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“Comedy is a serious business. A serious business with only one purpose — to make people laugh,” said W. C. Fields. Also, comedy has a tremendous effect on our lives. It improves our social life, boosts brain activity, reduces stress, improves physical health, and makes us more attractive. Enter our esteemed guest for this episode, Carole Montgomery!
With a long and varied career and over two dozen television credits to her name, Carole Montgomery is a respected veteran of the standup comedy scene nationwide.
Beyond television appearances, Carole has headlined clubs and colleges across the USA and starred in two prominent Las Vegas production shows, and captivated more than five million audience members during her decade as a Las Vegas luminary. She is the creative force behind and stars in three Showtime specials for Funny Women Of A Certain Age.
This episode will inspire you to be a pit bull for your goals and possibly get Carole to keynote at your event! If you don't produce events, like we do here at She Leads Media, you’ll for sure get the urge to enjoy some comedy asap. Enjoy!
Show notes:
👭 Carol is a respected veteran of stand-up comedy, and she talks about the misconceptions in women’s comedy circles. 02:41
🤒 Juggling work and illness: performing 13 weekly shows in Las Vegas. 04:09
🩵 Blame Carole’s comedian career on her father: in 1979, comedy didn’t seem like a legitimate job. 06:38
🎤 Navigating the comedy circuit: when you’re a new comic, it's tough to get to the stage. 08:52
🌟 Vegas stardom at any age: Carole’s ten-year reign and selling her show at 59. 14:34
✅ Persistence pays off: earning the nickname "Pitbull” from her mother-in-law and clinging onto opportunities, showcasing that refusing isn’t inherently negative. 18:50
👉 Always ask, be persistent, and at least you’ll get an answer. 20:50
🎓 Carole and Adrienne shared examples of rejection: we can’t walk around constantly feeling rejected, just move on with your life. 24:10
💕 Inclusive comedy: supporting amazing undiscovered women's talents in the stand-up scene. 29:04
❣️ Leaving a meaningful legacy: “If I left the world tomorrow, my son could say his mom did something really important” is Carole’s inspiration. 33:33
📢 We all live so much in the present and future that we forget what we’ve done in the past: Adrienne inspired Carole to do a TED Talk, and if you want her to give a speech at your event, contact her! 38:16
Links:
Connect with Carole: https://carolemontgomery.com
Connect with Adrienne: www.sheleadsmedia.com
Listen to podcasts for women by women on the She Leads Podcast Network: www.sheleadspodcasts.com.
Resources/Data Mentioned:
@carolemontgomerycomic
Creators & Guests
Host
What is The She Leads Podcast: Real Conversations with Women Entrepreneurs?
Discover the go-to podcast for driven women entrepreneurs ready to lead! Join host Adrienne Garland, CEO of She Leads Media, as she uncovers the unfiltered path to scaling your business to 7 and 8 figures. Each week, bold female founders share their raw stories, overcoming challenges, and proven strategies for explosive growth – all without sugar-coating a thing.
🚀 Why She Leads is Your Essential Listen:
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At She Leads Media, we reject the notion that women must be deferential or pull back our opinions. Instead, we're creating a powerful platform where women are free to express their brilliance without restraint. Whether you're launching your venture or ready to scale new heights of revenue and profit, The She Leads Podcast: Real Conversations with Women Entrepreneurs delivers the unvarnished truth you need to thrive in today's competitive business landscape.
The She Leads Podcast (formerly Sugar Coated) is your ultimate resource for:
✅ Practical and actionable business growth strategies and tactics
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Don't miss out on game-changing wisdom from Adrienne Garland - fearless entrepreneur, innovative media producer, and inspiring professor. Subscribe now and join a community of women who refuse to hold back their voices, thoughts, or opinions. Your journey to 7-figure success and beyond starts here – no sugar-coating required!
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Adrienne Garland (00:01.014)
Hi, everybody, and welcome back to Sugar Coated. I'm so excited because we have an amazing guest. Her name is Carol Montgomery, and she has had a long and varied career with over two dozen television credits to her name. She's a respected veteran of the standup comedy scene nationwide. And in addition to her numerous television appearances, Carol has headlined clubs and colleges across the USA.
and was a closing keynote speaker at She Leads Live 2023. She also starred in two different Las Vegas production shows. In her 10 years as a Las Vegas star, she was seen by over 5 million audience members. Carol Montgomery created and stars in three Showtime shows, excuse me, three Showtime specials for funny women of a certain age.
Welcome to sugar coated Carol.
Carole (00:58.859)
Hello, hi.
Adrienne Garland (01:01.322)
Yay. So happy that you're here today. And I quickly mentioned that you were the closing keynote speaker at our recent annual conference, She Leads Live. And you really brought down the house and brought up the energy. And I'm so grateful to you for that, because it was such an incredible two days. And you were part of it. And I just.
I adore you, Carol, and I want to learn so much about you. And we're going to go back and we're going to figure out what led you to where you are today.
Carole (01:36.423)
Oh wow, well gee. So thanks for having me on. See you later.
Adrienne Garland (01:43.086)
We're turning back the hands of time.
Carole (01:44.703)
Yeah, well, yeah, no, the She Leads Live event was so great. It was so, and I made so many great connections, and it's just, you know, it's just so nice to be around women who support each other. You know, the media wants you to think that women are out, you know, they're only out for themselves, and you know, I mean, there are women like that, I mean, but then there are men like that, so.
