The comedic persistence of stand-up Hannibal Buress
How one Chicago-raised comic is carving out his own niche
Mindy Tucker
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Only a few years ago, it would have been totally absurd to think Chicago stand-up Hannibal Buress would ever headline Zanies, especially for an entire week. At the time, the aspiring comic was living at home on Chicago's West Side, performing his odd, patient comedy at as many open mics as humanly possible. (One joke started with, "I'd like to kick a pigeon," and got stranger from there.) But things picked up in 2006: He secured a coveted spot at Montreal's Just For Laughs festival, and scored a gig on Holland's Comedy Factory TV show; the next year had him appearing on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson. Then, as is so often (and sadly) the case, Buress moved to New York. But the rest of the country has also picked up on the 26-year-old stand-up, despite a style that may seem off-putting. To help you bridge that gap, Decider considers his possible pitfalls and how they're actually assets.
Possible pitfall #1: His slow delivery
Though Buress has noticeably picked up the pace between and within bits, his delivery for each line is certainly more deliberate than most frenetic comics. It can be odd at first, especially when it becomes hard to discern what he's talking about. But just wait. In one bit, he goes on and on about the "fire SUV," the vehicle that follows fire trucks around and seems to serve no purpose at all. But he continues to talk, working out its function in his mind—to arrive on the site and say to the truck, "See that fire? What you wanna do is put water … on the fire … until there's no more fire … then you wanna do it again on that fire…" And rather than leave it at that, he lets the joke's monotone, paced repetition become somewhat of the joke's mantra, forever cementing it in audiences' minds.
Bonus: Here's the trailer for an upcoming stand-up special he's involved with, The Awkward Kings Of Comedy.
