Hannibal Buress is bringing his stand-up act to Midtown Memphis on October 4, with a 7 p.m. show at Crosstown Theater inside Crosstown Concourse at 1350 Concourse Ave. Tickets run $35 to $52, and the 43-year-old comedian, actor, writer, and musician says he is arriving in good comedic shape with material that touches on fatherhood, gambling, music, and more.
According to the Memphis Flyer, Buress said Memphis is dope and that he is looking forward to a good show. He plans to mix polished comedic material with new ideas he is still testing out on the road, and he told the paper he feels good about where his act stands heading into the fall run. Though he has built a career across television, film, and writing, Buress has said he prefers performing on stage, noting that screen work reaches people at different stages of life and can lead them to discover other things.
From Southern Illinois Stages to National Television
Buress started his entertainment career at age 19, performing his first stand-up set in 2002 in the Big Muddy Room at Southern Illinois University, according to Big Ears Festival. That early work led to a spot in Montreal's Just for Laughs New Faces showcase in 2006, which resulted in his first international television appearance on Dutch late-night TV, per the same account. Buress later worked as a television staff writer for Saturday Night Live in 2009 and 30 Rock in 2010, stepping into a writing position vacated by Donald Glover; during his SNL stint, he co-wrote the Shy Ronnie digital short featuring Rihanna.
Buress has described his career as one that evolved through performing, television, film, writing, and traveling. In 2020, he self-released his comedy special Miami Nights for free on YouTube to maintain full creative control, a move that let him introduce live autotune and soundboard sound effects into his stand-up set, as reported by Vanyaland. That special also addressed his 2017 Miami arrest, after prosecutors dropped the charges in 2018.
Eshu Tune and the Mississippi Delta Connection
Outside of comedy, Buress makes music under the alter ego Eshu Tune, which he has described as upbeat and more fun than his comedian persona. The name draws from Eshu, the trickster deity in Yoruba mythology, a choice Buress made specifically to compartmentalize his musical identity from his comedy career, according to Northern Transmissions. He began releasing music under the name in 2022, blending hip-hop production with observational lyrics.
That music runs through his independent imprint Isola Man Media, named for Isola, Mississippi, the hometown of his mother's family, per PBS. Buress has family connections to the Mississippi Delta, giving his Memphis stop a personal resonance beyond the tour stop itself. Under the Eshu Tune name, he released the single I Lift Weights in June 2023, featuring production by TKgotdamix and a vocal sample of former NFL cornerback Joe Haden. BrooklynVegan also noted a Riot Fest appearance and a Pitchfork Music Festival performance.
A Tune-Up Date Before a New Special
A live recording of Buress's next stand-up special is also scheduled in New Orleans in October. Buress uses vocal warm-ups to prepare for some live shows and writes by speaking ideas into voice notes.
Inside Crosstown Theater's Performance Space
Crosstown Theater itself is a 417-seat black box performance space that can expand to an 800-person standing capacity with telescopic seating and modular floor arrangements, according to Crosstown Arts. The nonprofit-operated room features specialized acoustic treatments and digital projection systems built into the space. It sits inside Crosstown Concourse.
The Buress booking adds another performance to Crosstown Concourse's calendar.