Adrienne Garland (02:02.636)
Yeah.
Carole (02:14.607)
But for some reason, the media really portrays women as being backstabbing and mean girls and the real housewives. And it's not like that. And when you get into a room of women who just want to help each other succeed, it was a pleasure. It was absolute pleasure.
Adrienne Garland (02:33.322)
Amazing. Yeah. And that is definitely what SheLeads is all about. It's an incredibly supportive community. And I also think one of the things that makes it so special, and also the listeners of this podcast, Sugar Coated, is that we are, it's sort of not that whole boss babe vibe. It's more people that are looking for practical advice and truly looking to help one another. And you were part of that.
and you are part of that. So it's incredible all around.
Carole (03:05.659)
Yes, you did a great job. You and Tori should be very proud of yourselves. I'm sure you probably passed out and slept for like a week.
Adrienne Garland (03:09.686)
Thank you so much.
Adrienne Garland (03:13.954)
Yes. Yeah. Came down with some crazy cold and still not over it, but that's okay.
Carole (03:19.735)
Well, you know what? I'll tell you something about, you know, it's interesting that happened because then I'm sure that you were probably getting sick during it. But what the mind is actually really cool is that you're like, nope, can't get sick. Can't get, you know, and then as soon as you didn't have to do anything, you got sick. That's so, that's happened to me so many times. The first year I was in Las Vegas, we used to do 13 shows a week. And I mean, you know, and
Adrienne Garland (03:46.315)
Ugh.
Carole (03:49.611)
three shows on Saturday, two every night, one night off. And we would break for Christmas, we'd have a week off. And that first year, I literally drove from work, I started coughing, I was sick the entire week I was off. Because everybody was like, okay, we held it together. Yeah, I was younger.
Adrienne Garland (04:04.171)
Oh.
Adrienne Garland (04:07.554)
Yeah, that, how did you do that?
Adrienne Garland (04:15.114)
Yeah?
Carole (04:16.691)
I know comedians are, you know, we're night people, you know, my son, by the way, who's 31 now, but he was, he was four when we were in Vegas. And I was, uh, we used to, I used to put him in night daycare. I had to work and my husband was still working in Los Angeles and commuting on the weekends. So, so he's a vampire too. Like he, he works in nightclubs. Of course. I mean, what a shock. He was not going to have a nine to five job.
Adrienne Garland (04:26.658)
Mm.
Adrienne Garland (04:32.108)
Really?
Adrienne Garland (04:39.681)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (04:45.089)
Yeah.
Carole (04:46.007)
But when you, I mean, I've done this my whole life. What's interesting is as I've gotten older and I get to pick and choose where I wanna work and what I wanna do, I always opt for the show that starts at seven. Do you know? And I mean, when we do shows, we do shows in Florida, we do matinees. I mean, like I'm too, I did it. I did it for many, many years, but like years ago, when I first came back to New York, I was working at a comedy club down in the village and the guy had given me the midnight show. He gave me the...
He gave me, it was like the 8, 10 and midnight. And I said, why would you give me the midnight show? I'm barely able to do the 10 o'clock show. And they, but they're like, cause they, you know, they're trying to be nice. And I'm like, nope, give me the show and let me be home by eight o'clock.
Adrienne Garland (05:28.332)
Yeah.
Yeah. So you just said that you have been doing this your whole life. And it's so funny, I think about that life, right? And then the fact that you created this funny women of a certain age, you very much are an entrepreneur. So I almost want to, I do want to go back, how did you get into comedy in the first place and then make a decision that this is what you were going to do
you know, profession or vocation.
Carole (06:03.091)
Yeah, well, great question. I have to give kudos to my father because I think that's really where it all started. When I was a little girl, my dad was a very, I'm actually, I'm writing a solo show about him right now, but my dad was a very larger than life person. Like when he walked into the room, if there were a million people in the room, everyone knew that he walked into the room. He was that type of person. So, but he was the one that turned me on to comedy.
So now that you're a little bit younger than I am, but back in the day when there was only three channels on TV, well, three network TV show, and then there was Channel 5, Channel 9, and Channel 11. Okay, that was it. There was only six channels. On Channel 5, every Sunday morning, they would have like the Bowery Boys and Abbott and Costello. And so he gave me my love of comedy because we would sit and watch that. And then the teacher,
Adrienne Garland (06:42.173)
Yeah, yes, and I love it.
Carole (07:00.155)
And when we'd get home and when we'd have dinner in the kitchen, we had a TV in the kitchen, six o'clock, we watched I Love Lucy on Channel 5. He turned me on to the Marx Brothers. So I learned my love of comedy from him. And then later on in life, I didn't even realize this until when I was already doing stand-up, but I'd forgotten that my dad was a bartender in the Catskills because he was a teen. And in the summertime, he would still work.
Adrienne Garland (07:25.527)
Hmm
Carole (07:29.367)
Because his dream was always to take us traveling. So when I was a, we didn't go, we started traveling when I was 10. So up until I was like a baby, till I was, let's say nine, every summer we were in the Catskills and my dad was working. So my father would be bartending or, you know, he'd be setting up the bar for the evening shows and I'd be sitting there and keeping him company. And you know, in would walk Rodney Dangerfield. In would be Danny Mason, Tony Fields, Rodney Dangerfield at that point was Jack Roy. He wasn't even Rodney then.
