It was 5 in the afternoon, sunshine was leaking through the windows, but Acme Comedy Co. was packed Thursday for a pop-up standup show by Hannibal Buress.

"Who are you people — 5 p.m., last-minute, and can afford a $30 ticket?" Buress asked. And with that, the laughs began and didn't stop for the next hour.

It was the first of three sold-out Twin Cities shows that the Chicago native booked on the spur of the moment after a three-nighter in Rochester.

Tickets were gone within minutes after the show was announced Tuesday. The comedian soon added a show later Thursday at St. Paul's Turf Club and another Acme happy-hour date on Friday.

"I'm trying to come up with a new set and I thought it was a good place to fail," he told the crowd.

Buress' set dipped into topics as diverse as international travel, politics, Midwestern cities, podiatry, asthma and the Flint, Mich., water crisis.

He also focused on himself. He pondered his asthma, his weight gain and his longing to have a child.

"I think I'm gonna have a kid. I'm getting to that spot," said Buress, 33. "Who am I gonna give this wisdom to? Twitter? Facebook? No, [they're] too unappreciative."

Near the end of his set Buress, mocking a Riff Raff concert, began to play audio clips of some of his previous work while he overdubbed key words or punchlines.

None were of the bit for which he's most famous: a 2014 routine in which he called Bill Cosby a rapist. After a video of Buress' joke went viral, more people became aware of both Buress and the allegations of sexual assault by Cosby.

Buress has had three comedy specials on Netflix — including one filmed last fall at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis — and has a recurring role on Comedy Central's "Broad City."

He plans on staying busy, he said.

"Over the past couple months I've been trying to be the best actor of my generation," Buress said. "Turns out I always play myself."

Barry Lytton is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.