ZUG is reporting from the big South by Southwest interactive conference in Austin, TX this weekend. This is the annual gathering of the Web's leading thinkers: writers, developers, designers, bloggers, and Twitter-er-ers. South by Southwest (or SXSW) has now grown into a kind of annual pilgrimage for geeks -- or as I like to call it, 'Nerd-vana.'

Just as ZUG's mission is to continually find the Funniest Person in the World, ZUG's mission this week is to find The Funniest Person at SXSW. To that end, we'll be searching for amusing people -- not just comedians, but everyday funny people -- and subjecting them to a three-part test.

Comedy Challenge #1: The Story. Tell us about something crazy you've done. This could be anything from a memorable prank to eating 32 hot dogs at one sitting. The goal is to find out, 'What have you accomplished in life thus far that will make us laugh?'

Comedy Challenge #2: The Stare-Off. Based on a suggeston from ZUG Liver French Mailman, this game involves holding each other's chins, then gazing into each other's eyes until one person laughs. Contestants may do or say anything they wish to elicit laughter, as long as they keep holding our chin. If they make us laugh first, we mark their time. There is a one minute time limit.

Comedy Challenge #3: The ZUG Plug. You may plug any Web site, business, or project that you choose -- we only ask that you make your plug as funny and entertaining as possible.

You, the ZUG Liver, will ultimately decide the winner. We will do our best to paint each participant in the funniest light possible, but you will vote on who entertained you the most. This person will be crowned The Funniest Person at SXSW, and we will reward them with $1,000 worth of publicity services promoting their Web site or project.

Stay tuned; this year's SXSW is going to be insane. And with any luck, our contestants will be also.

The entries thus far:

'http://www.zug.com/live/81140/Funniest-Person-at-SXSW-Ricky-Van-Veen.html'>Ricky Van Veen
Clive Goodinson
Mike Subelsky
Scott Kirsner
Jonathan Coulton
Baratunde Thurston
Alex Albrecht
Drew Curtis
Mike Judge
Eugene Mirman

Just plain Jeeni 47,795 51
03/14/2009 02:40 PM

"Nerd-vana."

Nice!

Hammerhead 59,399 14
03/14/2009 11:05 PM

we will reward them with $1,000 worth of publicity services promoting their Web site or project.

Great, this just means that from here until the end of the year, every time John posts, his comments will end with some bullShakespeare about this project. 

Nice way to put an arbitrary price on the words you'll copy and paste for the next nine months.  This is the book promotion all over again. 

Remind me to push the ignore button for John's posts for a while.

Old Dirty Bastard McManus 186,130 44
03/15/2009 12:52 AM

When is omgwtfbbqpork.com going to be back up?  'Cause I really miss you being over there, HH.

Chit 178,781 15
03/15/2009 01:35 AM

When is omgwtfbbqpork.com going to be back up? 'Cause I really miss you being over there, HH.









Whistler is easily the funniest Frostin' guy at the Southwest Silly Billy Convention!!





  Even if he's not there.