SXSW Comedy 2012 Lineup Announced With Twice As Many Comedians As 2011

South By Southwest (SXSW) has officially announced the lineup for SXSW Comedy, which will take place from March 10 - 17 in Austin, Texas. The festival's comedy programming has grown considerably since last year, with showcases, live podcast tapings and interactive shows stretching continuously throughout SXSW for the first time. The festival has announced 62 comedians scheduled to appear, nearly doubling last year's roster of performers.

Although SXSW is known for its music, film, and more recently, interactive portions of the festival, the comedy programming looks designed to delight both devoted comedy fans as well as casual observers. In fact, five of the comedians who landed on HuffPost Comedy's favorite comedy albums of 2011 list will be performing at the festival.

Part of the fun of SXSW Comedy is not knowing which performers will show up at which shows, although a full list of confirmed comedians has been released (and can be found in full at the bottom of this post). Some of the more well-known acts include Todd Barry, Doug Benson, Mike Birbiglia, Wyatt Cenac, John Hodgman, Marc Maron, T.J. Miller, Eugene Mirman, Kevin Pollack, Amy Schumer, Paul Provenza, Kristen Schaal and Reggie Watts.

Already announced were eight podcast recordings that will take place during the festival, including a special "WTF with Marc Maron," featuring veteran actor Jeffrey Tambor as Maron's guest. "Comedy Bang! Bang!" another popular podcast hosted by Scott Aukerman, will also appear at the festival, as well as an Austin version of the popular Comedy Bang! Bang! live show held weekly at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in Los Angeles. Under its former title, Comedy Death-Ray, Aukerman's show has had a presence at SXSW for the last five years, even before SXSW Comedy was a large-scale presence at the festival.

SXSW Comedy is free to all badge and wristband holders for anyone attending Interactive, film or music, and due to that, the comedy shows are loosely affiliated with them. For example, Mike Birbiglia will be promoting his film, "Sleepwalk With Me," at SXSW Film, but is also announced as part of the SXSW Comedy lineup. In the past, actors and musicians attending SXSW would often drop into the comedy shows. The podcasts announced also fall into the spirit of both the comedy and interactive portions of the festival.

Below is a list of each day's planned shows. For information on times and venues, please visit SXSW Comedy's official site.

Saturday, March 10
Doug Loves Movies with Doug Benson
A Carlin Home Companion (Kelly Carlin, daughter of George, tells stories about her unique life and family.)
The Smartest Man In The World with Greg Proops
Comedy Bang! Bang! (showcase)

Sunday, March 11
WTF with Marc Maron
Comedy Bang Bang with Scott Aukerman (podcast)
The Cast of "Bob’s Burgers" Live (Comedians on the Fox animated show perform their stand-up.)

Monday, March 12
Stag Comedy (Austin-based comedy show that blends sketch and video.)
Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show
Funny or Die presents The Super Serious Show (Also a mix of stand-up, sketch and video.)

Tuesday, March 13
RISK! (Kevin Allison's super-confessional storytelling show.)
You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes
UCB Comedy presents: All-Stars of Improv

Tuesday, March 13
UCB Comedy presents: The Best Damn Stand-up (Hosted by Pete Holmes and Gabe Liedman.)

Wednesday, March 14
UCB Comedy presents: The Chris Gethard Show

Thursday, March 15
Set List with Paul Provenza
Stand Up! Records (Showcase for the politically-minded record label.)

Friday, March 16
Earwolf presents: Sklarbro Country with Jason and Randy Sklar
The Benson Interruption (Doug Benson provides live commentary to comedians' sets.)
"Legend" with Reggie Watts (The musical mastermind provides a live score to the Ridley Scott movie "Legend.")

Saturday, March 17
Earwolf presents: Who Charted? with Howard Kremer and Kulap Vilaysack
The Benson Interruption

The festival will also include a number of as-yet-unannounced panels, where the intersection of comedy and media will be discussed.

Full list of performers:

James Adomian, Scott Aukerman, Kevin Allison, Todd Barry, Doug Benson, Mike Birbiglia, Kurt Braunohler, Jerrod Carmichael, Wyatt Cenac, Chris Cubas, Andres du Bouchet, Ian Edwards, Cameron Esposito, Matt Fulchiron, Brett Gelman, Chris Gethard, Gary Gulman, John Hodgman, Pete Holmes, Louis Katz, Martha Kelly, Robert Kelly, Kyle Kinane, Jessi Klein, Howard Kremer, Ben Kronberg, Mike Lawrence, Kristine Levine, Gabe Liedman, Mike MacRae, Marc Maron, T.J. Miller, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, Nick Mullen, Larry Murphy, Aparna Nancherla, Kumail Nanjiani, Shannon O’Neill, DC Pierson, Kevin Pollack, Chip Pope, Greg Proops, Paul Provenza, Jonah Ray, Amy Schumer, Kristen Schaal, Ari Shaffir, Eliza Skinner, Jason Sklar, Randy Sklar, Dan Soder, Dan St. Germain, Beth Stelling, Ryan Stout, Nick Turner, Brooke Van Poppelen, Kulap Vilaysack, Brendon Walsh, Brandon Wardell, Reggie Watts, Joe Wengert.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[pineappaloupe]

04:32 PM on 02/22/2012

Maybe Southwest could give these comedians a discount on a flight. Currently they give them nothing

[drunkarate]

12:27 PM on 02/22/2012

Skip SXSW completely. It's a huge scam. They don't pay the performing comedians, nor do they pay for hotel or airfare. It's a SCAM. For the amount of money people are paying, headlining comedians should be paid fair wage based on club fees at the very least. Shame on SXSW. SHAME.

