Krannert Center for the Performing Arts welcomed Hannibal Buress and his hour-long comedy set during PYGMALION on Saturday night.

The 42-year-old comedian, who launched his career more than two decades ago, is currently on a nationwide tour and recently performed in Chicago the day before. 

Buress has appeared in several films and television shows, including “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “BoJack Horseman.”

The show began at 7:30 p.m. when Buress’ opener, Reggie Junior, entered the stage to immense cheering. 

Junior’s set lasted 30 minutes, primarily revolving around jokes discussing racial topics as a Black person. He continued to mention his education throughout his performance, often citing the influence of college, where he would follow every academic term with an exclamation of “student loans.” 

Following his act, Junior called Buress to the stage.

When Buress walked on at 8 p.m., the crowd erupted in applause with the anticipation of his set. 

Buress started his set by commenting on “having to dig in” while performing at a show on a college campus because he “has more in common with your parents.”

He also promoted his DJ set that would take place later that night at The Canopy Club.

Further in the set, Buress explained why he loved Amtrak, claiming he enjoyed how “Amtrak is not a nosy company” when it comes to who boards its trains.

“I liked the bit that he did about Amtrak,” said Kassidee Barlow, a staff member at KCPA working during Buress’ set. “I thought that was really funny because I took the Amtrak a lot back and forth, and they really do not care about anything.” 

The comedian showcased his storytelling skills when he spent a portion of the show recounting how a lady who was convinced he stole her purse put a misjustified multigenerational curse on him. 

“She says if any of you touched my bag, your next seven generations are cursed,” Buress said. “And I said, ’Hold up, what? Did you just throw up a multigenerational hex with zero evidence?’”

During his retelling of the story, he incorporated the use of thunder and lightning effects to emphasize the woman’s bizarre nature.

Buress transitioned into discussing his relationship with his daughter, saying that no father is excited at first to have a daughter — especially one considered a “trap baby,” which earned a huge burst of applause from the audience. 

He compared his relationship with his daughter and her mother to rapper Eminem’s. He noted that while both families have their issues, their daughters turned out well, even calling Eminem’s daughter, Hailie, boring.

“I think the fact that Hailie’s podcast is boring, terrible and horrendous is a sign that Eminem is a great father,” Buress said. “Sometimes, good parents make boring artists.”

To finish his act, Buress talked about how being a father changed his perspective on things. Specifically, he stressed about his niece’s basketball games. Buress vividly described how poorly they would play, calling it a disaster. 

He began to reminisce about his own grade school basketball experience, accompanied by his running across the stage pretending to play a game.

“When Hannibal did the basketball thing, that was probably my favorite part,” said Ben Williams, senior in LAS. “The bravery that Hannibal Buress put on display for us tonight when he was showing us his little basketball moves.” 

Buress spent his concluding statement describing a passionate pep talk he gave to a teammate on how to win the game — advice the teammate ignored, resulting in a bad loss, which prompted laughter from the audience due to his vocal comedic timing. 

While the audience was captivated by Buress’ wit, his target demographic appeared to be older adults, as opposed to University students. 

“I looked (Buress) up on Google before I picked up the shift,” Barlow said. “But honestly, I thought it was a pretty good performance. I laughed a lot. He seemed to appeal to an older audience, but it was still funny.”

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