Adrienne Garland (07:52.235)
Yeah.
Carole (08:00.024)
So years later I said, you know, it's your fault I'm a comedian.
Adrienne Garland (08:05.138)
Yeah, you put me there.
Carole (08:07.591)
Yeah, so that's how it all started, through my, you know, the whole of comedy.
Adrienne Garland (08:10.766)
Wow. So how did you, and then tell me about your whole, you went through school, high school, college, and then when was sort of, when did you first start actually doing this, like putting yourself out there?
Carole (08:27.507)
Yeah, well, so I graduated high school, I went to college, I went to Brooklyn College first, I was studying theater. And I, so let's say I was, well, I actually, I skipped a grade, so I guess I was 17. So I was probably 18 when I started Brooklyn College. And I just, I said, you know, after six months, I said to my dad, I said, I wanna work in theater. You know, at the time I thought I was gonna be a, like a stagehand.
because I love doing all of that. And I was actually doing summer stock when I, it was 1979, so I was 21 years old. I was doing summer stock. I was literally putting up lights and painting sets and everything. And the people, the crew, you know, we stayed there all summer. One of the guys, one of the gentlemen said to me, you know, you're really funny. You should be a comedian. And you have to understand something, this was 1979. So.
Adrienne Garland (09:00.526)
Hmm.
Adrienne Garland (09:25.943)
Yeah!
Carole (09:26.783)
there were who knew what a comedian was now it's like you could either be a doctor or a lawyer or a comedian you know I'm an actual job so I was like I don't know why he goes I said I don't even know how you would do that he goes well you you'd have to write a monologue and I was like you mean I said like the Johnny Carson like I seriously there was nobody so um so they we sat down and he helped me write a bit I have no idea I don't remember it at all because back then they didn't have cameras
Adrienne Garland (09:32.)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (09:46.687)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (09:54.903)
Right.
Carole (09:56.063)
And we had a Christmas party in August. It was like the last few weeks of stock. And so we sat around, it was the whole crew, and I got up and I did stand up. And then from there, I was still living with my parents. So there's a club that's no longer there called Pips, which was in Sheepshead Bay. That's where David Brenner started and Joan Rivers started there.
Adrienne Garland (10:09.434)
Wow.
Adrienne Garland (10:22.281)
Oh wow.
Carole (10:23.903)
And so I just started going up. Like I really didn't know what I was doing. I was so young. I was 21 years old. Like I think, like I joke with people because I've been doing standup now over 40 years. I could have killed people and been out of jail by now.
Adrienne Garland (10:29.431)
Mmm.
Adrienne Garland (10:36.882)
Yeah.
Carole (10:40.467)
I didn't know this was gonna be a lifelong career.
Adrienne Garland (10:42.894)
This is so great. Oh my gosh, that's amazing. And then so you continued to do all of this. And then when did you sort of conceive of the funny women of a certain age?
Carole (11:00.519)
Well, so what happened was, I was working in Vegas. So I'll do a quick synopsis of my entire career. So started, back then, like I said, no internet, no TV, no cameras. Basically, you work at clubs and you work at your set at the clubs. There was Catch a Rising Star, the improvisation and the comic strip were the big clubs in New York City. There was no comedy cello, there was none of that stuff.
Adrienne Garland (11:21.974)
Mm-hmm.
Carole (11:31.027)
And I got passed to Catch a Rising Star and I started working there. But like late night, like they throw on the new comics really late at night, like there'd be two people, but that's how you pay your dues. Then there was a gentleman, there was a small club. It's so funny, I'm probably gonna be cremated, but if I was gonna have a tombstone, it would be, I'm always in the goddamn basement. Every comedy club is in a basement.
Adrienne Garland (11:54.265)
Hahaha
Huh.
Carole (11:58.503)
So this little club was called Who's On First, and it's now at Dunkin' Donuts. It's on 61st and 1st. And I happened to be there to do, somebody told me about it. I went there, and the gentleman who was running it, his name was Peter Spellos, he recently just passed away. He was my mentor. He said, you can work here any time. So he gave me the chance to work on stage every weekend, which when you're in new comics, it's very hard to get stage time, even to this day.
Adrienne Garland (12:25.741)
Mmm.
Carole (12:26.411)
So then that happened and then, you know, I started, I started, you know, they had things like one-nighters, you go out to Jersey and they pay you 50 bucks and all the fried food you can eat, which is why a lot of comics died in the eighties. Oh, no, seriously. I mean, they gave you, there was no thing, I'm like, can I have a salad? No, that's too expensive. So I started doing that and some, I don't know, I don't really remember, I actually, I do remember why I moved to Los Angeles. My best friend had moved to California.
Adrienne Garland (12:39.354)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (12:55.926)
Hmm.
Carole (12:56.567)
And I'd always wanted to go there. And I went and stayed with her. And I said to my husband, I said, I think I should move to California. So we moved to California. I still went back, because at that point, I had built up my career to the point where I was a headliner. So I was making a living as a comic. I stopped producing. And then that's when I started doing the TV and stuff. And then what happened was I had done all the TV. I had done all the TV I was going to do with.