[Greg Khaikin]

07:29 PM on 02/22/2012

Waaaahhh. then don't participate.

It's not a festival, and its not for "consumers"... it's an industry trade show and convention. These people are performing not for a paycheck, but to showcase their work with hopes to turn it into further opportunities down the line.

You think they have it rough, most bands playing have 4-5 members, plus shipping equipment, and are usually playing 5-10 times during the week. But its all to get in front of the right people. If an artist is unwilling to invest in themselves, then why should anyone else care?

[drunkarate]

09:39 PM on 02/22/2012

Nonsense. Utter rubbish. This is the same argument Mitzi Shore used for stiffing the comedians who graced the stage of her world famous Comedy Store in L.A. in the 70's and 80's. Read up on the comedian "strike" that occurred there, it's fascinating if you're a comedy fan. But it also reveals how evil entities like SXSW and the Comedy Store have exploited world-class talent for their own personal financial gain without remorse. They depend on people like you to be complicit in this despicable behavior. As more and more comedians saturate the event and less and less industry types attend (which has been the trend for the past few years) the SXSW "showcasing" gets more and more diluted and less useful as a way to "get seen."

By your logic all performers should always pay to have the "privilege" of performing in front of crowds. How is SXSW different from any other festival or performance venue? It's not. If anything, it's far less useful than a lot of lesser known comedy festivals, festivals that PAY the performers, or at least pay for their flight/hotel/food.

Stop treating performers like indentured servants. If the gold pass is $1,300, the festival can afford to at LEAST pay for flights/rooms/food. At the very least.

[cameron d]

11:11 AM on 02/22/2012

Listen to the Comedy Bang! Bang! and Doug Loves Movies podcasts. I love them. They're fantastic.

[Another Random Guy]

10:04 AM on 02/22/2012

I love Mike Birbiglia. Before him, I had never had a dream that I was skiing on French Toast Sticks.

[Vballboy60]

01:58 AM on 02/22/2012

No moderation in the Comedy section?

[Vballboy60]

01:58 AM on 02/22/2012

testing

[hopein2012]

12:10 AM on 02/22/2012

i'm looking forward to seeing foster the people, the band. hadn't heard of them until they covered the beach boys at the grammys. they are awesome.

[msc13]

10:08 PM on 02/21/2012

Brent Gellman is a riot, especially when he's on Comedy Death Ray/Bang Bang. His radio plays are hilarious.

[cameron d]

11:12 AM on 02/22/2012

The iBrain was a chilling look at the future. A future just filled with bodily fluids. Scary stuff.

[Renee Libby]

07:21 PM on 02/21/2012

Amy Schumer is hilarious!

[chaya2005]

03:54 PM on 02/21/2012

I only see one name that doesn't belong on there.

[Solvend]

02:08 PM on 02/21/2012

They don't even pay airfare or hotel fees for comic performers. See Duncan trussell's YouTube video about it

[pineappaloupe]

07:17 PM on 02/21/2012

SXNWO, 9/11 was an inside job.

[LarryVitter]

12:58 PM on 02/21/2012

Brad Stine? Larry The Cable Guy? Dennis MIller? The Apostles of Comedy?

[cameron d]

11:13 AM on 02/22/2012

Who are people who don't belong at SXSW.

[LarryVitter]

11:58 AM on 02/22/2012

They're America's funnies comedians!

[drunkarate]

12:41 PM on 02/21/2012

Does this festival pay its performers, or is it more of a Mitzi Shore Comedy Store style scam where they perform for free for the "exposure"?

[baxtron]

11:51 AM on 02/21/2012

I wanted to see Doug Benson, but I hate falling asleep in public.

[drunkarate]

12:46 PM on 02/21/2012

I used to listen to the Doug Loves Movies podcast, until it became obvious that Doug was so high during the proceedings, he could barely function. It became painful to listen to. I started using the iPhone "2x" function to double the speed, and that brought he speech back up to the speed of a normal non-high human being.

[cameron d]

11:14 AM on 02/22/2012

Hahahaha, sometimes that's the fun of the show. Remember, it's a free show.

[Dalyn McDougle]

10:09 AM on 03/10/2012

I used to listen to the Doug Loves Movies podcast, but for someone who loves movies he spends more time complaining about what he hates. I get it. You hate 3D because you don't like wearing glasses.