- Tonight on Love and Respect, a conversation with one of the funniest guys I know, comedian, actor, and producer, Hannibal Buress.

- [Hannibal] And I see a cop, my phone did.

I say, Hey, call me an Uber.

I give you twenty.

- You say that to the cop?

- Yeah.

I say, Call me an Uber.

I give you twenty dollars.

Which is, that's could I have not said that?

Absolutely.

But it's not... - [Mike] But he is a public servant and you weren't being rude.

- He's a public servant, protect and serve.

And then as that's not the, that's not the worst thing I could have said.

- Yeah.

- But I also could have not said it.

- Hannibal Buress coming up right now.

- Love and respect with Killer Mike is made possible by Cadillac, Monster Energy, Ledger, and by the Ressler Gertz Family Foundation.

Together we are proud to bring more love and respect into our collective conversation.

(upbeat music) - [Hannibal] Sometimes I get drunk and I get into arguments with taxi drivers and I get out the cab and I slam the door.

That's not the way the win an argument with a taxi driver.

The way to win is you get out of the cab and you leave the door open.

(crowd laughs) Then he has to step out, come around and close that door.

While he is doing that, I'm on the other side opening the other doors (crowd laughs) and we just keep going around and around and around and around.

I got my own Benny Hill situation going on in life.

- Oh man.

Welcome to Love and Respect.

- Yes sir.

- Somebody I really love and respect as a friend, as somebody idolizing the comedic world and now as a peer, as a rapper.

- Dang.

- [Mike] So out in the studio, messing around in LA.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- Like a year or two, you 'bout, about a year ago you introduced me to an amazing singer named Aaron.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- Um, who's, who's just dope.

I got a chance to do something cool.

I'm released with her.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- You have work coming out, so just shout out to Aaron out there.

Um.

- Yeah.

She's dope.

- But I remember you saying like, Mike, I got a rap album coming.

I want something from you, so I still owe your verse.

But I was like, he's such a good comedian.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- [Mike] Why does he want to be a rapper?

Don't he know we get raped in our contracts.

We gotta fight people like rec company executives.

What made you want a rap?

- I always actually rapped before I did stand up - [Mike] No.

- As far as I recorded songs before I ever stepped on a standup stage.

I, I played saxophone in col, in grade school and so.

- Parents wanted you to be John Coltrane?

- I don't know what they, I wanted to play drums but they, they, the drums was too loud for them.

- [Mike] Got it.

- So they let me play saxophone.

I played it okay for a couple years, but was always freestyle and writing, and even when I started doing standup, it was always adjacent with hip hop.

I hosted open mic with Tony Trim.

He had an open mic called Sunday School Session.

So it was rappers, comedians, musicians.

I hosted that and battle rapped and it was always around it doing skits on people's albums from the beginning.

So it was always a, a passion, but as I started doing comedy, comedy had a, a clearer path at the time when I started, 2002, 2006.

It wasn't as you, you, it wasn't as being a rapper seem like a way further away dream.

- [Mike] Yeah.

Yeah.

- Back in those times and so it was.

- [Mike] 2002 for context is the year that 50 Cent sold, like the OutKast 50 Cent did, like 10 million records.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- It was Nelly in the St. Lunatics.

It was, I came out 2002.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- I went gold and everybody was like eh.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

Gold was, yeah.

You got looked down upon for gold.

- [Mike] Exactly.

(group laughing) Where you come over the nineties of Gold Record - Yeah - EP for Gold Record was the biggest championship you could do.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- So I understand what you're saying in terms of.

- Or if somebody would underperform and they be like, he only went double platinum.

- [Mike] Yeah, yeah.

- He was expected to go quadruple platinum.

- Exactly.

- Does Ludicrous still have it?

- Yeah.

- He sold 2 million records, two million physical records.

Yeah.

It was so was always wanting to, wanting to do it and you know, still kept dabbling, but then once everything shut down, I was able to really focus and, and go to the studio, and, and that also became just a, a safe place too because that process isn't, wasn't really affected by the pandemic.

- [Mike] Yeah.

- Even the shows were happening.

Everybody masked up.

