The annual music-industry circus known as South By Southwest lays siege to Austin beginning with SXSW Interactive and Film on March 9 and through SXSW Music, which ends on March 18. Complaining about SXSW is the No. 1 past-time of people who attend the festival, from those who pine for the less-hyped old days to those who begrudge the event’s organizers for how they treat performers.
Comedian Duncan Trussell—co-host of the podcast The Lavender Hour—falls into the latter camp. SXSW has become a comedy destination in recent years, though comics get the same deal as bands: an invitation to play, but no pay or travel expenses.
To vent, Trussell has jumped up the angry-Hitler meme—which subtitles an intense scene from 2004’s Downfall about the dictator’s last days for comic effect—with a video portraying Hitler as a broke comedian who can’t afford the career-expanding exposure SXSW ostensibly offers. “This is bigger than your career!” Hitler (Bruno Ganz) bellows. “This is about not letting assholes get away with highway robbery!”
