Female comics 'of a certain age' aim to close industry gap

PLYMOUTH — Showtime’s highest rated comedy special of 2019, Funny Women of a Certain Age, takes the stage at the Flying Monkey Movie House & Performance Center this Saturday, Nov. 16. The show made television history as the first special to feature six female comics over the age of 50. In Plymouth, three women will be featured, for 30 minutes each: show creator Carole Montgomery, Kerri Louise, and Monique Marvez.

Montgomery, 66, has been performing comedy since the late '80s. She noticed that as she got older, she realized she had been treated differently.

"I, myself, have been a road comedian for many, many years,” Montgomery said. “And in life whether, you know, in any job, the older you get, obviously less opportunity comes your way, because ageism is very prevalent in the world.”

Despite people in the industry treating both older men and women differently, Montgomery believes women later in life often have to juggle their careers and family duties. This makes it harder for them to dedicate the time they need to be as successful as their male counterparts, leaving fewer notable older female comics.

“There's people like Amy Schumer and Sarah Silverman and Tina Fey, and all these people,” she said. “But there's so many female comics that are older that most people don't know about, or they know them fleetingly.”

Montgomery said the idea for this show came when she was doing a podcast with other women comics over 50, after which she spoke to her husband about whether the show would be a good idea. She then took the idea and ran with it. At first, she included 100 women over 50 in the rotation, before lowering the age to over 40, and now has over 1,000 women comics involved. She believes the show is successful because women are finally seeing comedians who are relatable to them.

“There's some really funny young comedians. But for people my age, and people in their 50s and in their 40s, you want to see more,” she said. “You want to see more stuff that you can relate to.”

While this show is about older women, Montgomery emphasized the show is for everybody. Montgomery said at least a third of the audience for the three Showtime specials were people under 30. Montgomery also encouraged women to bring their friends, family, boyfriends, husbands. She believes people genuinely want to hear what older women have to say.

“When I was a young comic, back in the day, that was the other thing is, they've never put two female comics on a show together, because they were like, 'Nobody's going to want to listen to two women talk, because they talk about the same thing,'” she said. “So what I love about the women in my shows is everyone has a different point of view.”

She emphasized there will be comedic content everyone can relate to.

“I'm really the only one that talks about age,” she said. “There'll be something for everybody.”

Montgomery said she performed at The Flying Monkey last year, to a sold-out crowd. But what she learned, traveling all over the United States, is everyone appreciates the same humor.

“I really do believe that people in general are the same,” she said. “It doesn't matter if you're in New Hampshire, if you're in Missouri, if you're in Arkansas, I don't change my act. I don't change it at all because, like I said, humor, humor is universal.”

Doors open at 6 p.m. before the 7:30 p.m. show., which is for audience members 18 and older. For ticket information, visit flyingmonkeynh.com.