Hannibal Buress was not named after Hannibal Lecter. And as we heard last night at TOC’s First Annual (fingers crossed) Funniest Person in Chicago contest, it really pisses him off. But like the famous Carthaginian military commander he’s actually named for, Hannibal conquered last night’s competition, scoring perfectly with the panel of judges (myself included) and earning a majority of the audience votes. As the Lakeshore’s Chris Ritter, another judge, put it, "You’ve been on the Lakeshore stage more than any other performer, and it’s obvious why that is." This is also the man who docked Jena Friedman a few points for knocking his favorite Thai restaurant Joy’s—but still, a compliment’s a compliment.

A big thank you to everyone who came out to see the show. I thought the evening went pretty well. I was impressed with all the comedians—each was distinct and seemed to bring his or her A-game. I was so impressed, in fact, that I found myself feeling self-conscious laughing on stage. Is that a pleasing visual, I thought?

But yes, each comic was not only strong, but distinctly so. Dan Telfer was angry that Spielberg’s depiction of velociraptors (the Illinois state dinosaur!) was total bullshit; Michael Palascak quietly took a stand that living with your parents is nothing to be ashamed of; Jena Friedman innocently dropped the fact that she wouldn’t date a guy with only one arm; Hannibal Buress shared that he wished he was a star athlete in college so other people would write his papers—in Courier New font, of course; Ken Barnard read from the funny pages and sang the theme song from Disney’s Pocahontas (both were much funnier than they sound); and Gary Atkins strummed out the bidet-praising song that earned him a spot in the contest.

It’s hard for me to get a full grasp on the contest, since I was heavily involved. What did everyone else think?

You can view all of the video entries in our contest here.

Photo: Gena Bailey. For more photos, see her Flickr set.