FADER: Interview: Hannibal Buress

Naomi Zeichner: When did you start doing standup?

Hannibal Buress: Almost nine years ago. At first I was doing it as an amateur and really trying to be a professional comedian. Now it’s my job and people pay me to do it, so I keep that in mind and approach it like that. I wasn’t super into comedy when I was young. My interest in comedy really happened right before I started. I guess when I was young I watched “The Cosby Show,” so Bill Cosby and Eddie Murphy and those guys. I wasn’t a big comedy fan as a kid; I didn’t really study it like that.

NZ: But people must have let you know you were funny—

HB: I think Seinfeld said this: “When you’re a kid, everybody’s funny.” Who had a friend that never said anything funny? I was funny with my friends and in class sometimes, but it wasn’t anything I decided to pursue until college. I saw that some people weren’t that good at it so I tried it.

NZ: And your move to New York worked out well.

HB: It’s going pretty well, I write at “30 Rock,” and I used to write at “Saturday Night Live.”

NZ: What’s the difference between the two?

HB: It’s two different formats, a sketch and a sitcom. I put a lot more work into the writing of a 30 minute show. SNL is written the week of the show with some pieces even being written on Friday, so it’s more of an against the clock type of thing, whereas at “30 Rock” you’re working on it for a while, and it’s rewritten and written.

FADER: Interview: Hannibal Buress / BY: NAOMI ZEICHNER