It used to be that if they wanted live stand-up, San Fernando Valley residents drove over the hill to Hollywood.

Then Flappers Comedy Club and Restaurant opened and launched the Burbank Comedy Festival. The curtain goes up on the second annual festival — Sunday through Aug. 22 — with more than 200 stand-ups, industry insider panels and after parties at Flappers, Barney’s Beanery and Story Tavern in downtown Burbank.

With more than 50 special events, festivalgoers can catch big headliners, up-and-comers and a variety of offbeat shows focused on different themes.

“God bless ’em for trying to infuse some comedy in a place that could use some comedy,” says Adam Carolla, the lovable curmudgeon who once again brings his popular podcast to Flappers’ main stage at the festival Tuesday with Alonzo Bodden, Season 3 winner of “Last Comic Standing,” as his guest.

Last year, Carolla was recognized for going up against a company called Personal Audio, which claims it holds the patent on podcasting. It tried collecting royalties on “The Adam Carolla Show” and others.

Instead of walking away from his “small business” or paying up, Carolla fought back.

The lawsuit was later dropped when Personal Audio discovered there is no money in podcasts.

“Adam was at the forefront of that win because he put tons of money into fighting a lawsuit that basically said anybody who does a podcast has to pay,” says Barbara Holliday, a festival producer and co-owner of Flappers. “If he had lost, nobody could afford to podcast anymore.

“We do a podcast,” she says. “Tons of comedians do podcasts.”

While his attitude was, “Oh, come on! Nobody cares about me and this award,” he knows firsthand the importance of podcasts as a forum in nontraditional comedy.

“When I was coming up, it was stand-up or nothing,” Carolla says. “I wasn’t a traditional stand-up, and I never felt like it was my sport, but I was athletic enough to get by. Now there’s podcasting, and I finally feel like I found my sport.”

Tom Green, the unpredictable comedian known for the films “Road Trip” and “Freddy Got Fingered,” has also taken his comedy to the Internet. He recently launched “Tom Green’s Webovision,” a daily talk show in which viewers call or Skype to speak to his guests — comedians, YouTube sensations, celebrities.

In addition, he’s rolled out a $5.99 per month subscription service that allows fans to see extra content such as footage not available anywhere else on the Web.

Green also continues to tour and will be at the festival Aug. 17.

“I find it quite cathartic to be able to get up onstage and vent about the outrageousness and hilarity that we find in the world,” he says. “I used to be a lot more polarizing when I was younger, where the attempt was to actually piss off half of the audience, but I’ve lost enthusiasm for that kind of thing. I really like to make everybody in the room laugh.”

The festival features other celebrity headliners, including Kel Mitchell, the actor/comedian of “Good Burger” fame whose next venture takes him back to Nickelodeon in a series called “Game Shakers.”

He headlines opening night, Sunday, alongside emerging stand-ups, including Drew Lynch, a comedian who has been winning over fans and judges on “America’s Got Talent” with the stutter he developed after a softball injury.

Mary Lynn Rajskub, known as Chloe on “24,” heads up the Ladies of Laughter showcase Aug. 19.

On Aug. 21, the relatives of famous comedians — Camilla Cleese (daughter of John Cleese), Chaunte Wayans (niece of the Wayans Brothers), Max Silverstein (son of Andrew Dice Clay), Samantha Hale (granddaughter of Alan Hale of “Gilligan’s Island” fame) and more — take the mike in Ancestry Dot Comedy.

For kids, there’s the Two Milk Minimum show featuring a handful of young stand-ups, ages 12 to 17, on Aug. 22.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.