Back then, when you did a TV show, they were not going to have you back for another year. So in the meantime, I said, OK, why don't I try to get pregnant? And so I did. I had my son, went back on TV. Like everyone said to me, so many people in the industry said, you're going to ruin your career by having a kid. Yeah. And so I was like, ha ha, that's adorable. I remember what I said in the keynote thing, you tell me no, watch me.
Adrienne Garland (13:38.391)
Mm-hmm.
Adrienne Garland (13:44.894)
Yeah.
Carole (13:53.291)
I don't, when someone tells me I can't do something, that actually gives me more incentive to do it.
Adrienne Garland (13:53.58)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (13:58.526)
Yeah, I think so many women have that drive. Like, just watch, yeah.
Carole (14:02.823)
Yeah, because you're just like, well, how could you tell me no? So I had him. I was back on TV. My first major show was called The Showtime Comedy All-Stars. And that's important for the story, when I end up selling Funny Women. I was back. I think he was three months old, and I left him to go shoot the special. And then around the time he turned four, he, um,
Adrienne Garland (14:24.962)
Wow.
Carole (14:33.267)
I was working at the Riviera in Las Vegas, and this is talking about like, I'm not a real believer in the secret or putting it out there, but every time I put it out there, it comes to me.
Adrienne Garland (14:47.154)
Yeah, it's a focus. It's not, I mean, who knows what it is, but when you set your mind on something, you find a way to do it.
Carole (14:52.255)
Right. Exactly. So I was in Vegas and I had, you have to see, I was on the road all the time. I was on the road like three, three weeks every month. And so I was in Vegas and when I used to tour because I toured so much, I, I would make a try because I was going to be there for a week. So I'd make the I would make my room, you know, I take some pictures from the home and blah, blah. And I was putting away my stuff. It's the only time this has ever really happened was putting away my toiletries and my pictures and
Adrienne Garland (15:04.248)
Hmm.
Carole (15:22.183)
And I was just like, oh man, wouldn't it be nice to just stay home, stay in one place and not have to go anywhere and still be able to do standup? And the next day, the entertainment director from the Riviera called me and said, listen, the woman who was doing the production show, she had fallen ill and they needed a replacement. Did I wanna do it? And I was like, of course. So I did 27 shows that week. I went from the comedy club to Crazy Girls, back to the comedy club to Crazy Girls.
Adrienne Garland (15:46.431)
Wow!
Carole (15:52.159)
back and forth and then at the end of that week the producer of Crazy Girls offered me a contract.
Adrienne Garland (15:58.082)
That's amazing, Carol. Wow.
Carole (16:00.139)
And that's how I and then I stayed in Vegas for 10 years and I was able to raise my son in some semblance of normality Considering it's Vegas, but you know what I mean
Adrienne Garland (16:06.347)
Yeah!
Yeah, it is true, right? It's like there's also something I think that is just sort of in the air that you're like, hmm, where did I get this idea from, right? Yeah.
Carole (16:21.023)
Right. And so when I was getting to get getting to funny women, so I was in Vegas for 10 years, we moved back home, because I wanted my son to go to high school in New York City, because that's how bad the schools had gotten. I guess that I wanted him to come back. And then I had to restart everything, which is for your listeners, this is really important is that you have to you. So much is so much of our lives as women, I think, are
Adrienne Garland (16:33.962)
Oh yeah.
Adrienne Garland (16:41.087)
Yeah.
Carole (16:49.527)
told, you know, if you don't make it by this age, if you don't do that, and there's no cutoff. There's no, we don't know that because we're growing up and you're like, even my son, this is not just a woman's thing. Like my son's 31. He's like, Oh man, you know, I should have. So what do you mean you should have? I said, I sold the show when I was 59. And what was is I started to see the writing on the wall. I know my business is not kind to women.
Adrienne Garland (16:54.551)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (17:05.246)
Yeah, you're a baby.
Adrienne Garland (17:11.722)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (17:15.874)
Mm-hmm.
Carole (17:19.163)
you know, after a certain age. And I was doing another podcast. It was a live podcast. And we were sitting around. It was like three or four other female comics. We were laughing and having such a great time. And I remember saying to my husband, I called him as I was leaving, you know, going to the train to go home. I went, there should be a show like this. And that's how it came about. So, and that's basically how it happened.
Adrienne Garland (17:42.143)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (17:48.022)
Oh my, I love this whole story because it's right with opportunity and seizing the opportunity and putting your mind somewhere and reinvention and making your life what you need it to be for where you are in your life. And I think all of that is so incredibly inspiring. And we talk so much here at Sugar Coated and she leads about business, right? And so we don't,
talk to comedians very much, but there are so many parallels here in everything that you've done to everything that entrepreneurs go through. Especially when women are moving out of corporate or let's say they were nurses or teachers or something and they want to start a business, we talked about this at the conference, there's an identity that you need to
shed and then a new identity that you need to adopt in order to be a successful entrepreneur. But I also think that the more that we know ourselves, that we can be self-directed and say, I need this and it doesn't matter what everybody else around me is doing. I mean, you did something that no other woman, well, there were other women, but there were very few women that were doing what you were doing. So what
You had your dad, which is so incredible, but who were some of the other people along the way that just encouraged you like, hey, yeah, keep going, or was that more like self direction?