It's weird.

It's just, you know, it's affected, but once you get in the studio and catch the energy, it's, it's, it's like nothing's happening outside.

- [Mike] So is your is your rap name Hannibal Buress or did you like another fellow Chicagoan and just say, well, I'm Kanye West, you know what I mean?

- I wanted to, my rap name is Eshu Tune.

- [Mike] Eshu Tune?

- Eshu tune.

Yeah.

- [Mike] So what's Eshu Tune?

What's the - [Hannibal] Eshu.

- [Mike] What's behind Eshu?

- [Hannibal] Eshu is I was trying to come up with a stage name cause I needed it just to separate and compartmentalize in my mind.

And I looked up Nigerian mythology - Uh-huh.

- And Eshu is the trickster God in, in Nigerian mythology.

And then I just connected with a lot of the things that described him and, and it just, it just, it was one of those where it just felt right.

- And comedy.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- It seems as though comedy is going through what rap went through in the nineties when Luther Campbell had to fight for all our First Amendment rights.

I know people generally can't associate Luther with either youth football or just booty shaking and popping with Luther and the 2 Live Crew, but at one point you got very serious and fought for our First Amendment rights and it seems like comedy is under attack now.

Does rap give you the permission to say things that you might not have said on stage to push the line in a different way?

Does Eshu Tune, is he freer than Hannibal?

- Yeah, but in a, not in a way of, I can't say this over there cause it's too dangerous.

In the music, that could be more, I don't have to play for the laugh for all the time.

- Gotcha.

- I just have to, it just has to sound dope or I have to be descriptive or tell a story.

- [Mike] Yeah.

- And every, and so it's freeing to not have to do that and be able to produce and, you know, figure out different arrangements and, and, and building moments in songs.

So I, I enjoy that, that process and I enjoy being able to work on it in private.

But where, when you working on your show with stand up, you have to do that in front of people.

- [Mike] Yeah.

- Over and over and over.

So it's, it's refreshing to, to work in music and it feels, it feels like being brand new again.

- [Mike] Yeah.

- It's a lot, even though I got experience, but it's a, it's a new - [Mike] Challenge?

- [Hannibal] Feel.

It's a new challenge and, and it's exciting cause it's been something I've been wanting to do for, for a while.

- So the comedy challenge is something I was like, I, I've always wanted to get on stage and just do like five or 10 minutes.

Ryan Davis is a friend of mine, also comedian.

- Yeah - I don't know if you know Ryan?

- I know Ryan.

- Ryan.

I love Ryan to death.

Ryan says, you come to my show Negro, I'm calling you on stage.

- Yeah.

- And I'm like, man, quit playing.

He's like, No I'm dead serious.

You come the show, I'm calling you on stage.

So I made a deal.

I was like, alright, I'll come up on stage and as long as you stand side stage for in case I start bombing you put up out a save.

And he had me do 11 minutes.

I said, What'd you think?

He said, You probably should have did seven minutes.

(group laughing) But we had a good, I had a good show.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- I was invigorated by it.

It's a radically different experience from rap.

- Yeah.

- I mostly just talked about how much I get on my wife's nerves, which people always find incredibly humorous.

I don't get it cause I'd be advocating for me.

They be, they be down with her afterwards.

But I see Lil Duval - Yeah.

- had a, a couple hit records with Boosie, with Snoop, - Uh-huh - By self.

- Yeah.

- Tip is going over into the comedic world and just like a regular comedian, if he got his butt kicked in New York, on Saturday, he was in New York, in Atlanta, on Friday, tweaking up his material, killing the crowd.

What do you think about the cross pollination of hip hop and comedy?

Because often we've been, in the nineties kinda linked together.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- With comedians being featured in rap videos, comedians hosting rap shows like yourself.

What do you think about that cross pollination?

You gonna see more of it?

Like, do I got a shot at it?

- I think you do, man.

I think it's, it's not everybody does, but it's, it's people that, that have a charisma without the beats.

- Yeah.

(group laughing) - Some people get born without a beat.

- Yeah.

So, you know, that's, that's where it, cause it's a tougher jump.

