'Daddy's Home' Costar Hannibal Buress's Secret to Acting: Playing Hannibal Buress

“I play Griff,” Hannibal Buress said of the handyman he plays in the new hit comedy Daddy’s Home, before quickly correcting himself. “I play Hannibal Buress.”

Yes, the character he plays is technically named Griff, and he’s a key pawn in the film’s central patriarchal showdown between Mark Wahlberg’s biological pops and Will Ferrell’s stepdad as they vie for their children’s affection. But Buress, the hilariously dry 32-year-old standup comic, who spoke to Yahoo Movies back in January towards the end of filming, has no illusions about being mistaken for Marlon Brando.

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He’s parlayed his increasingly popular comedy career on the nightlife circuit into some day jobs in scripted work in movies and television. And according to Hannibal Buress, so far he’s played: “Hannibal Buress the handyman” (in Daddy’s Home), “Hannibal Buress the cop” (in Neighbors), “Hannibal Buress the dentist” (in Broad City), and “Hannibal Buress the homeless dude” (30 Rock).

“It’s all me. I mean, there’s a little variation, but not much,” he said laughing. “I think I’ve got another two years of playing myself before I have to show some real range.” Buress pointed to a sci-fi miniseries he was in the running for prior to shooting Daddy’s Home. He said he loved the material, but couldn’t actually picture himself performing it. “It wasn’t funny. I couldn’t imagine myself having to say this 20 times. It was long, it was very technical, [futuristic] dialogue… But I was like, I don’t want to do this type of s— right now.”

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Buress has had the luxury of learning from his various comedic co-stars like Tina Fey, Seth Rogen, and Ferrell. And he said Wahlberg, especially, made a big impact on him with how hard the actor prepared on Daddy’s Home. It inspired him to be more proactive in requesting his script pages in advance each day.

Buress, who has lent his voice to a couple of 2016 animated films (The Secret Life of Pets and The Angry Birds Movie) and is currently filming James Franco’s The Disaster Artist (about the making of Tommy Miseau’s cult classic The Room), will next be seen in January’s indie comedy Band of Robbers, a modern-day spin on the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn adventure.

Guess who he plays? “I play a Hannibal Buress as a different dude,” he said.