Carole (19:26.407)
I think it was more self-direction. It's funny thing, my mother-in-law calls me the pit bull because I will grab onto something and I won't let it go until I'm, and that's in anything. I always joke with people that I'm like, I'm probably the original Karen, but not racist. Do you know what I mean? Because I've always been like, wait a minute. It's like, what do you mean? You can't do that for me. Let me speak to somebody else who can get, at least explain to me because what happens,
Adrienne Garland (19:44.757)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (19:49.695)
Yeah.
Carole (19:56.987)
with anything, people are so used to just saying no and just going, okay, they said no. Unless there's a real reason to say no, I will keep going. And I actually wanna do probably some kind of TED Talk keynote or something about the power of understanding that no is not a bad thing.
Adrienne Garland (20:01.773)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (20:06.67)
Hmm
Adrienne Garland (20:20.256)
Yeah.
Carole (20:21.479)
No, you know, when you're younger, I really do believe that your self-esteem, and I do this, I talk about this in my act, that your self-esteem is so low when you're younger. And so when you hear no, you're like, oh, they must hate me. It's like, no, no means I, no, I can't do this. It doesn't mean that you, your terror. People take that word so personally. And I'm not, I just push my head down and I just keep going.
Adrienne Garland (20:31.453)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (20:44.021)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (20:49.514)
Yeah, and no is also like no with all of the exact parameters as they are right now. So what needs to change in order for it to get to maybe or yes? I love the no doesn't mean no, right? For women when we're trying to accomplish something in our lives, no just means not that path. Not right now. Not.
Carole (21:08.004)
What?
Adrienne Garland (21:18.85)
you under these circumstances, but it doesn't, it's not an, uh, you know, like how they say, you know, no, is a complete sentence in this case. No, it's not a complete sentence.
Carole (21:30.335)
You know, I mean, and there's, I love telling the story. My ex-manager, who I remain friends with to this day, and her husband, her husband was a very big producer, and we had already parted ways as far as her handling me, but they had come to visit me when I was in Vegas, because they had children the same age at the time, and we were all hanging out in the pool, and we had lunch. When I got her husband alone, I was asking him, just as when I had just started doing my first solo show.
And I said, I would love if you could possibly help me or throw some names in it, something. I'd love to have you involved. And he says, Carol, I can't. He goes, I'm so slammed. You know, he was very, very busy man. He loved me. And he, you know, but it wasn't that he was going, no, I can't help you, you're a piece, you know, piece of crap, blah, blah. It was, I can't, I'm just too busy. And then we went back to playing with the kids. You have to be able, and I was like, ah.
Adrienne Garland (22:14.646)
Yeah.
Carole (22:28.935)
I mean, and that's the other thing about, something I taught my son is always ask, because the one thing they're gonna say is no. And sometimes the answer is no, then you go to somebody else.
Adrienne Garland (22:34.922)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (22:41.786)
I love that always ask, right? Because if you don't ask, you're never going to get, and that doesn't even mean get something, it means get an answer.
Carole (22:53.023)
Well, but also people think, people think like, you know, I've been on all the sides of the business. I've been behind the scenes as an agent, I've produced, I've written it. And sometimes if, you know, people think of what, you know, they must hate me, they didn't get back to me. Or, you know, why haven't they responded? You know, people have lives. And I know it's hard for everyone to understand this, but your life, I understand your life is you.
Adrienne Garland (23:16.939)
Yeah.
Carole (23:22.443)
but people have, they're not all thinking about us. You know what I mean? So, always ask and if you don't get a response, reach out again. And if you don't get a response then, okay, then probably they're, you know, they're not interested. But I can also tell you that when I was, I was one of the people who was doing the casting for the first Las Vegas Comedy Festival a billion years ago. And I had friends, good friends of mine.
Adrienne Garland (23:25.986)
Yeah.
Carole (23:52.407)
calling me going, I want to do the festival. And they went to voicemail because I just didn't have the time. And now with everything that's happening in my life, like I've decided, I realize, I call it, I don't have the bandwidth anymore. I am overloaded. So people have to understand that you can be persistent. You know, and so my thing is, is be persistent.
Adrienne Garland (24:06.344)
Mmm, yeah.
Adrienne Garland (24:10.913)
Yeah.
Carole (24:21.255)
If they say no, you could probably ask again. But if you don't hear back, you know, don't, it's not even more about asking and they'll say no. It's more about if they do say no, big deal. There's 8 billion other people you can reach out to.
Adrienne Garland (24:37.77)
Yeah, such great messages, such great lessons. And I think we can all, in every aspect of our lives, we can think about that. Because when you get into that place of like, oh, they said, they didn't get back to me, they hate me. How can you possibly move forward with any type of like positive attitude and expect any type of positive outcome if you're like, oh, they hate me, you're probably gonna hate me too.
Carole (24:48.319)
Right.
Carole (25:07.915)
Well, also, I think this comes from age, you know, because like I think, you know, I think back to my, like so many things happened to me in my 20s, like career wise, and I immediately went to, it's me. Nothing's wrong with me. And it had nothing to do with me. Here's another great example. So there was a TV show called America's, Funniest Mom in America, it was on Nick at Night. And I was in, you know, I had gone up for it. I was in the top 10, they flew me out to Los Angeles, blah, blah.
Adrienne Garland (25:17.144)
Hehehe
Adrienne Garland (25:21.111)
Yeah.
Carole (25:37.471)
Now what you have to understand like in show business is that they want types. Like if you've seen any type of reality show, you'll see certain types. But at the end of the show, you know, the judges are giving who's gonna go to the next round. So the first person they called was a redhead. I'm a redhead. Uh-oh, I'm probably not getting this.
