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" If I ever have downtime, I'm usually sitting in my place playing video games. Or eating sandwiches somewhere, or watching sports some place. "
Hannibal Buress
Eating
Place
Video Games
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" I think one of my first jokes - in the black community, there's people who have jokes about skin tone. People like, 'You so black, you purple.' 'You so black, you gotta smile so we can see you at night.' "
Hannibal Buress
Smile
Community
Night
" In the future, I want to do an action movie! I'm going to get in shape, get ripped, and have my Chris Pratt transformation. And then become a movie star like that. "
Hannibal Buress
Transformation
Want
Action
" 'SNL' doesn't have a traditional writer's room. On Monday, there's the pitch meeting with the guest, and I played that like it was stand-up. "
Hannibal Buress
Meeting
SNL
Like
" I like that Barack got that job. "
Hannibal Buress
Like
Got
Job
" I go to a lot of rap shows and sometimes take what they do from a performer's aspect, how they interact with the crowd. I always have a DJ with me on the road, as well as some dancers. "
Hannibal Buress
DJ
Sometimes
Road
" I really like Halal food. "
Hannibal Buress
Food
Like
Really
" When people say, 'How did you start in comedy,' I say my family was kidnapped by ninjas when I was very young, and to get them released I had to do a killer five-minute set. And even after I did that, you know, I started doing comedy under tough circumstances, I still kept at it because I enjoyed it. "
Hannibal Buress
Start
Family
You
" Once you're in a room like '30 Rock,' it's a creative setting, so you write more even after you go home, just because you're still in that mode of coming up with jokes. So the job wasn't sapping standup jokes, but it was sapping stand up time and energy, and I wouldn't be able to travel as much. "
Hannibal Buress
Travel
Creative
Time
" I don't like to post fresh standup material, because I want to use it in a special. The stuff I like to post online I like to be off-the-cuff moments. "
Hannibal Buress
Fresh
Moments
Want
" Social media is interesting. It helps me connect with fans. It's immediate. It's a big part of my touring business - getting the word out via Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. "
Hannibal Buress
Business
Me
Social Media
" Actors, you have to wait for people to give you work, or you have to make your own stuff. But standup, I could just say, 'I want to do standup in 30 minutes,' and I can go do standup. Or I could just say, 'I want to do standup in a few weeks in this city.' "
Hannibal Buress
People
Wait
Work
" I remember 'Def Comedy Jam' being a big deal and kids talking about it in school, but it was never, 'I want to do that.' "
Hannibal Buress
Talking
School
Want
" I'm doin' something different. I mean, I talk a little bit about race and interracial dating, but it's not the heart of my act. I just try to do what I think is funny; there's no huge message or through line. "
Hannibal Buress
Think
Funny
Heart
" I think it's a tough transition. It's easy to go from comedian to rapper, but to go from rapper to comedian is tougher. "
Hannibal Buress
Transition
Tough
Think
" I like getting 'Times' articles online. But the actual paper just has too many words. "
Hannibal Buress
Just
Words
Paper
" Even on TV appearances or big shows, I don't know if I've ever been as nervous as I was my first time doing stand-up. I just remember getting offstage and sitting down, and my right knee was just shaking from the adrenaline. "
Hannibal Buress
Remember
Doing
Time
" I skipped kindergarten because I was reading at a pretty high level. That's a weird and cocky thing to say, but I was real sharp, and I knew that early on. "
Hannibal Buress
Cocky
Early
Reading
" I'd like to be remembered as good person and as one of the best comedians of my generation. "
Hannibal Buress
Good Person
Generation
Best
" People like to compare something to something that they know. Even with Chris Rock, they say he's like Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy. "
Hannibal Buress
Say
People
Rock
" Before I did comedy, I'd freestyle with all of my friends. In high school and into college, I recorded songs with my friends, not to perform but just to play for them. So I've had interest in music for a while. Early on, I'd host a lot of music open nights or hip-hop nights, so a lot of my early experience performing was around music. "
Hannibal Buress
Play
College
Music
" I used to have costumed characters come out, like SpongeBob. It's just fun to make it into this minor event, just to surprise people and experiment and be weird and just have fun with it. I've done just the hour stand-up, and that's fun, but the other stuff makes it fun for me and gives me something to react to and bounce off of. "
Hannibal Buress
Me
Fun
Have Fun
" I had a sketch called 'Fedora Basketball,' which was about basketball players having to wear hats; in addition to scoring points, they have to make sure their fedoras don't fall off. "
Hannibal Buress
Basketball
Fall
Hats
" Dave Chappelle is one of my comedic inspirations. His perspective is crazy, and he's super sharp. "
Hannibal Buress
Super
Crazy
He
" You forget that sometimes comedy is just a big night out for people. Almost every show, people come up to me and go, 'This is the first comedy show I've ever seen,' so you want to do well. If you do horribly at somebody's first time seeing live stand-up, well, you've not only tainted yourself, you've tainted a whole art form. "
Hannibal Buress
Yourself
Art
Live
" I took an improv class in 2005 in Chicago at ComedySportz, which was short-form, more of a games-based improv. I remember it being real fun and helping with my stand-up. If I did an improv class, and then I did stand-up later, I felt looser on stage and more comfortable. "
Hannibal Buress
Fun
Class
Stage
" I did not move to New York with a plan. The first time I moved to New York, I just popped up. My sister was living here in New York. I just popped up. She had her baby and a husband, and I just popped up. 'Hey, what's up? I got $200 and dreams. Let's do this.' "
Hannibal Buress
Time
Dreams
New York
" In my hometown of Chicago, I'm kind of a medium deal. "
Hannibal Buress
Deal
Kind
Medium
" There's been times where I sold the place out, and I walked in and the guy's like, 'Uh, ID?' 'No, you can't ID me, man. I just sold this place out.' People are just doing their jobs, but I think if you're working the door at a venue where there's a headliner, you should at least be like, 'OK, this is the dude.' "
Hannibal Buress
Man
Me
People
" My second year of college, I started performing comedy at an open mic. It was good to do open mics with the kids. It's a good, safe spot to start, you know? "
Hannibal Buress
Good
Comedy
College
" I haven't really tried to write a movie. It's tough to get into that mode. "
Hannibal Buress
Get
Really
Tough