Hannibal Buress

In 2025, Hannibal Buress opened Isola Brooklyn, taking over the former Knitting Factory space in New York and naming the venue after Isola, Mississippi, where his maternal family is from. The same year, he joined the lineup of the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia, a booking that drew criticism from Human Rights Watch. It marks the latest chapter for a comedian who has spent over two decades building one of comedy’s most unpredictable careers.

Born in Chicago on February 4, 1983, and raised in the Austin neighborhood, Buress began performing stand-up at an open mic in 2002 while attending Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he befriended hip hop artist Open Mike Eagle. He moved to New York in 2008, caught a break after Seth Meyers saw a late-night set, and joined Saturday Night Live as a writer from 2009 to 2010. He then wrote for the fifth season of 30 Rock while appearing in nine episodes as characters like “Gus” and “Bum.” Variety named him one of its “Ten Comics to Watch in 2010,” and he released his first album, My Name is Hannibal, that July.

Buress became widely known co-starring as Eric André’s sidekick on The Eric Andre Show from 2012 to 2020 and appearing on Broad City from 2014 to 2019. His second album, Animal Furnace, aired as a Comedy Central special to positive reviews, followed by Hannibal Buress Live from Chicago in 2014. His October 16, 2014 stand-up routine brought the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby to national attention, for which he was lauded.

Beyond the stage, Buress played Coach Wilson in Spider-Man: Homecoming, made cameos on Grand Theft Auto V’s FlyLo FM, released the single “Judge Judy” in 2020, and launched the podcast Handsome Rambler.