Adrienne Garland (25:45.207)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (25:58.478)
Hmm. Yeah.
Carole (26:05.023)
Then the second person they called, because this was the year that they wanted some professional comedians, and then they wanted some regular people. The second person, and I was a pro, and then my other friend was the pro, they called her. And I went, I didn't get it. I knew from the second thing that I didn't get it. And it was nothing personal. It's that they're not gonna have two professionals or two redheads. Just not. And once you realize that, and you realize it's nothing, you're like, all right.
Adrienne Garland (26:28.332)
Yep.
Carole (26:34.003)
Well, at least I got to trip out to LA. I got to see some of my friends.
Adrienne Garland (26:37.874)
Yeah, I love that. Yeah, it is true. And that even goes, you know, my kids when they were applying to college and everything, you know, colleges also look for certain categories of people because they want their student body to be very diverse. So, you know, they're not going to, you know, bring in all the white boys because they need diversity. So when they were rejected from some
Carole (26:40.865)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (27:06.73)
It had nothing to do with their grades. It had to do with, you know, sort of their demographics more than anything else. Yeah.
Carole (27:14.051)
You've been a better one. So my son went to my mother-in-law when we moved back and she said she'd pay for him to go to private school. And it was a very, very exclusive school here in New York City. And when my son graduated, straight A, good SATs, he applied to three colleges. Ithaca, Berkeley, not Berkeley. What's the one in Boston? Berkeley? I think it's Berkeley School of Music. I forget.
Adrienne Garland (27:38.446)
There's a lot in Boston.
Okay.
Carole (27:43.979)
and NYU. And he got into two. Now this particular school, they've never not accepted, and NYU people have never accepted, in other words, they've always accepted this group of kids from NYU. You can get accepted to NYU, and you wanna know what the reason was? When you're putting in your application, it says, will you be needing financial aid?
Adrienne Garland (27:58.786)
from that school, right?
Adrienne Garland (28:12.353)
Ah.
Carole (28:12.755)
He checked yes, and he didn't get in. And he didn't get in. Because they don't want to have to do that. They want the really wealthy people. And because it was mind blowing. And it's fascinating, because he was so devastated. And he'd gotten into Ithaca. He got into Ithaca and the new school with full rides. You know what I'm saying? Like he got scholarships. And ironically, and this is because your kid, are they in college too?
Adrienne Garland (28:15.059)
Oh my god. Well, yeah.
Adrienne Garland (28:21.406)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (28:33.159)
Oh my god.
Adrienne Garland (28:40.677)
They're in college still, yeah.
Carole (28:43.423)
What ironically he'd gone in to do because he's a musician and he wanted to work in the recording section of NYU, he has tinnitus. If he had gone there, he would have never been able to be a sound
Adrienne Garland (28:59.167)
Wow.
Adrienne Garland (29:04.842)
Oh yeah, but yeah.
Carole (29:06.751)
Do you know what, that's part of life. It has really nothing to do with, personally, there are boxes that have to be checked and there are people that are gonna get it because whatever they fit the demographic for that. And people just don't understand that. Once, and like I said, a lot of this has to do with age. Once you go, oh, all right, that's how it works. Exactly.
Adrienne Garland (29:27.182)
That's how it works, right?
Then you're happy, right, then you can be happier, then you can move through your life with maybe a little bit more mental ease, right? And that's what it's about too, because we can't be walking around constantly feeling rejected. It's just not fun to live like that.
Carole (29:37.825)
Mm-hmm.
Carole (29:46.352)
No, no, it's, but, but a lot of people, you know, a lot of people do.
Adrienne Garland (29:51.074)
Do. Yeah. Now, one other thing I wanted to just touch on. So you were very focused in your career on you as a comedian, right? And promoting your career and being a headliner. And yes, you would be working with other people. But then, funny women of a certain age, that's you. It wasn't just about you as the comedian anymore. It was about.
the whole entire cast, right? So you kind of shifted roles. So how was that for you? Because a lot of entrepreneurs go through that, right? They're solopreneurs and then they need to start building their team so that they can grow their business. You did the same thing with Funny Women.
Carole (30:35.253)
Run.
Yeah, well, this is so interesting. I love talking about this stuff because I forget, you know, you live a life and you forget. But I guess my entire career, I've always wanted to help people, which is probably why I didn't go further because I didn't have that cutthroat mentality. But because I run into comics to this day that goes, oh, hey, and I'm like.
Adrienne Garland (30:46.913)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (30:53.195)
Yeah.
Carole (31:02.979)
you know, I don't remember them and they're like, you let me stay in your hotel room because they wouldn't give, the Booker wouldn't give us, give me a room so I slept on your floor. Or when I asked you questions about, you know, and this is both, you know, girls and boys, I just always was like, wait a minute, there's room for all of us. You know, I've always believed that. I mean, like when I was younger, you know, it was more competition back then because there weren't a lot of women then. So the spots were less. But...
Adrienne Garland (31:10.918)
Oh.
Adrienne Garland (31:20.438)
Hmm
Adrienne Garland (31:30.626)
Mm-hmm.
Carole (31:31.355)
When I got older and I saw all of my friends who I, I mean, like I say this on stage, I know, because you've seen our show, right? Because you came to the show with the Riverhead, right? We would...
