https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/sxsw/2024-02-28/south-by-southwest-sends-in-the-clowns/

South by Southwest Sends in the Clowns

By Richard Whittaker, February 28, 2024, 12:00pm, SXSW

Funny women are headlining this year's South by Southwest Comedy Festival, with solo shows from BAFTA Breakthrough artist Luisa Omielan and WGA award-winning writer Yamaneika Saunders just part of this year's celebration of laughter (running March 8-12 and open to all badgeholders).

SXSW and Variety had already announced the four-day festival of hilarity will host the second year of the Power of Comedy awards, with laurels going to Comedy Actress Award winner Hannah Einbinder and Comedy Actor Award winner John Leguizamo, alongside fellow honorees Samantha Bee, Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells, Pamela Adlon, Jaboukie Young-White, Lilly Singh, Robbie Praw, and Cazzie David, and celebrity hosts including Brooke Shields (who will present Bee with the Comedy Innovator Award), Morgan Spector (presenting Kroll and Rannells with the Comedy Duo Award), Jean Smart, Nick Thune, and Diablo Cody. The ceremony takes place March 8 at ACL Live.

As is the way with SXSW, there are performers taking the stage who will also be appearing elsewhere at the fest, such as Adlon (who'll be at the awards picking up her Comedy Director Award gong for her SXSW Film & Television Headliner, Babes) and Courtney Pauroso and Natalie Palamides, whose hilarious new show The Broadcast will be part of the Duplass Brothers Indie TV Showcase. Conan O'Brien, who was announced yesterday as presenting his new Max show, Conan O'Brien Must Go, and will now sit down with his longtime creative partner Robert Smigel to discuss their path from the Saturday Night Live writers room to O'Brien's run on Late Night in The Origins of Whatever You Call What We Did.

They'll all struggle to be as busy as Upright Citizens Brigade cofounder and SXSW comedy constant Matt Besser, who will be (deep breath) presenting his podcast improv4humans, a special performance of UCB's ASSSSCAT, and appearing as a digital version of the man in black for A.I. Johnny Cash & A.I. Friends Hootenanny

There are many SXSW veterans (including Adlon, Bee, and O'Brien) returning, and that will spark some incredible collaborations, including a meeting of two true leviathans of pop culture as director, writer, and the man that brought Miss Piggy to life, Frank Oz meets with the godfather of American film criticism, Leonard Maltin, for a very special episode of Maltin on Movies. The pair sit down with Maltin's daughter and cohost Jessie Maltin, Oz joins Smigel, Judd Apatow, and Lucia Aniello to discuss comedy - and, of course, everyone's favorite furry friends.

And would it be SXSW Comedy without James Adomian and his uncanny impressions? Having previously delivered keynotes as failed PC owner Elon Musk and philosopher Slavoj Žižek, this year he brings back a true movie legend and unmatchable curmudgeon for the Unfinished Orson Welles Roast of Hollywood.

Plus, if you want to feel good about making so much merry, don't miss Permission to Laugh: Using Comedy as a Force for Good, a special event hosted by Comic Relief US, the organization behind the American version of Red Nose Day.

Here's the full list of performers this year:

• Aida Rodriguez
• Andrew Rannells
• Annie Lederman
• Beth Stelling
• Brian Simpson
• Cazzie David
• Chris Fleming
• Chris Gethard
• Christina Catherine Martinez
• Conan O’Brien
• Courtney Pauroso
• Doug Benson
• Dulcé Sloan
• Dustin Ybarra
• Erin Jackson
• Frank Oz
• Hannah Einbinder
• Ikechukwu Ufomadu
• Jaboukie Young-White
• James Adomian
• Joe DeRosa
• John Leguizamo
• Jon Gabrus
• Jourdain Fisher
• Judd Apatow
• Leonard Maltin
• Lilly Singh
• Lucia Aniello
• Luisa Omielan
• Lynne Koplitz
• Matt Besser
• Napoleon Emill
• Natalie Palamides
• Nathan Macintosh
• Nick Kroll
• Nick Thune
• Orlando Leyba
• Pamela Adlon
• Paul Scheer
• Pete Lee
• Punkie Johnson
• Rich Vos
• Rick Glassman
• Robert Smigel
• Samantha Bee
• Stuart Goldsmith
• Tone Bell
• Yamaneika Saunders
• Zach Zucker