‘Making miracles happen’

On the seventh night of Chanukah, 2,000 young Jewish Chicagoans turned out for the light — the light that shines on Chanukah and the light that comes with supporting, through the Jewish United Fund, the Chicago Jewish community.

And, of course, they also came for the laughs, delivered through the standup act of comedian Hannibal Buress.

View photos from the event on YLD’s Facebook page.

YLD’s Big Event Fundraiser — which featured the fundraiser and comedy show at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel followed by an after-party at the swanky new Loews Hotel Chicago — kicked off YLD’s 2016 Annual Campaign. The event is JUF’s premier fundraising event for young Jewish Chicagoans and marks the first YLD event for many guests in attendance.

Bryan Rosenberg, 2016 YLD Campaign Chair, said he has seen firsthand what incredible work JUF does. “From feeding the hungry, to caring for Holocaust survivors, to providing respite to victims of terror in Israel and around the world — JUF does it all,” he said. “Chanukah is a time for miracles and together, our collective gifts make miracles happen each and every year.”

YLD Board President Michael Oxman said the evening was both inspiring and fun. “I am proud of how YLD’s Big Event Fundraiser brought together the next generation of Jewish Chicagoans — singles and couples from many professions in their 20s to 40s — to expand, strengthen, and uplift our community, to create new connections-and to laugh too!” he said. “The after-party with live music was an amazing venue too. YLD just keeps finding new ways to innovate and enhance this event.”

‘Yes, my real name is Hannibal’

Next, it was on to the laughs. Chicago comedian Pat McGann, Buress’ opener and friend, warmed up the crowd.

Then Buress came to the stage. He had the audience in stitches throughout his stream-of-consciousness style musings. His appearance at Big Event was a return home for the Windy City native, originally from the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side.

He described himself as a “bandwagon fan” of the Chicago Cubs, only evolving into a fan once the team made the playoffs this past fall. Sports, he told the crowd, is the only business where the public is told to “wait until next year” for success. ‘No, I don’t want to wait,” said Buress. “…That’s the only business where you do that. You can’t do that if you have a mayonnaise company. ‘Okay, our mayonnaise is horrible right now, but give us a year or so and we’re going to get some [great] ingredients…I promise you. Just trust the process.”

Buress said he thinks it’s a curse that his parents gave him the unusual name of Hannibal, which also happens to be the name of one of the most frightening characters in movie history. “No one ever believes me,” he complains. “‘Is your real name Hannibal?’ ‘Yes, my real name is Hannibal.’ ‘Your parents named you Hannibal?’ ‘Yes, my parents named me Hannibal.’ ‘So Hannibal is on your birth certificate?’ ‘Yes, Hannibal is on my birth certificate. Why did you ask me the same question three different ways?’

Like the crowd he was performing to, Buress is a 30 something — 32 to be exact. And at 32, he told the audience, why does he still have to show his ID at bars? “I think you get that I’m not 20 if you just look at my face,” he said pointing to his visage. “You want my ID? How bout look into my eyes. Do I have the soul of a 20-year-old? ….Look at all this bitterness and [stuff]….how about you look at my body. Do I look like I have the metabolism of a 20-year-old?” he asks, pointing to his belly.

In addition to his frequent standup comedy, Buress recently had his own weekly comedy TV series on Comedy Central called Why? With Hannibal Buress , in which he posed life’s big questions from his own off-beat point of view.

Buress also acts on Comedy Central’s provocative sitcom Broad City , which follows the lives of two Jewish 20-something Manhattan-based women-created and played by Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, who performed earlier this month at Northwestern University, co-sponsored by NU’s Hillel and A&O Productions.

Buress has also written for NBC’s Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock , and makes his rounds on the late night TV talk circuit. He also appears in film, and joins Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in the film comedy Daddy’s Home , due out this month.

A special thank you to YLD’s Big Event Fundraiser Corporate Sponsors: Lead Sponsors — Eleven Lincoln Park and Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. Platinum Sponsors — Associated Agencies, Inc. and Chubb Group of Insurance Companies; Cohen Financial; HFF; Melissa Siegal Group with @properties; Morgan Stanley: Cohn Weisskopf Oxman Group. Event Sponsors — Big Onion Tavern Group; SpotMyPhotos, a CloudSpotter Technologies company; Urban Innovations. AV Sponsor — AV Chicago. A special thank you to Don and Linda Brubaker, SkinnyPop Popcorn, Van Buren Gentlemen Salon, and Invesco for their support of this event. Another special thank you to the 151 Table Hosts whose support of this event made it an enormous success.

For photos from Saturday’s event, check out YLD’s Facebook page at facebook.com/ChicagoYLD . For more information, visit yldchicago.org .