It's tougher to go from the music to the, to the stand up.

- [Mike] Battle rappers are funny.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Tend to be, they have to use humor a lot and without a beat.

- [Hannibal] Yeah and it's just how people consume music is different too.

Where, you know, if you like something you might listen to it 40 times.

- [Mike] Yeah.

- In a row.

And then people see you live and then they, you know, you can get carried by that, that energy.

So it's a tougher, it's a, it's tougher to strip away the beats and, and go for it.

Yeah.

- What about the, a record that was really intriguing to me, Donde, is it Donde Esta?

- Donde Esta, where is it.

- Donde Esta, and you mentioned getting on an Amtrak with 400 bucks and going to find your way, I've, it felt very Don Quixotish.

- Yeah - Like, like Don Quixote was this, he, he travels, he fights to win meals.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- He's delusional in his head.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- And to be an artist to me, you kind of have to be delusional.

Especially you're like me, from a working class background, your mother's a nurse, your father worked for Union Pacific Railroad.

Nothing about that type of upbringing, if, if you guys aren't familiar with, you know, black working class folks.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- Says, you know, I want my kid to be an entertainer.

- Yeah.

- [Mike] And, and risk at all.

So what was that experience like, going to find your way?

Have your parents always been supportive?

Cause when I first met them, it was backstage at your comedy show.

- Uh-huh.

- And they were extremely happy to see their son successful.

- Yeah.

- But how was it, in those years when you were first starting off?

- It was, I had good indicators early on, even if I wasn't making my full income or from, from comedy.

As far as that New York trip, it was, you know, being 23 allows you to, you know, mentally do that you probably wouldn't do at a different time.

So I was you, you going to New York with no money or gig.

- [Mike] Uh-huh.

- That seemed like a solid idea.

- [Mike] That's what I would do.

Take 400 bucks and go to the most expensive rental rates in the nation.

- 400 bucks, I was so, I was so, my sister lived out there, but I was so, I just popped up.

I ain't even call her.

I was just like, Hey, what's up?

(Mike laughing) I mean, let me stay here.

It was me and my dreams.

(Mike laughing) And it was.

- She your big sister or younger sister?

- My older sister.

- What'd she say?

- They let me stay for a little bit.

- [Mike] What's a little bit?

Two weeks or two months?

Usually black people give it to you in twos.

- Yeah.

(both laughing) - [Mike] You get two weeks.

Two months.

And if you stay two years, they're complaining about you.

(both laughing) - It was two weeks.

- I know that, didn't I tell.

- Yeah.

No, but I, I remember, I remember being as like even looking back, I don't even remember, remember feeling like I was rude.

(both laughing) - I'm gonna show up at your doorstep.

- Like, like I'm, yeah.

Talking about like day nine, day 10.

I don't remember like sitting there being like, man this is, I kind of put them in a weird spot.

(Mike laughing) It was like, man to be 23 and a fully just locked in and oblivious.

It's a, it is gift and a curse.

So they kicked me out after two weeks.

And so I was packing up and my sister said, What are you gonna do Hannibal?

What are you going do?

I said, don't worry what I'm about to do.

You just kicked me out.

It's like if you shot somebody, pow, pow, so well what hospital are you going to?

(crowd laughing) You got health insurance, you got a HMO or PPO, You should get some gauze or Neosporin, (crowd laughing) for those gunshots.

- [Mike] You, when I first met you, weren't kid enthusiastic.

You weren't like, Yeah man, I'm gonna go start a family.

I'm gonna have, I'm gonna have a bunch of children.

I'm, you were just like you were.

And I'm a next question will pertain to it.

You were a handsome black rambler, you were traveling around, you were on your own.

And next thing you know, you called me like, Yeah Mike, I just had a baby and I'm just like, you had a baby.

What?

What are you talking about?

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- But cause, cause I knew you as the uncle type, he's gonna be a great uncle the rest of his life.

His niece and nephews all love him.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- But you messed around and made a little human being.

- Yeah.

Yeah and it a girl.

- [Mike] How has that changed your life?

- It's changed the, the mental space.

The, the planning.

- [Mike] Yeah.

