Hannibal Buress, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
-How are you doing, my dude? -I'm good. What's up, man?
-How's it going? -I'm good, but I-I just want to understand.
Did you... Did you create...
Is your background that you've chosen
my studio that I can't be in right now?
-Is that what you've done? -Yeah, 'cause I want to...
I've had to do that...
So, this is... What?
Enough with the hoodies, man.
-(laughs) -I mean, for real?
Come on, man. Enough with the hoodies.
And do it... Do the show in a bigger room in your house.
You can't fool us doing it somewhere narrow.
-We know. -(laughs)
How are you... How are you doing? I want to know.
I-I miss you, Hannibal, as a human being.
Like, I feel like I miss you as a... as a human being.
I miss you as a friend. I miss you as a fan.
I... There was a period where, like,
I felt like Hannibal Buress was everywhere.
I was watching your stand-up,
and then it was, like, a series of events,
and then I... You, like, disappeared.
You know, it was like,
Hannibal Buress called out Bill Cosby,
and then Hannibal Buress was in Miami getting arrested.
And I... And, like, you were, like, talking to a cop,
and then they were like, "Hannibal Buress is released."
And then Hannibal Buress was gone,
and now you're back with a brand-new special.
Tell me a little bit about your life.
Those are three years apart, those two things.
I was out. I was... I was making rap songs.
I was, uh, I was doing...
animated, uh, film voice.
I was doing birthday parties, too,
just-just for the love of the game.
Just kind of practicing magic, hanging out.
It was a good time.
Listen, man, I-I have this backdrop, right?
I'm tired of doing stuff in my crib, man.
I drove... I left my house this morning
and just drove around to act like I was going
to a television set, you know what I'm...
I drove around, and I, like, stopped,
and I went somewhere else,
and then I just tried to make it feel like...
And I had... I had somebody act
like I was driving onto a-a lot.
I had somebody act like a security guard
at the front of my place
and say, "Are you... What are you here for?"
I said, "I'm here for The Daily Show."
I had to... I'm just trying to create a world, man.
Everything's gone. I'm trying to get it back.
I remember your special was supposed to be launched
-at South by Southwest. -Yeah.
And then, literally, just as South by Southwest
was about to kick off, it got canceled.
-Right. -And then I was like,
"What's gonna happen to Hannibal's special?"
And then you just put it out on YouTube for free?
I just thought...
I wanted to put it out o-on YouTube
just to-to see how it goes, man.
The world is crumbling,
so I tried to do something different
than I would have normally done
because the whole world is different.
Touring has changed.
Life is in a different space,
so I said, "Why not try something spontaneous
that-that fits the current time?"
So that's why I decided to go with YouTube.
-I-I... -For a little bit. Who knows?
I really enjoyed how you addressed everything.
Like, I mean, it felt like a lot of the things
you were addressing in the special
have become more timely than ever before,
because you got arrested by a policeman
for basically, I mean, not treating him
the way he wanted to be treated is essentially what happened.
And you-you tell the story. I mean,
you tell it really amazingly in the special.
I don't even want to, like, try and butcher
the joke or the story, but you...
you make a joke about it.
But when you were getting arrested by this cop in Miami,
you talk about how you didn't want to get shot in the face,
and you, you know, you tell it in a lighthearted way,
but was there a moment when-when you were...
when you really feared for your life in that thing?
Or were you just... were you just, like, so blazed
that you were like, "Yeah, man, I'm-I'm drunk,
and I'm having a good time"?
No, because he followed me into the bar
after our initial interaction was over,
and so that was... that was pretty jarring,
'cause it was... it was pretty much done.
We had words, and he said, "Leave,"
and then I left and went into the bar.
And then he comes into the bar,
and I'm like, "What are you doing in the bar?
We finished talking."
And then he says, "Leave the bar."
I'm like, "What do you mean, leave the bar?
"You just asked me to leave there,
and I left there and came into the bar."
