It was an idea that defied conventional wisdom in comedy.

Some club owners used to refuse to have more than one woman on the bill –they all talk about the same things was the argument the bookers made — and younger comedians would be more likely to appeal to the demographic that regularly came to comedy clubs.

Carole Montgomery, who had been doing standup comedy for close to 40 years by 2017, decided those attitudes were wrong and set out to, “battle ageism and sexism one joke at a time.”

She put together an all-female lineup for a small New York comedy festival, which became a monthly gig at a New York theater called Funny Women of a Certain Age. That show led to a Showtime special of the same name in 2019, which became the top-rated standup comedy special that year on the premium cable channel.

There have been three Showtime specials so far, and she also takes Funny Women of a Certain Age on the road with a rotating lineup of performers that will include Marsha Warfield, Vanessa Hollingshead and Montgomery when the show comes to the Robins Theatre on Saturday.

“I came up with the idea when I was 59,” she said during a telephone interview earlier this month. “Everyone’s always said to me, ‘You’re a woman, you can’t do that.’ ‘You’re a mother, you can’t do that.’ ‘You’re old, you definitely can’t do that.’ And whenever someone says, ‘You can’t do that,’ I say, ‘Watch me.'”

Even Montgomery, 65, was surprised at how successful the concept became.

“I knew we had something special, but to see a network like Showtime take a chance and it turns out to be the highest-rated comedy special they had that year turned out to be the icing on the cake,” she said.

Being on Showtime had greater significance to Montgomery because her first big television appearance was on a Showtime comedy special hosted by Don Rickles in 1992. It was followed by multiple appearances on Comedy Central and spots on MTV’s “Half Hour Comedy Hour,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher,” “Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn” and appearances on Lifetime, VH1, A&E and Nick at Nite.

Comedy is enjoying a surge in popularity today, but despite the sexism she encountered starting her career in the 1980s, she wouldn’t trade places with the current generation for anything.

“I liken standup comedy to high school,” Montgomery said. “When I was starting as a freshman, the seniors in my comedy high school were Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Reiser, Larry Miller, Bill Maher, Robins Williams, Sam Kinison. Sam Kinison and I did crappy Jersey gigs together. I think the golden age of comedy was the late ’70s, early ’80s when I started. There are some great young comedians that I think are brilliant, but a lot of them still came through old school doing the clubs.

“These people who are famous on Tik Tok, where are they going to be in 10 years? It doesn’t mean they’re not funny, but whether you’re in a comedy club or Madison Square Garden, you have to be able to command an audience in a way that video isn’t going to help you.”

Montgomery described the lineup she’s bringing to Warren as all killers.

“Anyone can make somebody laugh, but I need killers in my show,” she said. “I’m usually at every show because it’s hard to let my baby go, but I could leave and I wouldn’t worry because I know everyone I put on these shows knocks it out of the park.”

Montgomery described Warfield, who is best known for her role as bailiff Roz on the long-running NBC series “Night Court” and recently reprised her role on its new sequel / reboot, as a performer who commands the stage.

When asked if it’s tough being one of those gatekeepers, the kind of people comedians complain about because they could give them work and don’t, Montgomery said she tells the complainers, “Sure, you can be on the show. Do you wanna follow Marsha Warfield?” That usually quiets them.

“She is a comedy legend,” Montgomery said.”You have to understand the level of brilliance with every single woman that’s on the show.”

Hollingshead was on the bill the night they invited representatives from the different networks and streaming services to see Funny Women of a Certain Age. That performance led to the Showtime deal. Hollingshead will deny it, Montgomery said, but her set helped sell the concept to the prospective buyers.

“She has to be seen live,” Montgomery said. “She’s like a dynamo. Her stream-of-consciousness jokes, I’ve never seen someone’s brain work that way. She’s the one who lit a fire under my butt during the pandemic. I was so depressed, and she said, ‘We have to write, because comedy is going to come back and we have to be ready,’ and she was right. We got the deal for the third special during the pandemic, and it was still going on, the end of it, when we shot it.”

If you go …

WHAT: Funny Women of a Certain Age – Marsha Warfield, Carole Montgomery and Vanessa Hollingshead

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Robins Theatre, 160 E. Market St., Warren

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $39 to $59 and are available at the Robins box office and online at robinstheatre.com.