South by Southwest Interactive has announced it’s first Keynote speaker for 2013, and it’s Matthew Inman, the artist and behind the comedy website known as The Oatmeal.

From the Southby site:

Inman championed two successful crowdfunding campaigns in 2012, including “Operation BearLove Good. Cancer Bad” where he turned a lawsuit on its head by raising over $200,000 for charity instead of paying $20,000 in damages to a rival website. In addition, he generated over $1M in 9 days to try to buy the laboratory formerly owned by Nikola Tesla, a turn-of-the-century engineer who many consider a geek hero. Matthew lives in Seattle and really, really likes Sriracha rooster sauce.

While the exact day and time of the Keynote has yet to be announced, one can be assured it will be well attended.

We at the Baby! will be sure to catch this one! You can also follow Inman on Twitter @Oatmeal, we do!

It’s been a bit of a rough ride for a few of us here at The Baby! since the end of our favourite Conference that picks up Music, Film, Interactive, Comedy, so please excuse a little bit of radio silence. Hopefully those of you looking to speak at SXSW 2013 on a panel picked up that the deadline for submitting your panel was actually last week, July 20th.

Which means, faithful reader, that the Austin bunnies are currently doing a quick skim over all the ideas for 2013, and getting them ready to go on show in the Panel Picker, where everyone gets a chance to vote on the potential panels.

As in previous years, the public vote will have a bearing on the selection process, but SXSW will also hand pick a number of sessions themselves as well as turning to their Advisory Panel to go through the sessions providing their own input. Think of it as a third public vote, a third on a jury of peers, and a third on the gut instinct from the SXSW team on what works, and you’ll have a good idea of how it all shakes down.

The Panel Picker will go live on Monday August 13th. So in about two weeks.

The heckles are sure to come in, but that’s fine, because anyone taking on board Comedy at SXSW is going to get quite a few comments, so let’s just skip over the obvious stuff (the gender balance, how much the comedians are being paid, how many are here to promote and how many to perform) and point out the full line up of comedians who’ll be in town for SXSW is here.

This year you’ll find a mix of nightly showcases during Film, Interactive, and Music, either in Esther’s Follies or at the stages in the Austin Convention Center, while comedy podcasts will be recorded, again mostly in Esther’s Follies, but do check SXschedule for the exact dates and locations.

Personally, I’m looking forward to two of the ‘special events’ that are under the Comedy banner. A Carlin Home Companion see’s Kelly Carlin bring out personal memories and video footage of her father, George Carlin. The second is Paul Provenza’s session on Thursday 15th, promising a mix of traditional stand up and improvisation in Stand-up without a Net.

Building on previous year’s experience, SXSW continues to bring a tiny thread of comedy to the mega threads that are Music, Film, and Interactive. With eight nights of 90 minute slots (line-ups to be announced), and a number of comedy podcasts set to be recorded all is well with the stand-ups coming to Austin.

Perhaps not.

The value for many in coming to SXSW is in the contacts that can be made and the potential deals to be had. They might not happen in Austin, but the first meeting and the “your people should call my people” is what SXSW thrives on. “My people” are only going to turn up if there is some talent that’s ready to break out into the mainstream and become a big name.

And without meaning to upset the performers coming out to SXSW, Austin is just not one of the key festivals in the comedy circuit that attracts the virtuous cycle that Interactive, Music, or Film, can muster. Comedians, promoters, television producers, commissioning panels, and everyone else will head to Edinburgh, Montreal, or Melbourne long before they make the trip to Texas unless it’s for the Moontower Comedy and Oddity Festival in April. And while there might be the occasional big name works out their geek demographic and tour plans cross over and allow a quick stop in Austin (such as John Oliver’s appearance last year), the stand-ups working the regular circuit are not going to break a leg for the $100 fee, housing assistance, and the experience of SXSW.

While we’ll check the nightly line-up as it is announced, just because stand-up is the new rock and roll doesn’t mean it can be nurtured in the same way as the 2000+ performers descending on Austin. Comedy is a serious business, and if SXSW really want a comedy strand, then they need to change how they work to fit the landscape, and not expect the comedians to bend to their view.

Hopefully we’ll see the business around comedy get some traction at SXSW this year. It certainly deserves to be more than a bullet point on the evening entertainment schedule.