HANNIBAL BURESS
At Foxwoods Resort & Casino, Mashantucket, Conn., Aug. 5, www.foxwoods.com; Wilbur Theatre, Boston, Aug. 10-11, www.thewilbur
.com; Casino Ballroom, Hampton, N.H., Aug. 13, www.casinoballroom.com
Hannibal Buress’s dad just started watching “The Wire,’’ the great HBO series that ended in 2008. Dad’s a little slow on the uptake, the comedian jokes in his latest hourlong special, “Comedy Camisado.’’
Then again, who is Buress to judge? He only discovered Jimi Hendrix when Hulk Hogan used “Voodoo Child’’ as his walk-on music, he admits.
He may have been late to Hendrix, but Buress, 33, can now answer the guitarist’s famous question — “Are you experienced?’’ — with a definitive yes. Since his auspicious debut a half-dozen years ago, he’s been on a roll, writing for “30 Rock,’’ making guest appearances on “Broad City,’’ and filming three comedy specials, the most recent of which debuted this year on Netflix. He has a voice part in the new animated comedy “The Secret Life of Pets,’’ and this month he returns in the sidekick role on the fourth season of the demented Adult Swim parody “The Eric Andre Show.’’
Buress, who is still fending off the notoriety he earned from a certain viral joke about a certain comedy elder, performs Friday at Foxwoods in Connecticut, Aug. 10-11 at the Wilbur Theatre, and Aug. 13 at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in New Hampshire. (That joke brought widespread attention to the initial sexual assault accusations against Bill Cosby.) Buress spoke with us about playing a dachsund, playing second fiddle to Berklee graduate Andre, and playing to his crowd.
Q. Who’s the funniest person in your family?
A. Ahhh . . . There are some people with different levels of funny. My dad is pretty dry and funny. I got some of my humor from him. My uncle is really funny. My cousin Percy is pretty funny. He’s actually given me a few of my jokes.
Q. Were you brought up in the church?
A. I went to church. I went to a Lutheran grade school, from kindergarten to sixth grade. It was boring as hell, man! I went in the pre-smartphone, pre-tablet era. If you were bored, you’d have to eat it, with no distraction at all. It was straight 1980s-early ’90s boredom.
Q. I haven’t seen “The Secret Life of Pets’’ yet. Can you describe your weiner dog character?
A. It’s an animated weiner dog that has the voice of me. Sarcastic. Without profanity.
Q. Deadpan, right?
A. Yep. Another stretch [laughs]. It’s cool, man, whether people connect me with it or not. It’s really easy work. The animators and the producers are the ones who really work hard. My sister and her husband brought my niece and nephew out to New York for the premiere. They got to hit the [red] carpet with me. It was cool to watch it with them, with my nephew nudging me when my voice popped up.
Q. The trailer for the new season of “The Eric Andre Show’’ just came out. Are you actually asleep on the couch in the first frame?
A. I might be. One thing about traveling a lot, I’m able to fall asleep anywhere if I got some downtime. Ask the directors I’ve worked with — I’ll fall asleep between takes. I can nod out really quickly and get it back together quickly. It’s just one of my gifts [laughs].
Q. You’re playing Foxwoods, the Wilbur, and then the beach in New Hampshire. Do you have a preference, playing in clubs, casinos, theaters?
A. Different rooms have different vibes. The Wilbur feels great, man. It holds a thousand but it feels like a club. A bunch of people have filmed there. I was considering filming my last [special] there. You can’t beat the feeling of performing in a 200-300 seat comedy club, but at this point it’s not effective for me to perform for the amount of people I want to perform for, and I don’t want to do eight shows [laughs].
Q. You’ve had a lot of success over the past few years, but one thing that was not really a victory was “Why? With Hannibal Buress,’’ your Comedy Central show last year. Was it helpful to take a step back and see where you’re at?
A. They kinda just gave us a show and let us figure it out. I learned how to run a show. Next time I go into something, I’ll make sure we have a focused vision, an idea of what we want to do. We had our moments, but as a whole piece, it didn’t represent me comedically. I’m excited to try something else, next year, probably. Next time, I’ll just try to really knock it out of the park.
Q. Last question: Is this the first time in the last couple of years you were not asked about the Cosby thing?
A. No! It’s part of the game, but I think people realize there’s nothing new to say about it. I got mad at a guy last week, actually, not because he asked, but because he started off with it. I was like, c’mon, dude. I was hung over, and I hadn’t drank any water yet, so I was a little irritable [laughs].
HANNIBAL BURESS
At Foxwoods Resort & Casino, Mashantucket, Conn., Aug. 5, www.foxwoods.com; Wilbur Theatre, Boston, Aug. 10-11, www.thewilbur.com; Casino Ballroom, Hampton, NH, Aug. 13, www.casinoballroom.com
James Sullivan can be reached at jamesgsullivan@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @sullivanjames.
