Hannibal Buress Opens Up About Sending a Lookalike to the ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Premiere

Comedian Hannibal Buress opened up on Jimmy Kimmel Live about a prank he pulled last summer where he hired a lookalike to attend the Spider-Man: Homecoming red carpet premiere on his behalf.

“While I was filming Tag, the Spider-Man premiere was happening — I have a small role in Spider-Man, two powerful scenes as Coach Wilson,” Buress told host Jimmy Kimmel. “But I was filming Tag, and I couldn’t make it. And so I still wanted to be a part of the premiere, so I hired somebody to go for me.”

Buress then issued a tweet in search of a convincing stand-in.

“LA. I need a lookalike with solid comedic timing for an event tonight,” the tweet read. “Pays $500. Email pics to haniballookalike3@gmail.com.”

“First of all, I just want people to know, $500 is good pay for LA,” Buress said. “For an actor in LA, day of? To go to a premiere?”

The comedy star said he received “hundreds” of emails in response.

“And some from white people that were wasting my time,” Buress joked. “Just white dudes from Portland, you’re not even in Los Angeles! You’re in Portland and you’re white and you’re sending pictures to be my lookalike, you’re wasting my time. We have to get this done, you’re not helping me progress!”

Buress connected with Joe Carroll, who won the role of Buress’ imposter.

“I found a guy, I worked with him before on a thing I shot for MTV Movie Awards. So I got him because ‘oh, he’s not crazy.’ I knew he wasn’t crazy and he would be somewhat professional,” Buress said. “I sent him the credentials, I emailed him, and I tell him to ask for when he gets there, and they let him on [laughs].”

Asked what he instructed Carroll to do, Buress said, “I said, ‘do interviews and just play it cool, man. Say stuff I would say.’ Say ‘hey, it was a good time working with the cast, it was so much fun when you work with people, you become like a family after a while.’”

The innocent prank worked “enough to make me really happy,” Buress said.

Carroll was interviewed on the red carpet, with the fake Hannibal calling the Marvel Studios movie “a great opportunity” and “a lot of fun.”

“We grow up watching Spider-Man,” Carroll answered in the interview, included in the video above. “So to play Coach Wilson, working with the cast, it was a great time, I had a blast. I wouldn’t trade it for nothing in the world.”

“He looks nothing like me!” Buress said. “He’s four inches taller and in way better shape.”

Buress can next be seen starring in R-rated comedy Tag alongside Avengers star Jeremy Renner, out June 15th.