- And the, just the vision for certain projects.

- [Mike] Yeah.

- And how I think about them and even just with songs, like okay this song, like is a, I feel like this song will age well.

- Yeah.

- And she'll be able to, you know, benefit from that.

So it, it does, and then it, before, when I was really touring, really working heavily, there was no big vision around it.

It was more just like, get the, get the money.

- [Mike] Yeah.

- And you know, help people as you can, but there was no kind of streamlined thing.

And now it's a bit, it's a bit clearer.

- [Mike] Yeah.

- As far as that and how I manage my time and you know, it is, it's helped me streamline.

- [Mike] Yeah.

You, like me, are traveler because of your work, and you have a podcast the Handsome Rambler.

You've been to the UK, you've been to Thailand.

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

- [Mike] Been to, which is the United States, state of Hawaii, you, I remember talking, you spent time over there.

What has travel taught you or given you that expanded you, that grew you and that you feel like it's made you sharper or better?

- It changes how, well, like I spent six, seven months in Hawaii last year and that was nice cause it, it kind of made me into a small town guy for a little bit.

- Yeah.

- So where, after I'd be there for a bit, then I, if, when I would go back to LA or Chicago or even Honolulu, everything was just hit differently.

Cause I hadn't been around nothing.

It's only one road on Kauai, and so I would get there and I just feel like overwhelmed.

I remember going to a Guitar Center after that, not really going to nothing for a couple months and I just bought a, cause I wasn't, my brain wasn't used to it.

So it was nice to know, that you can detach from a little bit and then it, it helps you appreciate stuff.

And I like being in, in when, like going to Thailand or, or Japan when a lot of stuff is in, in their language.

Cause then there's less noise for my brain.

I can kind of, be in my zone a little bit, since I can't read every single thing around me.

So that's nice to just kinda, you know, and, and not understand peoples.

So you can kind of just walk through the street and, and absorb and and see what other folks is working on.

Vending machine culture super strong in Thailand.

- [Mike] Vending machine?

- Vending machine culture.

- [Mike] Like what you buy out of vending machines there, you can't get here?

- A smoothie.

- [Mike] Smoothie out of vending machine?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

It was a good - [Mike] I gotta go to Smoothie King still.

- Yeah, it did a vending machine smoothie and it was on point.

- What's your favorite flavor?

- I got passion fruit, with plum.

- [Mike] Okay.

- Put some mushrooms in there.

- [Mike] The good kind.

- We gonna put all, we gonna put all the ingredients.

(both laughing) - I remember you calling about a place that my wife likes visiting a lot more than me.

I love Miami in terms of the Uncle Luke Miami, the old Miami.

When I thought, man I get to grow, get to grow up and just go to all the dance clubs, strip clubs in Miami and now, but Miami's gotten in its fun rather conservative, in terms of how it operates with police, and dealing with regular people.

Police aren't often nice and they, they are often, you know, not coming out.

All of them, sometimes feels like on the beach, like I'm not being treated fairly.

- Yeah.

- It feels a little weird.

You know, why you asking me to move on, those eight white people who don't look like me?

You're not asking them to move on.

So the beach has gotten kind of quirky over the past few years and you got arrested.

- Yeah, 2017.

- [Mike] Yeah, then you hit us like, yo, I'm doing a comedy special.

Me, Shay show up.

Sam shows up.

Yaya shows up.

All these people, now, you know, knew you were backstage with your parents, we're having a great time, wholesome time.

Then, you go on to talk about how you were treated crazily.

- It's me.

What's up?

This cop.

He stupid.

Hey, what's happening?

Hey, what's up?

It's me Hannibal Buress.

This cop stupid (bleep) (bleep).

Hey with this camera on.

- [Cop] Get outta here before you do - Hey, what's up YouTube?

- [Cop] Get outta here, Alright, put your hands on your back.

- For what?

- [Cop] Are you resisting them?

Are you resisting them?

- What's the charge?

- [Cop] Put your hands behind your back.

- What's the charge?

- [Cop] I'll let you know when you put your hands - [Hannibal] What's the charge?

- [Cop] Are you gonna resist now?

