Comedy star: ‘At a Cracker Barrel, I don’t get bothered. In a [weed] dispensary, they go crazy’

An emergency siren wails in the background Thursday morning in Brooklyn, New York.

Hannibal Buress, one of the greatest comedy talents to emerge this century has called in for a phone interview from a room above the live performance venue, Isola Brooklyn, he’s opening in a former location of iconic jazz club the Knitting Factory.

Friday, Buress will fly to Huntsville, Alabama. He’ll be there for a two-night, four-show stand this weekend at comedy club Levity Live. From there, the 41-year-old multi-hyphenate goes to Birmingham for a Sunday set at Birmingham’s WorkPlay Theater. After that, Buress crisscrosses to Las Vegas for four shows. Complete tour dates at hannibalburess.com.

During our 18-minute chat, the Chicago-born Buress was as chill and thoughtful as fans of his stand-up, podcasting, and his acting in now-classic Comedy Central hipster sitcom “Broad City” would expect. Edited excerpts below.

You started in comedy in Carbondale, Illinois [while attending Southern Illinois University]. Do you think that shaped your comedy differently than if you started in, say, New York or Los Angeles?

Hannibal Buress: I don’t know how much it’s shaped it. I think starting in Carbondale, because I was doing it in a college town, I was able to talk about college things, and there wasn’t a lot of friction for putting together shows and different opportunities.

Because I was around people that were my age, it made me think I was better than I was for the time. I didn’t have to, you know, relate to people that … I mean there were other shows, but a lot of my shows were around people that were living the same experience as me as a student, so that was really cool. You talk about where you at and where you from and what’s happening.

You’ve been doing pop-up shows lately, where you announce a performance just days before it happens. Prince sometimes did that for his concerts, and Jack White, another music star, has been doing so on his latest tour. What’s the appeal of pop-up shows for you?

There’s a few things, man. It’s fun to just kind of do things on short notice and to kind of change my plans and change people’s plans and do something exciting. It kind of puts a deadline on it. The tickets sell faster a lot of times, too, when it’s something like that versus the ones when I put them on sale with more time. I mean, they have to, just because of the nature of, you know, the show is about to happen. There’s a lot of excitement around it, so I just like doing them.

These days, I don’t like having too much on the calendar — honestly, I’m opening a venue in Brooklyn, and I thought we’d be open by now. I thought we were going to open in summer. So now I’m doing gigs to help pay for this venue, construction, all this stuff.

Yeah, but the surprise element of it’s always fun, man. To have there not be a show one day and, you know, two days before or the day-of sometimes let people know the show’s going on. It can be a fun energy.

Do you think you have a good level of fame? Like, can you walk down the street without getting hassled, and when fans do recognize you they’re nice and respectful?

Yeah, yeah. I can move around and go places solo and it’s pretty normal out and about. So yeah, that’s enjoyable, man.

I look different now, too — my hair looks different. So a lot of times, even if the people that know me, I don’t look how they remember me, so they don’t end up saying anything. It’s a good advantage because then you able to observe people [for comedy writing purposes]or have conversations without, you know, that affecting it. And it is nice to just be able to go do stuff and just go to a concert solo or all types of things, man. It’s pretty mellow.

I address that on stage, with certain places, I’m not gonna get bothered. At a Cracker Barrell, I don’t get bothered. When I’m in a dispensary, they go crazy. [Buress is a noted weed enthusiast.]

What are some other current subjects you’re address in your stand-up sets these days?

Yeah, I talk about my current life, fatherhood and what comes with that, and leaving comedy for a little bit to work on music, and I talk about making music. It’s just a good snapshot of where my life is and where my mind state is right now. That’s where it’s at, kind of an update.

I don’t podcast right now, so people don’t really hear the minutiae of what I have going on, so the show is where I’m able to share that.

We’re about two weeks away from the [U.S. presidential] election. What’s your approach to doing or not doing political humor in an election year? Especially this close.

I talk about it, man. I mean, it’s a lot happening, so it’s something I definitely mention and I follow, and there’s a lot to talk about. So I do cover that.

You mentioned your music. I just watched the video for your recent rap song “I Lift Weights” [released under the moniker Eshu Tune] and it made me wonder: What some of the artists or records that made you not just like music but love it and want to make it?

When I was a kid, I had Otis Redding “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” a 45 [rpm single] record for my little Fisher Price record player I had as a kid. So that’s my earliest memory of having physical music.

And then my brother used to listen to Boogie Down Productions, KRS-One. There was this one song “Beef,” talking about beef [a feud between rival rappers] being poisonous.

Early on, these were things I just enjoyed. And I don’t know if they made me want to make music, it was just stuff that I heard a lot of.

Raekwon, his early album “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx”; Ghostface [Killah], the “Supreme Clientele” album; Jay-Z, “Reasonable Doubt”; the “Above the Rim” soundtrack. A lot of great stuff.

What’s something you took from your short experience writing for “Saturday Night Live” that you still use today?

Seeing stuff happen fast, you know what I mean? Because there’s a deadline. You’re working towards doing a live show that Saturday, so you things come together fast, man. You see people come up and write the sketch, and then do the read through, and then do the punch up. And if it’s a recorded sketch, you’re shooting some stuff on Friday or Thursday.

Even on the day-of, there’s the dress rehearsal and then there’s the main show, so there’s some stuff cut and there’s a production meeting in between. So everybody’s kind of firing at full speed. I think, being around that just taught me how you can create things fast and move fast, and it was getting things done.

I loved “Broad City,” in which you played Lincoln, one of the main character’s boyfriends. Why do you think that show was so special?

I think it captured a certain way of life and captured and showed friendship for women in New York. Just those situations that they’re in and the stories that they told, so it was extremely relatable to a lot of folks.

And filming in New York is a fun time, too, man — when you’re not on a studio lot, you’re in a real apartment – you know what I mean?

Just being in the city or filming in Washington Square Park or all these different spots, it just felt good to film there. And the storylines were amazing, stories that a lot of people connected to, and it was funny stuff. So it was dope to do something like that.

You didn’t know what was happening. Because I was a part of it, but I’m not part of the full creation of it. Early on I was writing, but as far as really building it …

And people rediscover it all the time or discover it freshly, so it’s one of those type of shows that people find or they’re just about to move to New York, so they watch that as their guidepost. It’s a cool thing.

You also had roles in “Spider-Man: Homecoming” as Coach Wilson, and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” as Genghis Frog. You’ve shown you have talent and range as an actor. Is there something you haven’t done yet on that side of things you’d like to dig into?

I think it’ll be more directing and writing shows, seeing a project all the way through. So I think that, maybe once my clubs are open, I think that’s on my roadmap for maybe two or three years from now. I’ll write, produce, direct, do the music for something. And really, just really just make the project, you know?