After twelve mixed-bag nights of standup preliminary rounds out of the way, 36 comedians have survived the cruelest cut and advanced to the semifinal rounds of Cap City Comedy Club's 2012 Funniest Person in Austin competition.

With approximately 200 standups initially throwing their sweat-and-tears-soaked hats into the ring, making it to the semis is already a significant accomplishment in and of itself. Several nights of this year's prelims were stacked with seasoned local comedy vets, of which only three could be chosen to advance in the race to the title. In the subjective hands of each evening's judges, even past FPIA finalists were out before the second round.

As a preliminary judge on two of those nights, I can attest to the challenge and pressure of picking "the right three" comedians to advance to the semifinal round. Luckily, on the nights that I did, the judging panel pretty much agreed right away; I've heard tales of nights that took the judges nearly an hour of 12 Angry Men-type negotiations to come to a consensus.

Heading into the semis and finals, you are pretty much guaranteed to see (most of) the best that Austin's strong standup scene has to offer. Over three nights, you can catch 36 performers doing their best 6 minute sets in hopes of being one of the twelve comedians chosen to represent in the 2012 finals.

Performing Sunday, May 6 (in the order their names were drawn): Jon Mendoza, Sean Mooney, Derek Phelps, Jake Flores, Jared Walls, JD Moore, Maggie MacDonald, David McQuary, Duncan Carson, Maggie Maye, Chris Keimling and Cody Hustak.

Monday, May 7: Ralph Hardesty, Danielle Gonzalez, Adam Hrabik, Lashonda Lester, Cameron Fielder, Brian Gaar, Ramin Nazer, Joe Hafkey, Jon Stringer, Danny Palumbo, Bob Khosravi and Cameron Buchholtz.

Tuesday, May 8: Matt Willis, Seth Cockfield, Patrick Sirois, Kath Barbadoro, Carey Denise, Kat Ramzinski, Mac Blake, Roxy Castillo, Eric Kennedy, Amber Bixby, Steven Farmer and Chris Cubas.

In each of the semifinal rounds, four comics will be chosen from each night to compete in the highly concentrated 12-person final round on Monday, May 14. That individual will join an illustrious collection of Austin comedy royalty who can feel validated knowing that standup comedy is a career goal that can still pay off. One day. Maybe.

Semis nights are my personal favorites of the contest. I mean, where else (besides slam poetry and reality television) do you get to see often underemployed artists enter into direct competition with one another, armed with only their words? And you get to support them and be entertained at the same time!

Point being, whether you're at the clubs on a regular basis or not, now is your chance to see some of the best standup comedy that Austin has to offer, gathered together in a quick, enjoyable three nights.

What else are you doing on a Sunday, Monday or a Tuesday night that's better than this? Watching Glee? Please. Get your ass to Cap City, eat a big plate of nachos and show some love for your hard-working Austin comics.

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Funniest Person in Austin Semifinals take place Sunday - Tuesday, May 6 - 8 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8.00.