(AllHipHop Features) Rovio Entertainment’s Angry Birds franchise is easily one of the most successful mobile games in history. As a result, millions of app users around the world struggled with an addiction to slinging birds across their smartphone screens.
Those destructive fowls and their pig foes are now headed to the big screen.
The Angry Birds Movie cast features a flock of top talent such as Jason Sudeikis, Maya Rudolph, Sean Penn, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Peter Dinklage, Keegan-Michael Key, and Danielle Brooks. Emmy nominated comedian Hannibal Buress also lends his voice to the animated motion picture.
Besides appearing in Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Angry Birds flick, audiences will get to hear Buress in the forthcoming The Secret Life of Pets as well as see him star opposite Zac Efron inNeighbors 2: Sorority Rising and Baywatch.
In addition, the Chicago bred performer presented his awkwardly confident comedic routines on Netflix this year with the documentary Hannibal Takes Edinburgh and the stand-up special Comedy Camisado.
I had the chance to chat with Hannibal about his recent film work. The conversation also includedThe Eric Andre Show co-host sharing his thoughts on Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo album, the two decade debate over The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air versus Martin, and his sole purpose for using Snapchat.
Check out excerpts from the convo below.
What attracted you to the role in Angry Birds?
They offered it to me, and it sounded cool. [laughs] I thought, “Sudeikis is in it.” And I get to be a voice in a big animated movie. It’s a different experience. I’m just trying to grow as a voice actor.
You talked about doing voice acting. You’re also in The Secret Life of Pets. Did you enjoy that version of acting?
It’s really simple. You do it for an hour in any major city. You don’t have to go to a set or go through hair and makeup. You show up to the studio, they ask you if you want any tea, you go into the booth, and throw some headphones on. The director usually Skypes in. You say all your lines a few times. If they have direction for you, they tell you that direction, and you adjust.
I think Chris Rock had that joke at some award show how it’s really easy. The people that work hard on Angry Birds are the people you won’t really know – the animators. That’s the real work. Going into a booth and just talking, that’s pretty simple stuff. I enjoy it.
I always felt like the people who star on The Simpsons have the greatest job in Hollywood.
Yeah, it’s a cool gig. There’s obviously different skill levels. There is talent involved. You have some people that can do seven different characters.
Can you talk about your character in Angry Birds?
My character is… what is he? [laughs] That’s what happens also. You just go in and read stuff, so you kind of get disconnected a little bit. But my character is a father. We’re having a Hatch Day party for my son. Sudeikis’ character, the delivery guy, messes it up, so I’m kind of just the dude giving him a lot of sh-t. I play kind of a douchebag dad that’s upset that Sudeikis’ character is bad at his job.
I also wanted to ask about your new special Comedy Camisado. I noticed you had jokes about Stevie Wonder being blind, and you had a bit about babies possibly being racist. You even talked about the backlash you received from the Bill Cosby controversy. When you’re putting together your shows, are there any topics or people that you feel are off limits?
No, I just try to make it funny and try stuff to see if it works or if the idea has potential to work. That’s my main focus, just trying to put together a good show. I don’t really stray away from any topics.
During Camisado, you had a joke about Kanye’s Yeezus and how it grew on you. What did you think about The Life Of Pablo?
I may have to give it some more listens. It’s some great sounding stuff on there. I think “Father Stretch My Hands” is my favorite right now. I walk out to that on stage. I like it, it’s just the rollout of it was so weird. [laughs] That maybe sort of clouding how I feel about the album. It was cool, but it was a little all over the place. “Real Friends” is really dope. And “No More Parties In LA.” It’s got some bangers on there.
Who else are you listening to now?
I like the new Kendrick [Lamar] – untitled unmastered . It’s some good sh-t on there. Lately, I’ll just pick a Pandora station and go off of that. So I’ll put on the Flying Lotus Pandora [station], and that’s usually pretty good. Spotify has this “Discover Weekly.” Based off of what you play, they make a playlist every week. I’ll find new stuff off of that. Oddisee’s new project [Alwasta] is really dope. He put out an EP that’s got this track “Catching Vibes.” It’s pretty dope.
You had your special on Netflix, and you also did a documentary that came out recently. It seems like you have a good relationship with Netflix. Can we expect anything else?
We’ll see. I just like how they operate. It’s just simple for people to get it. Lots of people have Netflix all across the world. You can link to it, tweet it, or Facebook it. Somebody might watch it the day it comes out. Somebody might watch it the next day. Somebody might watch it six months from now. It’s there when they want to watch. You want to make it easy for people to access your work, and Netflix makes that happen.
There was a scene in the documentary where you were performing and people started heckling you because you were talking about London. You walked off the stage. Was that something that really bothered you?
It was annoying. It’s not the first time I’ve done that joke in Scotland. That crowd just sucked. Just because I’m mentioning London, you want to yell. F-ck that. [laughs] That’s really stupid. It’s childish. So if I can’t do the bit I want to do because you’re upset about London being mentioned, then I’m gonna walk. I’m not getting paid crazy money. The gig paid like £150. It was drinking money. It was more like, “I’m not dealing with this sh-t.”
I noticed that you’ve done a lot of work with Zac Efron. Are you guys low-key trying to do a Pryor-Wilder situation? What’s going on with that?
[laughs] Yeah, the two Neighbors movies and Baywatch. I guess three movies with Zac Efron. It just happened like that. I actually didn’t expect to get Baywatch at all. I went in for one role, and they ended up offering me something else. He’s a hardworking dude. I need to get on his fitness regimen. I want to get ripped like that and see how it changes my life. I’m gonna ask him when I go back to set, “What’s it like being ripped all the time? Tell me about that.” [laughs]
You’re doing The Eric Andre Show and Broad City. You had the sketch/stand-up series Why? with Hannibal Buress on Comedy Central. But is there any interest in doing your own sitcom?
Yeah, people have been throwing some ideas my way. I’ve come up with stuff, so I’d definitely will when the time is right and I have the right idea. I’m not in a rush right now. Maybe that’s something for late next year. Who knows? But it would be cool to take another shot at TV.
I need you to help me settle a debate I’m having with a friend of mine. If you could only watch one of these ‘90’s sitcoms – The Fresh Prince or Martin, which one would you pick?
I would go with Fresh Prince… That’s a tough one. Martin had the different characters, but that last season of Martin was weird cause him and Tisha [Campbell] were never on the same set together. So even though they switched up the moms on Fresh Prince, it kind of stayed cohesive all the way through… I got to go with Fresh Prince with the extended intro song. You know there’s a longer version?
Yeah, I think people forgot that.
There’s another verse to that.
I think the full version is on YouTube.
Yeah.
How can people reach you on social media?
It’s all “Hannibal Buress” – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. I don’t f-ck with Snapchat like that. I only got it so girls can send me titties. I don’t really post stuff.
Source: All Hip Hop