Adrienne Garland (31:42.302)
No, the one in Connecticut.
Carole (31:44.487)
Oh, in Connecticut, okay. Sorry. I, uh, anyway.
Adrienne Garland (31:47.662)
That's okay. Which was amazing by the way. I, I think I peed my pants.
Carole (31:53.223)
Well, and that's why poise should Sponsor so anyone from poise is listening Okay, so um, but I'm sure I said this in the show is that I? Wanted to I know so many of the women I know you know there of course when you talk about the Contemporaries of the day you always think about the big names, but there were so many women comedians that are brilliant and funny and
what we in our business call killer comics, which means they always do well. And they're just nobody's heard of them. Not that they haven't heard of them, but they're not superstars because they've been on the road doing clubs and colleges and casinos and corporate. And and I wanted to I wanted to showcase that. I wanted I wanted to go. Hey, here's a bunch of girls that are amazing. And the show that you saw was with Leanne and with Linda Belt. Two amazing comics.
Adrienne Garland (32:30.924)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (32:39.63)
Hmm
Adrienne Garland (32:51.414)
Amazing.
Carole (32:51.563)
And you know, it was an amazing show. So I love doing that. Like people are like, well, but what about you? I'm like, I said, I get, I've been doing stand-up for over 40 years. I love my job, but I also, I get more happiness when I'm sitting there and watching my friends. Leanne and I are like best friends, you know, and I will watch her set and I've seen it hundreds of times and I still laugh
Adrienne Garland (33:12.578)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (33:20.651)
She's hysterical.
Carole (33:21.511)
I love watching people shine. So, you know, so that's why I do it. I, you know, I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to be a martyr or all that, but I do think that we have to start breaking down this thing that women don't support each other. You know, at the end of the show we come out, like for example, I don't know if you saw this on my social media, but we finally finished up the residency at our Crane, at the Crane Theater, which we'd been there for six years.
Adrienne Garland (33:23.874)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (33:39.275)
Yeah.
Carole (33:50.279)
It was the last night of the show, we do the show, Leigh-Anne was closed the show, and unbeknownst to me, she comes out with a plaque that says, certificate of excellence. I started crying and she read it to me and I was like, you know, I mean, she didn't have to do that, but she did it and it meant the world to me because it's like, I don't think I'm doing anything special. I'm just trying.
Adrienne Garland (33:58.091)
Aww.
Carole (34:14.103)
to branch out and to give more women who don't, because I like to, I do consider myself a very powerful woman, and I wanna give more power to other women.
Adrienne Garland (34:25.611)
Gosh, Carol, that is so inspirational. And I think it's very much what SheLeads Media is all about as well. And the conference, it's not the Adrian show, right? It's about all of the other incredible people with expertise and thoughts and opinions and giving them the stage to share that. Because I agree with you.
Carole (34:39.563)
Whoa.
Adrienne Garland (34:54.006)
100%. There are these brilliant people that people just don't know about. And why is that? It feels so unjust. So I love that you are doing that. And that plaque, I understand what that means too because, you know, would a million dollars be nice? Yes. But you keep doing it because there's something about the emotion of that and knowing that you're actually helping.
Carole (34:58.527)
Right.
Carole (35:13.408)
Yes.
Adrienne Garland (35:22.438)
somebody accomplish something or feel better or do something that they thought that they couldn't do, you cannot put a price on that.
Carole (35:32.767)
No, and you know, it's funny because I've talked to people in a lot of comics and I teach standup and I work with people on their solo shows. I mean, do a million things, but like it's like, a million dollar jazz would be nice. But really what I want is I wanna travel. So that's my goal is, you know, I was very lucky because I did, you know, I did.
Adrienne Garland (35:53.845)
Hmm.
Carole (35:58.143)
uh, 11 tours overseas for the military. So I got to travel on the government's dime, which was great. But, but, but like to me, I've been around people who have money and you know what, they're miserable. You know, I mean, everyone thinks, oh, if I had money or if I had this and it's like, you know what, I'd rather know at the end of the day, like if, you know, if I, if I, if I left the world tomorrow, my son could say, you know, my mom did something really important.
Adrienne Garland (36:03.842)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (36:10.924)
Yeah.
Carole (36:26.387)
You know what I mean? And I've tried to teach him that. I've tried to teach him. And he, you know, because one of the things I've always said to people is that, you know, there's an old saying in show business, the people you meet on the way up are the same people that you meet on the way down.
Adrienne Garland (36:27.695)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (36:41.31)
Yeah.
Carole (36:43.623)
So better be nice to everybody because you know and he is and he's you know I you know I go see him because he works at some of the venues in the city and I went to see him recently and you know I could see everybody at the at the job loves him. You know.
Adrienne Garland (36:46.292)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (37:01.578)
the best. Yeah. And like that's all you want. Like you want him to be rich, but you also want him to be having meaningful relationships with people and them to, you know, say your son's name with a smile on their face and the fact that he did something good for them. Yeah.
Carole (37:04.553)
Great.
Carole (37:22.567)
Exactly. I mean, you know, and that's, I try to live my life that way. You know, I try to be good. I really do. But I do like even little things. I really, because I know right now the world is such a, there's so many things happening in the world. How hard is it to just say, thank you. Hey, you look good today. Hey, where'd you get that jacket? Oh my God.