- [Hannibal] What's the charge?

- [Cop] Put your hands behind your back.

- [Hannibal] What's, what I'm under arrest for?

What's the charge?

- What happened in that incident?

What's happening now?

And how do you fuel moments like that for on stage?

Like how do you talk about something that feels like it'd be, be traumatic and, and still laugh at yourself in the incident and what went down?

- Yeah.

It was, it was a crazy time.

I, I was having a, a good day in Miami, Art Basel.

- [Mike] Okay.

- Has, had some beverages and then I was solo.

I ended up solo, which should not be sometimes, you know, but - [Mike] For those don't know, Art Basel is the, when essentially the whole city of Miami, turns into a, a big artistic museum of sorts.

Everything with street art on the streets, galleries, museums.

So everyone is down there and just like any group of artists would do, everybody starts drinking.

- Yeah.

- And I'm sure some people are doing harder stuff, having fun.

- Yeah.

It was a, it's a faded and I see a cop, my phone there.

I say, Hey, call me an Uber.

I give you 20 dollars.

- You say that to the cop?

- Yeah, I say, call me an Uber.

I give you 20 dollars.

Which is, that's, could I have not said that?

Absolutely.

But it's not.

- [Mike] But he is a public servant that you weren't being rude to.

- He's a public servant, protect and serve.

And then that's, that's not the worst thing I could have said.

- Yeah.

- But I also could have not said it.

- You're supposed to be able to ask him for a ride home too, you know that, right?

- Yeah.

And he said no.

- Okay.

- Which is fine.

I walk off though, I look back, it was girls leaving the club and then he was kissing girls.

I was like, Yo, that's hella unprofessional.

(Mike laughs) - I was like, Yo, you can't be out here kissing and you ain't call me an Uber.

And then we talked back and forth, he says, leave.

And I leave and I go into this bar, that's right around the corner to kind of just wind down.

He follows me into the bar like, hey, you can't be in the bar.

And I'm like, well you just told me to leave the corner and I left the corner, went into this bar.

Now you telling me I can't be in this bar.

And so, that kind of (silence) me off, so that like, on the body cam footage, that's when I'm leaving the bar.

I'm just walking, I'm leaving, I'm walking past, but I'm just talking, hell, doing, because he followed me into a bar and so I wasn't really letting up.

And, then he was like, okay, you're under arrest.

But he, cause he was insulted, but there was no real, I hadn't committed any, any crime.

The situation was avoidable.

- But, but according to your First Amendment rights, you have the right to talk.

- Yeah.

So it got dropped, you know, case got dropped and everything.

But it was a, it was a tough time.

- So we've kind of been for the last two years just sitting still and I expected you to come out doing music based on what you'll let me hear and getting just right back in there and worrying about your comedy.

But it seems as though you've put yourself in the position of leader in helping other folks through Isola Man or Isola Man Media?

- Isola Man Media, yeah.

- [Mike] Isola Man Media?

- Yeah.

- [Mike] Could you explain to me what the, what it means and who are the artists, the artists that you're helping?

- Isola is, Isola, Mississippi is where my mom's family's from.

- Gotcha.

- [Hannibal] Small town in the Delta, about a thousand folks, no stoplight type town.

- [Mike] Gotcha.

- And no need really either.

Like it is, it is.

I did a, a festival there.

Isola Fest, in 2019.

- [Mike] How'd it go?

- It went, it went well.

It went well, consider I did it on maybe three or four weeks notice.

- Gotcha.

- Which you not supposed to do festivals that, that much, but, it was, it was exciting to see how people in the town received it.

Cause it's not an area that gets shows in general.

- Yeah.

- So they have a festival, three days, music, comedy.

It was, it was definitely a school of learning how to put on events and learning how to operate.

And, and it was, it was dope to, to build that foundation and, and hopefully grow it.

So yeah, it was.

- So how many, how many artists have you helped out of there that may be in Mississippi or that maybe from other places that wouldn't have gotten known or seen or supported?

- I would, there was this artist.

He had a pretty good following already, but he was outta Mississippi, Dear Silas.

- [Mike] Dear Silas?

