescher, which she directed and produced.
“I’ve been performing stand-up comedy for almost 40 years. When I started there were very few women in the business so it made some sense that there would only be one woman on a show. As I continued in my profession, more women started to get on board in comedy. Guess what? STILL only one woman on a show. The excuse has always been: ‘Well…women always talk about the same thing.’
Around 2 years ago I appeared on a friend’s podcast and it was all female comics over a certain age. We laughed and had such a good time I thought to myself, ‘I want to work with my friends.’ That’s how the show was born. We premiered a version at the Cinder Block Comedy Festival September 8th, 2017 and it’s been a grand ride since then.
First we got a monthly residency at the Kraine Theater in NYC (we just got renewed for our 3rd season). Then we started touring. I got a TV production company involved and from there our own Showtime special. Sounds so easy, doesn’t it? But it was and is still hard work. It’s EVERY DAY focusing on the project. EVERY DAY.
When I turned 50 years old, I saw the writing on the wall as show biz is not kind to older women. I branched out to producing, directing and developing solo shows. I still did the road but to be honest, it’s tiring traveling all over the world. One thing about our generation is that we believe we can do anything and yes we can. But sometimes our bodies say, ‘Calm down there, sweetie. Yeah, we know you want to change the world but we need a nap first.’
2019 has been one of the best years of my life: I taped a groundbreaking TV show, we have a national tour in the works for 2020, and it’s only the first half of the year. I just turned 61 and I’m not planning on stopping now.”
