Announcing the 2024 SXSW Comedy Festival lineup! This year’s diverse slate highlights some of today’s most compelling comedic voices during a week-long celebration of comedy. From March 8-12, with intermittent programming through Saturday, March 16, SXSW Comedy features stand-up showcases, improv, conversations, live podcast recordings, and more.
Since 2008, the SXSW Comedy Festival has hosted hundreds of acclaimed comedians and performers from all corners of the entertainment industry. The festival connect’s today’s most influential comedy minds and the next wave of groundbreaking comedic talent with icons from the world of film and television, creating a festival of comedy unlike any other. Open to all SXSW Badges, the SXSW Comedy Festival offers a rare space to witness those spontaneous moments that blossom into enduring collaborations.
Dive into highlights from the 2024 SXSW Comedy Festival below and add events to your own SXSW Schedule.
2024 SXSW Comedy Lineup
2024 SXSW Comedy Festival Participants
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 • Plus surprise guests and more!
2024 SXSW Comedy Festival Special Programs
A.I. Johnny Cash & A.I. Friends Hootenanny • ASSSSCAT • The Comedian’s Comedian • Entre Nos Presents Comedy Crossroads • Comic Relief US • The Creek and The Cave • Doug Loves Movies • Famous with a Baby (and Other Sh*t that Didn’t Work Out) • Girl Cop: A Clown Drama • Gotham Comedy Club • Hollywood Improv • improv4humans • Maltin on Movies • The Origins of Whatever You Call What We Did with Conan O’Brien and Robert Smigel • Reel Funny: Creating Comedy from the Director’s Chair • Riffs and Riff-Raff with Nick Thune & Friends • Samantha Bee Presents Wits End • Stamptown • The Street Meat: A Comedic Celebration of Food Trucks, Grease Pits, and Sandwich Shops • The Unfinished Orson Welles Roast of Hollywood • Vanessa 5000 • Variety Power of Comedy • Yamaneika Saunders Presents: Maestra • and More
For the second year, Variety will host its Power of Comedy awards show at SXSW on March 8 recognizing comedic achievements across stand-up, film, TV and digital platforms. This year’s honorees are Samantha Bee, Nick Kroll & Andrew Rannells, John Leguizamo, Pamela Adlon, Jaboukie Young-White, Lilly Singh, Hannah Einbinder, Robbie Praw, and Cazzie David. A slate of celebrity presenters will join in on the celebrations including Brooke Shields, Jean Smart, Morgan Spector, Nick Thune, and Diablo Cody. The event will be open to all SXSW Badges (Platinum, Interactive, Film & TV, and Music) on a first come, first served basis. Additional tickets are available to the public for purchase here.
The Unfinished Orson Welles Roast of Hollywood kicks off this year’s comedy festival with expert impressionist James Adomian. The cinema legend (Adomian) is joined by his famous friends (and enemies) to survey the state of film, celebrity, and SXSW, as they look at this year’s Oscar luminaries.
SXSW Comedy has a history of bringing the worlds of TV, film, and comedy together to connect the industry’s most influential voices. Over the years, the comedy festival has welcomed renowned film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, and his daughter Jessie, to interview notables in comedic filmmaking on their live podcast Maltin on Movies. This year, Hollywood legend Frank Oz (Little Shop of Horrors, The Muppets) will join the Maltins to talk about his catalog of enduring comedy films, and creating some of the characters that shaped our childhood.
Oz joins Judd Apatow, Robert Smigel, and Lucia Aniello to share stories and insights about making comedy. Reel Funny: Creating Comedy from the Director’s Chair is a rare discussion with creators whose voices helped shape the comedy zeitgeist. Longtime collaborators Conan O’Brien and Smigel reminisce on the day they met at SNL and the ensuing idiocy they created together that led to the birth of Late Night in The Origins of Whatever You Call What We Did with Conan O’Brien and Robert Smigel.
Comic Relief US (comicrelief.org), the nonprofit known around the world for Red Nose Day, hosts standup performance and special event, Permission to Laugh: Using Comedy as a Force for Good. Paul Scheer (The League) and Dulcé Sloan (The Daily Show) explore the power of entertainment and the role of comedy to drive positive social change.
Stuart Goldsmith returns with live editions of his hit UK podcast, The Comedian’s Comedian, where he delves into the processes of the funniest people with his signature curious and insightful style. Goldsmith journeys across the pond to talk with comedians Lynne Koplitz, Brian Simpson, and more.
SXSW Comedy is honoring long-time collaborations, as well as welcoming new presenters to this year’s festival. New York City institution, Gotham Comedy Club, is celebrating its 10th season at SXSW by bringing to the stage some of New York’s funniest. Over the years Gotham has showcased comedy greats, among them, Bill Burr, Sinbad, Amy Schumer, Jim Breuer, and Nate Bargatze. Carrying a 60+ year tradition as one of the most enduring comedy club brands in the country, Hollywood Improv joins the slate with a selection of club regulars. Official SXSW venue The Creek and The Cave, which fostered a massive wave of comedy in NYC before making a home in Austin, brings a lineup of heavy hitters to the stage. Entre Nos (HBO), known for creating a platform for rising Latino voices, returns with a roster of favorites including Aida Rodriguez, Dustin Ybarra, and Orlando Leyba in Comedy Crossroads.
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB) cofounder, Matt Besser, is back with a slate of shows including his beloved podcast improv4humans. He will lead UCB’s longest running show, ASSSSCAT, featuring true tales from celebrity guests and inspired scenes from some of today’s most skilled performers.
Besser will also present A.I. Johnny Cash & A.I. Friends Hootenanny, a unique music performance of artificial intelligences. A.I. Johnny Cash (Besser) hosts an evening of A.I. celebrities performing like you never thought was possible. Another jam session of sorts, Nick Thune will host Riffs and Riff-Raff, a mixed bag of outlandish characters, nonsensical lyrics, and improvised songs.
SXSW Comedy spotlights today’s innovators of clowning making their mark on the centuries-old artform. Courtney Pauroso takes the stage as Vanessa 5000, a sex robot whose product demonstration becomes existential. Pauroso joins forces with Christina Catherine Martinez for Girl Cop: A Clown Drama. “Bad boy of clown”, Zach Zucker, brings the gang together for his raunchy, chaotic, internationally touring late-night variety show Stamptown, along with friends Natalie Palamides, Ikechukwu Ufomadu, and more.
Two comedian contestants face off in Samantha Bee Presents Wits End. Hosted by quizmaster Adam Kesner, comedians (with the help of former Jeopardy! contestants) compete in the live game show where being funny is almost more important than getting the answers right. Doug Benson returns with some comedian friends to record his hit audience-interactive game show, Doug Loves Movies.
On the marquee are solo shows from two powerhouse comedians. BAFTA Breakthrough artist Luisa Omielan is bringing her greatest hits from the UK to the SXSW stage in Famous with a Baby (and Other Sh*t that Didn’t Work Out). Standup, actor, and WGA award-winning writer Yamaneika Saunders challenges the conventions of comedy in her new hour Yamaneika Saunders Presents: Maestra.
Joe DeRosa, comedian and proprietor of New York sandwich shop Joey Roses, is joined by the creators of some of the country’s greatest common cuisine (and a few comics) with The Street Meat: A Comedic Celebration of Food Trucks, Grease Pits, and Sandwich Shops.