- [Hannibal] Yeah.

Dear Silas came through.

He, he ripped it.

As far as Isola Man Media, we've been working with Mary Lee Williams out of Chicago, super funny comedian and Meechie Hall.

- [Mike] Dope.

- We helped produce a, a special with him.

King Drive comedy with him, Marlon Mitchell, Just Nesh.

- Nesh is my, one of my favorite comedians in the world.

- Damn Fool, and yeah, it's been, it's, it's a lot.

Still a lot to learn on that production side.

but I do enjoy, you know, helping people move stuff forward and, and just, you know, giving ideas and things like that.

- We first met, and when you were co-starring on the Eric Andre show, you're one of the reasons I agreed to do the show.

Eric, sometimes gets a wild, just like, man, he might be too wild for me.

But you were always stable enough, even in your wildness, that I felt someone really understood what was going on.

So you were a big part of the reason I said yes.

Once and twice.

You have since gone on, left that show, went to do things yourself and become a leader of helping other people come up.

People aren't always grateful at the opportunities you've been given, as you've, went out on your own, you've appeared grateful for the opportunities you've had.

You appeared to constantly be willing to help people.

What's it like now, being more of a leader and the two years that you've taken off?

- Yeah.

- [Mike] Now you return with more of a focus on music, not just comedy, just what's it like being you, brother?

- It's one thing with working with folks is, is like how you say, when you, when you have kids, you realize how you were, and so it made me realize how I probably was annoying to, to some of my reps. (both laughing) I called up my old manager like, yo man, oh, I get it - [Mike] I get it.

(both laughing) - I've done the same, I've done the same man.

- I called.

I was like, yo, your job.

Cause it wasn't, I wasn't even doing that much, but I got, kind of just a taste of how chaotic and being like, okay, to be, you know, even-keeled and, you know, manage relationships and like, it's, it's, it's a, it's a art to it when, when, when done well and sometimes you don't realize, you know, the, the movements.

So, that was one, that was one lesson in it.

Of, of that.

It's the music shift is, it's been nice going back to places as I started that I've been a bunch of times doing comedy and now going there for a music show.

That's what the last track, Back in the City, is about.

Like, you know, about like coming back through.

But now I'm like, you know, with that focus.

So it's, it, it's nice to go, go in fresh, you know what I mean?

And just, and, and, and having the confidence as a performer, but still shifting that into the rap performance too.

Cause some of my earlier rap shows, I realized, I was like, just doing like standup body language.

- Yeah.

- Like I was rapping like.

(both laughing) I'm watch, I'm watching the tape like, I'm not feeling that rapping.

So that I realized, you know, so learning those little different parts of it and how to, you know, really rip a crowd, if they don't know the songs and real like, like you gotta, you know, have these moments in the show and if they don't know the track, then bringing that energy.

- [Mike] Yeah.

- Figuring out, oh you know, little tricks or okay, maybe do this part over this instrumental, and so putting together the, the, the music set has been exciting.

Just cause, you know, the, the songs, it's like a timestamp for those different time, you know, like where you like, oh, each time you like, I remember I did that one in New York, January 28th we did that.

You know what I mean?

And so being able to do that, relive that each time with the, with the songs.

- [Mike] Well, I want to thank you man.

I've met your parents.

I want to thank them.

I definitely have sent prayers up for your mom.

I didn't, I didn't know if you were atheist, agnostic or otherwise but even if it's just a matter of sending good energy, I make sure I send.

Your Father and Mother were amazing human beings.

They've raised a great human being.

- Yeah.

- [Mike] I appreciate what you've doing in terms of comedy and rap.

I appreciate you coming.

I know we were supposed to do this over the television one time, but we both held off so you can get here.

I consider you a friend.

- Yeah, for sure.

- [Mike] I love and respect you immensely man.

I appreciate you for coming.

- Thank you Mike.

- Love.

- Thanks man.

- Absolutely.

- Love and Respect with Killer Mike is made possible by: Cadillac, Monster Energy, Ledger, and by the Ressler Gertz Family Foundation.

Together we are proud to bring more love and respect into our collective conversation.

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