If you follow SXSW, you may know that our initial announcements are rarely complete, and this year is no exception. While we’re proud of the roster of great comedians set to join us in Austin next month, we were disappointed by the fact that we could only include one woman in our initial release.We’ve been working on finalizing arrangements with other well-known female comics for quite some time and we hope to announce more soon.SXSW Comedy has a history of showcasing some of the best up and coming and established comedians in the country. In recent years, we’ve featured Morgan Murphy, Margaret Cho, Chelsea Peretti, Kristen Schaal, Andi Smith, Maria Bamford, Natasha Leggero and Janeane Garofalo among many others.Unfortunately, we had just three female comedians apply in our open process this year. We’d love to see that number increase every year. That said, we did reach out to several who just couldn’t make it work due to scheduling.In terms of accepted acts, the festival is dependent on people who want to be a part of it. Comedians perform at SXSW for fun, not for money. Every year we lose people who are set to perform to TV pilot season. This year, it cost us some great women.Keep checking sxsw.com/comedy for updates to our comedy schedule.
South by Southwest has responded to the hubbub about their comedy offerings at this year’s festival consisting of 30 dudes and 1 lady. Here’s their statement in full: