About
Hannibal Buress is an American comedian known for his stand-up comedy routines and his recurring role as successful pediatric dentist Lincoln Rice in Comedy Central’s TV sitcom Broad City. In October 2014, footage of Buress’ stand-up performance in which he referred to Bill Cosby as a rapist circulated widely online, prompting a resurgence of news media scrutiny concerning the renowned comedian’s sexual abuse allegations.
Comedy Career
From 2009 to 2010, Buress was a writer on the sketch comedy television show Saturday Night Live. In 2010, Buress’ stand-up was featured in the Comedy Central special The Awkward Comedy Show (shown below, left). That year, Buress began appearing in the FX sitcom Louie. Starting it 2012, Buress served as host Eric André’s sidekick on the Adult Swim television show The Eric André Show (shown below, right).
In 2014, Buress began playing the role of the New York City dentist Lincoln Rice on the Comedy Central sitcom Broad City (shown below).
Online History
On January 11th, 2011, Buress posted his appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman to YouTube (shown below, left). On November 13th, 2012, Buress uploaded a stand-up routine from the British comedy news show Russell Howard’s Good News (shown below, right).
On November 23rd, 2014, a pasta-themed Tumblr[3] blog was launched titled “The Al Dente Dentist,” which highlights posts about pasta dishes written from the perspective of Buress’ character Lincoln Rice from Broad City. On March 29th, 2015, a video of Buress ridiculing a heckler was uploaded to YouTube (shown below). That day, Redditor KingGorilla posted the video to the /r/videos[2] subreddit, where it gathered more than 1,200 votes (87% upvoted) and 130 comments in the first 72 hours.
Bill Cosby Stand-Up Routine
In November 2006, comedian Bill Cosby settled a civil lawsuit with a woman who claimed he had drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2004. By the end of the settlement, 13 other women had come forward claiming he had sexually assaulted them. In October 2014, Buress called Cosby a rapist during a stand-up performance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in reference to the lawsuit. The video was widely circulated online and resulted in a wave of news media coverage regarding the accusations.
“He gets on TV, ‘Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the 80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom.’ Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches.”
Justin Bieber’s Roast
In late March 2015, Buress participated in Comedy Central’s roast for Justin Bieber, during which he insulted the pop star’s music by saying, “I hate your music more than Bill Cosby hates my comedy” (shown below).
On March 31st, Buress tweeted[1] an image macro of his joke that was cut from the roast, garnering upwards of 15,000 favorites and 11,000 retweets in the first 48 hours (shown below).