Adrienne Garland (37:30.506)
You are good, Carol.
Adrienne Garland (37:43.296)
Yeah.
Carole (37:47.163)
I have stopped so many women on the subway and tapped them over. And what's funny in New York, you know, we all have attitudes. So you tap somebody and they give you that look like, what do you want? I'm going, I love your earrings. And every woman turns into a two year, like a 12 year old girl. Oh my God, thank you so much. Really you like them? And that's what we're doing at this point. There's enough, there's enough hostility and anger in this world. What, you know, especially
Adrienne Garland (38:04.449)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (38:13.012)
Listen, Carol, I think you just came up with another idea. How about going traveling around the world and tapping women on the shoulder and telling them something amazing about themselves and Condon as traveler can sponsor that.
Carole (38:23.341)
Thank you.
Yes, that would be great. Hi, you look really good. Where did you get that? Yeah, it's amazing. And then you know what, this is so funny. One time I went, I was in one of those major stores that has like rows and rows of clothes for, not a Coles, but that type of show. And I was looking at something and I was carrying it with me and this woman stopped she goes, where did you get that? Over there, I think they still have some, and we went, but it was just so funny because we would, that's what we should be doing.
Adrienne Garland (38:30.121)
Yeah!
Adrienne Garland (38:47.077)
I'm sorry.
Adrienne Garland (38:56.03)
Yeah, yes, 100%. We should, and you should. Sponsored by Coduné's Traveler. Carol, listen, I think that I could speak to you all day long and just come up with a lot of ideas to do a lot of amazing things to help women and to help women comedians and all of it. So how can people?
Carole (38:59.515)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (39:20.118)
Get in touch with you. I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of people in the sugarcoated audience that know people or that are putting on events themselves and that would love to have you there. So how can people find you, get in touch with you, go to your shows, all of it.
Carole (39:35.323)
I mean, I'm on social, I'm even on TikTok. I know, I was talking to somebody this morning. I said, I don't know why I joined TikTok because you don't wanna see me twerking. Seriously, that is not gonna end well for all of us. But basically you can go to carolmongomery.com, that's my website, you know, funn that's the other website. I'm all over social media. If you, I think you and I connected mostly on Instagram.
Adrienne Garland (39:38.922)
Wow.
Carole (40:04.467)
So you can go to Carol Montgomery, at Carol Montgomery Comic. I'm on LinkedIn because I would love to, one of the things I loved about, because one of the things I loved about doing the She-Li DeVette is because that was a different thing for me, I like stepping out of my comfort zone. So being the keynote for me was something that I don't do a lot, so I loved it. And I thought, wow, I do have a story to tell.
Adrienne Garland (40:20.195)
Hmm.
Adrienne Garland (40:26.871)
Hmm
Adrienne Garland (40:30.408)
Oh yeah.
Carole (40:30.975)
You made me think about possibly doing a TED Talk now because I do have, you know, I, you know, so yeah, so.
Adrienne Garland (40:38.77)
I would love to hear a TED Talk from you. You definitely should think about doing that. And I just talked to somebody on this past Friday who told me that she just got a TED Talk. So it's in the air.
Carole (40:53.299)
Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, because I forget that and thank you for having me on this because it makes me think, I'm like, because I think we all live so much in the present, we forget what we've done in the past. And like I said, with the young comics, like I look at some of the comics that are like big stars now and they all, you know, they're like my kids and I'm so proud of them. So, you know, so yeah, anyone wants to reach out on social media or anything like that, I'd love to do speaking events.
Adrienne Garland (41:05.92)
Yeah.
Carole (41:23.231)
You wanna come see the shows where, we're touring next year with Funny Women all over the country. We're in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Long Island. That's, excuse me, Florida. Oh, I can't wait for Florida. One o'clock shows, I'm still happy. I'll be at the beach at three o'clock. Yeah, I mean, you know, and the first special right now is not streaming, but the second and third are still streaming.
Adrienne Garland (41:39.708)
Yeah.
Adrienne Garland (41:42.945)
I love it.
Carole (41:52.955)
I think that had something to do with the licensing deal. And we're trying to find a new place to drop the shows also. So if anybody has ideas network wise, we're looking to branch out until, Showtime was amazing. The reason we went with Showtime is I think I mentioned to you at the beginning of the show that they gave me my first break. So when we had everybody wanting the show and I went, nope, I'm going to Showtime because they gave me my first break. But there-
Adrienne Garland (42:19.83)
Yeah, loyalty.
Carole (42:21.243)
Yeah, Showtime is being absorbed by Paramount Plus and it looks like they probably won't be doing a lot more comedy specials. So, you know, we're looking at possibly doing the reality show, we're thinking about doing the documentary. So there's all these things, but anybody who's listening, you've got ideas or anybody knows poise, somebody, please get me to poise. Or skin girl, that would do too. I mean, you know, poise and drinking, I mean, come on.
Adrienne Garland (42:36.84)
Mmm.
Adrienne Garland (42:50.322)
Yes. Oh my gosh, hysterical. Well, Carol, thank you so much for your time today and all of the gold nuggets of wisdom that you have dropped. The women in the audience are definitely entrepreneurs and I know that they're going to take away a lot from this conversation. So thank you so much.
Carole (43:07.611)
And thank you for being such a great host.
Adrienne Garland (43:10.463)
You are welcome.