Laugh lovers who have been holding their breaths waiting to hear who’ll be at SXSW Comedy this year can exhale. The 2017 lineup is out and includes Wyatt Cenac, Wanda Sykes, Bob Odenkirk, Chris Hardwick, Janeane Garofalo, and Dan Harmon, among others.
Kicking off the 10th edition of the Festival will be a live taping of the Comedy Central hit game show @midnight with Chris Hardwick, in which our favorite Nerdist will be joined by Tom Lennon, Whitney Cummings, and Nick Swardson as contestants (Fri., March 10, ACL Live at the Moody Theater).
Audible will host Audible Impact, a charitable comedy and music event in support of critical First Amendment issues, hosted by Michael Ian Black.
NBCUniversal streaming service Seeso is back with another full slate of shows, including returning hits HarmonQuest, Dan Harmon’s live improvised Dungeons & Dragons game, with Jeff B. Davis, Erin McGathy, Dungeon Master Spencer Crittenden, and a special guest going on a dragon-slaying journey; and Big Jay Oakerson’s What’s Your F@%king Deal?, a showcase that specializes in comedians doing crowd work. And making its SXSW debut, Wyatt Cenac’s Night Train showcase, with the musical stylings of Night Train regular DJ Donwill.
Seeso will also record back-to-back performances of Doug Stanhope and Friends, featuring a lineup of some of Stanhope’s favorite stand-ups (Tue., March 14, 10pm & midnight, Esther’s Follies).
Look for a live version of truTV boob-tube hybrid Talk Show the Game Show, in which creator Guy Branum and judges Casey Schreiner and Wanda Sykes put contestants through talk show-inspired challenges.
This year’s Festival will also feature a variety of independent shows, like
• Good Trip w/ Shane Mauss, which explores the comedian’s life-long relationship with psychedelics that’s part stand-up, part storytelling, and part TED Talk;
• Would You Bang Him?, a comedy game show in which hosts Rich Vos and Bonnie McFarlane, with the help of female judges, aims to answer the titular question for a batch of competing male comedians; and
• Witch Taint, a comedic live reading and concert detailing Dave Hill‘s account of posing as a black metal guitarist online and trying to get signed by a record label.
Also on tap are some tried-and-true showcases that it wouldn’t be SXSW Comedy without:
• The Laugh Button Live!
• Lorne Michaels’s Above Average
• Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre’s ASSSSCAT
• 420 with Matt Besser, and
• GE’s ImprovScience
You want podcasts? Oh, there are podcasts!
• Comedy Bang! Bang!
• improv4humans
• Harmontown
• My Wife Hates Me
• Doug Loves Movies
SXSW Comedy runs March 10-19 and is open to anybody in possession of a SXSW badge or wristband. Stay tuned for another announcement from SXSW Comedy, which will include information about additional performers, showcases, and events. Full details and lineups will be live soon at sxsw.com/comedy/2017.
SXSW Comedy Participants
Scott Aukerman
Nate Bargatze
Doug Benson
Matt Besser
Michael Ian Black
Joel Kim Booster
Guy Branum
Nicole Byer
Wyatt Cenac
Whitney Cummings
Joe DeRosa
Tim Dillon
Shaun Diston
Jon Gabrus
Janeane Garofalo
Chris Hardwick
Dan Harmon
Dave Hill
John Hodgkin
Robert Kelly
Matteo Lane
Tom Lennon
Al Madrigal
Jason Mantzoukas
Shane Mauss
Bonnie McFarlane
Jessica McKenna
Morgan Murphy
Big Jay Oakerson
Bob Odenkirk
Sean Patton
Eddie Pepitone
Phoebe Robinson
Andrew Santino
Horatio Sanz
Dulce Sloan
Doug Stanhope
Nick Swardson
Wanda Sykes
Scott Thompson
Nick Thune
Liza Trigger
Rich Vos
Brendon Walsh
Matt Walsh
Glenn Wool
Sasheer Zamata
This article appears in February 17 • 2017.