This was originally posted Monday, April 24, 2017 by Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Hannibal Buress joined the podcast brigade last fall, a place many other comics now reside. He decided to tape his 22nd edition of "Handsome Rambler" in Atlanta at the Laughing Skull Lounge the day after headlining a show at the Masquerade.
He invited his opening comic Al Jackson and rap star and Bernie Sanders supporter Killer Mike to join him and his podcast cohost, producer, road DJ and college buddy Tony Trimm . Taped on 4/20 on a Thursday afternoon, the live podcast show sold out with mostly young folks who clearly had time on their hands.
"How many people here are high as f***?' Buress asked on this special day.
Several raised their hands.
Over two hours, the foursome covered a lot of territory, from politics to race, from Comedy Central's "Broad City" to Buress' small role in the upcoming "Spider-Man" film shot here. Buress talked about the show the night before where people complained they had to stand. "Your city's infrastructure is crumbling" he said. "You can handle this!"
Then he added: "The places where there is seating costs more to rent. I have to be efficient!"
Buress after the show said the podcast provides him fodder for his stand-up act and provides another creative outlet while on the road. He mused at one point during the taping, for instance: "When I have sex with a girl, I feel the pressure of all the TV shows I'm on. If I do badly, 'Broad City' is losing a fan!"
When HBO offered Killer Mike and Big Boi to rap on the animated series "Animals," they were told they would play raccoons. This garnered immediate laughs. "I was like, these are white progressive writers. They support Bernie and Outkast. But they don't understand the correlation between a raccoon and a black person! You can't have a band become the 'Coons!" In the end, HBO made the foxes.
"Maybe they could have been called 'rap'coons," Buress suggested, not seriously.
"I still get uncomfortable when a white person suggests a great fried chicken spot," Buress then added.
"Unless they're from Nashville," Killer Mike responded. ""White people in Nashville know their fried chicken!"
"If you get the right white Southern person, they're still cooking with lard," he added.
Buruss said he plans to trim it to about 80 minutes and it should be available soon. (If I remember, I'll embed the podcast here.) Here is his previous one:
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Buress inadvertently raised his profile in 2014 when he did a stand-up bit about Bill Cosby's rape charges and asked folks to Google it. Someone placed that bit on YouTube and it went viral, leading to dozens more women accusing him of various levels of sexual harassment. In the past, Buress has expressed mixed feelings about getting enmeshed in that but ultimately no regrets.
The former TV star and stand-up comedy legend has been charged with drugging and molesting a woman, Andrea Constand, at his Pennsylvania home in 2004. It's the only criminal case that has made it to trial since many accusations are past the statute of limitations. Cosby is now doing interviews trying to rehabilitate his tattered reputation.
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