And, so, he's like, "You got to leave."
And I'm like, "Whoa, this is... this is different."
And, so, I don't... I don't know if I was completely scared,
but I was baffled in the moment just because he kind of...
he escalated the situation when he didn't have to.
He could have stayed where he stayed,
and I could've just went about my way.
And, so, that was the part where it was like,
whoa, this-this could get dicey
because he's-he's acting out of order.
I want to talk to you about Hannibal Buress,
the human being, though.
Like, you-you've always been,
especially for your fans, you've always been somebody
who's, like, loved drinking and loved having
these crazy stories of a drunken night out.
And then... And then, I guess, after this incident,
you're like, "I'm quitting alcohol,
and-and I'm done."
Why-why did you make that decision?
Well, I didn't quit right away.
I had three crazy weeks,
and then I quit after that.
Uh, a-after that, though,
I really had to just look at...
my time drinking over the years
and kind of really do a-a... kind of an audit
and really look at the whole thing
and situations and things I said
and things that happened and embarrassing stuff,
and it wasn't... it wasn't sustainable anymore.
-Yeah. -It... (laughs)
It was just really looking, like, mm, this is...
this is not a good... this is not a good list right here.
It's-it's...
So I had to just really take it out,
and-and after that, I kind of...
My face slimmed down when I stopped drinking.
It was... It was too much sugar.
I was drinking Jameson ginger ale.
I was looking at old pictures.
I look at old pictures from 2015, 2016,
went like, "Whoa!
You were drinking a lot."
You know, what's weird for me
is, like, when you say something...
Like, I thought that was your face
'cause that's how I met you.
-(laughs) -No, but you get...
'Cause when you meet someone, you meet someone.
I don't... I don't, like, meet anyone
and be like, "You should look different."
I just meet people, and I'm like, "That's you."
And so when I met you, I was like, "That's you."
And then I saw you, like, after all of this,
and I was like, "Man, Hannibal's had a tough time.
His face has really slimmed down."
-(laughs) -'Cause you see it as a positive thing,
and I thought it was, like, a sign of distress.
But now I realize this is actually your healthy face,
and now I feel bad that I knew you with that face
and I didn't say anything.
And the thing is I thought that was my face, too.
-(laughs) -I don't know, like, 'cause that... It was my face.
And now I'm like, "Yo, this is my face."
This is as good as it gets.
You know, this is as good as it gets for head shape
and eye color and the whole thing.
What are you... what are you doing now?
Are you... I mean, I know, like, some comedians...
You know, like, Michael Che is trying
to do comedy in, like, a parking lot
where people are, like, spaced out,
and Dave Chappelle's got, like, an outdoor comedy club.
Are you doing stand-up? Are you out? Are you...
Is there anything you can do that's a semblance of normal?
Uh... I-I want to do a...
a drive-in tour of Miami Nights.
And, um, do-- like it's been said,
a lot of drive-in events popping up lately.
So maybe go do that and have, you know, a D.J.,
show some videos and-and do some shows like that.
So, um, I want, I want to do that next month, have a--
And that be nice to put the special on a, on a big screen.
-Right. -People would hang out in their apart--
I think the drive-in stuff is really popular because...
people, you know... (stammers)
We lost a lot of control in our world,
and go to places we couldn't and all that.
And you got to, you know,
get your temperature taken at places,
so when people come to drive-ins, I think,
they like, "I still have my car right here.
"And I have, you know, I'm in my, this is my car,
and we're able to enjoy something."
So I-I want to do a little tour.
And that'll be, that'll be fun to get it out like that.
Well, you know what, man, I-I'm excited to have you back.
-Thank you... -I was waiting for your new special.
I'm excited to have Hannibal Buress with the new face,
with the new jacket in my old studio.
And, uh, yeah... everyone should go out and watch the special.
And, uh, I hope to see you soon in person, my friend.
Wish you all the peace, Trevor.
Look after yourself.
All right, man.