Comedy is coming to the Knitting Factory.
On Nov. 15, “Saturday Night Live” writer Hannibal Buress started hosting a weekly stand-up show at the Williamsburg venue, inviting friends and doing his own routine.
“We’re trying to diversify our programming,” said Chris White, a talent buyer for the venue, which has broadened from music to include a sewing party called “Yarn Dolls” on Sunday afternoons and “Largehearted Lit,” a monthly reading series hosted by author Jami Attenburg.
Buress was a natural fit “because he’s a neighborhood guy,” said White.
For his part, Buress said he was jazzed to be honing his craft on stage with fellow comics Kumail Nanjiani and Baron Vaughn. “It’s great to just to be able to have my own place to try new material and not have to take the train anywhere,” he said.
Living in Brooklyn has helped the Chicago native’s material.
“I saw two Hasidic Jews walk past each other without speaking,” goes one of Buress’s new jokes. “I thought that was weird. If I saw someone with the exact same outfit as me from head to toe, I’d at least stop and say. ‘That’s a nice hat.’”
Comedy night at the Knitting Factory [361 Metropolitan Ave. at Havemeyer Street in Williamsburg, (347) 529-6696] begins Nov. 15 at 9 pm. Free.
