Eric André, Chelsea Handler, Abbi Jacobson, Sam Jay & More Announced for the 2023 SXSW Comedy Festival Lineup

South by Southwest (SXSW) will begin in Austin on March 10, 2023, and exciting announcements are still being announced! This week SXSW revealed the 2023 SXSW Comedy Festival participants and showcases that will take place from March 10-14, with intermittent programming through Saturday, March 18. SXSW Comedy entertainers announced include Chelsea Handler, Anna Kendrick, Patton Oswalt, Jake Johnson, Phoebe Robinson, Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin, Eric André, Abbi Jacobson, Sam Jay, Bob Odenkirk and many more!

Special Programming includes Adult Swim’s The Eric Andre Show, ASSSSCAT, The Comedian’s Comedian, Comic Relief US, The Creek & The Cave, Doug Loves Movies, Good Trip Live: A Night of Comedy and Psychedelic Stories, Gotham Comedy Club, I Used to Be Funny, improv4humans, Maltin on Movies, Matt Besser’s 420 Show, Roast Battle’s Tournament of Champions, Swan Leak: A Silent Clown Ballet, Variety Power of Comedy and more.

Below are the SXSW Comedy Festival Special Programming and Shows Details

Variety Power of Comedy, presented by Inspire Brands, will recognize comedic achievements across stand-up, film, TV and digital platforms on March 10 at SXSW. This year’s honorees are Eric André, Cult Favorite; Chelsea Handler, Comedy Icon; Jake Johnson, Comedy Director; Anna Kendrick, Comedy Actress; Patton Oswalt, Stand-up Comic; Phoebe Robinson, Comedy Innovator; Tim Robinson & Zach Kanin, Sketch Comedy; and Rachel Sennott, Breakthrough Artist. Variety Power of Comedy will be hosted by Mike Lawrence and Nick Thune. Participants also include Bob Odenkirk. Inspire Brands will be serving food and drink at the event from Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC Drive-in. The event will be open to SXSW Badge holders on a first come, first served basis.

Expert impressionist James Adomian returns to SXSW Comedy with his third festival “keynote,” ŽIŽEK vs ŽXŽW: My God, What Is This Polycrisis? (A Comedy Keynote in Twelve Volumes), featuring celebrity philosopher Slavoj Žižek (Adomian) sharing inscrutable insights and questioning guests who will no doubt struggle to comprehend what cannot be understood about deep politics, late capitalist culture, and SXSW itself.

Comic Relief US (comicrelief.org), the nonprofit known around the world for Red Nose Day, hosts stand-up performance and special event, Funny Thing About Breaking Up the Boys Club. Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), Sam Jay (Bust Down), and Joyelle Johnson (Crashing) join for a discussion on the impact of women who break barriers and the power of laughter to affect change.

Adult Swim joins the festival to celebrate the return of the The Eric Andre Show. Eric André, along with co-host Felipe Esparza, DJ Douggpound, and friends, will present an evening of live comedy along with an exclusive sneak peek of the long-awaited sixth season.

Producers of the hit Netflix documentary, and 2020 SXSW Film selection, Have a Good Trip, will host Good Trip Live: A Night of Comedy and Psychedelic Stories with Eric André, Reggie Watts, Steve Agee, Sandy Honig (SXSW Featured Short Pennies From Heaven), Hamilton Morris, and surprise guests! The Good Trip team will also take part in a SXSW Conference featured session, Have a Good Trip: Psychedelics in Film and TV.

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB) cofounder, Matt Besser, will return with a slate of shows including his beloved podcast improv4humans. He will provide stoner comedy at The 420 Show and lead UCB’s longest running show, ASSSSCAT, featuring true tales from celebrity guests and inspired scenes from some of today’s most skilled performers. UCB favorites Anthony Atamanuik (The President Show), John Gemberling (Broad City), and Jessica McKenna (Party Over Here) will join in the fun.

Besser will also present Johnny Cash Jr. & The Nepo Babies Hootenanny, a relatively star-studded event. Johnny Cash Jr. (Besser) hosts an evening of infamous nepo babies performing their biggest hits, or maybe their parent’s biggest hits. Another jam session of sorts, Nick Thune will host Riffs and Riff-Raff, a mixed bag of weirdness, complete with outlandish characters, nonsensical lyrics, and improvised songs.

The schedule features a slate of live podcast recordings. Renowned film historian Leonard Maltin and daughter Jessie Maltin, will talk all things cinema with guests on Maltin on Movies. Stuart Goldsmith will return with live editions of his famed podcast, The Comedian’s Comedian, where he delves into the minds of the funniest people with his signature curious and insightful style. Doug Benson will record his hit audience-interactive game show, Doug Loves Movies. For the first time in almost a decade, Greg Proops (Whose Line Is It Anyway) brings his podcast, The Smartest Man in the World, to the SXSW stage.

Two comedy institutions are back again this year to bring some of their favorite acts to the festival. A renowned launching pad for New York’s funniest, Gotham Comedy Club brings a killer lineup of comedians from their famous stage. Official SXSW venue The Creek & The Cave, which fostered a massive wave of comedy in NYC before making a home in Austin, will also be showcasing a selection of their top stand-ups.

Brian Moses returns to the festival with The Hateful Eight: Roast Battle’s Tournament of Champions. Since its inception at the world-famous Comedy Store, Roast Battle has spent a decade spreading the art of insult comedy, crowning the best trash talkers in cities all across the country. Moses assembles a first-ever meeting of champions from every region of America to compete in a three-day battle of wits…until one is crowned best roast battler in the country.

Joe DeRosa, comedian and owner of NYC sandwich shop, Joey Roses, returns with another edition of last year’s hit, Joe DeRosa’s Sandwich Summit. The summit will bring together chefs and creators behind some of Austin’s best eats to talk about all things sandwich.

In their first year at SXSW, comedians Natalie Palamides and Christina Catherine Martinez team up for SWAN LEAK: A Silent Clown Ballet. Moonlighting as incendiary LA clowns, the pair explore their softer side through a soggy interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece.

Comedian and actress Rachel Sennott stars as an aspiring stand-up comic struggling with PTSD in SXSW Narrative Feature, I Used to Be Funny. In partnership with the Film & TV Festival, We Used to Be Funny celebrates the film and its comedian-studded marquee with a stand-up show featuring cast members Rachel Sennott, Sabrina Jalees, Caleb Hearon, and friends.

To register or to learn more about SXSW 2023 please visit https://www.sxsw.com.

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Source: SXSW, Chelsea Handler, Anna Kendrick, Patton Oswalt, Jake Johnson, Phoebe Robinson, Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin, Eric André, Abbi Jacobson, Sam Jay, Bob Odenkirk