Photo by Alex Zielinski.

With the promise of a special guest, more than 100 people packed in to Wonderland Ballroom’s upstairs for Sunday’s free local comedy set.

No one said the name “Hannibal Buress” during the preceding 16 sets, though other comedians said that Tom Arnold, of Roseanne fame, might be swinging by later in the evening. The tip-off came from Buress himself. In a since-deleted tweet shortly before the show was going to start, he announced his intentions to perform.

But as the clock ticked closer to 9 p.m. and Buress deleted his tweet, some of us wondered if he’d actually show. The star of the Comedy Central’s Why? With Hannibal Buress and Broad City (though one of my favorite works is this tutorial on cooking eggs) would be trying out material for his next tour.

He took the stage a little after 9. “That’s nice, D.C.,” he said by way of a hello. “You know you’re not supposed to live here, right? You’re supposed to be in Maryland or Virginia, where you mean something.”

Buress’ 40 minute set ran the gamut from discussing the presidential candidates (noting, rightfully, that Ben Carson is “biting my delivery” with his relaxed talking style) to figuring out what to do if you have triplets.

In the most firework-filled part of the evening, he talked about how social media makes people weird. Before his set, he was sitting at Wonderland’s bar downstairs, next to a woman who didn’t acknowledge him but instead just tweeted her proximity to the comedian.

Burress said he was close enough to push her face, or to say hi. “But you didn’t!” a heckler, presumably the woman in question, shouted.

“No, I didn’t. Because you still can’t do that to a white girl in D.C.,” Burress said, drawing laughter from the crowd. He wondered whether D.C. even has jails, or if they just stick people below the Lincoln Memorial. He said that he wasn’t attacking her. “I’m just calling you corny in front of 100 people.”

About 35 minutes in, Buress said, “This set is winding down, but it’s okay because none of you paid me money.” He still ended strong, with a strong case for why deviled eggs and liberal arts colleges are rackets.

He said he would be taking Amtrak, the “chill” transportation alternative, back to N.Y. today. According to his website, his next scheduled tour stop is in Honolulu, Hawaii on November 28. Earlier this November, he gave the final performance at Maryland’s Cole Field House.