11 Clever Quips From Hugh Dancy's Hannibal AmA

Turns out our poor, mentally addled Will Graham’s real-life counterpart, Hugh Dancy, has a bit of a sense of humor about the absolute horror show his Hannibal character has endured (and will likely continue to endure) thus far. As the star of the NBC/Bryan Fuller drama, a lot of the emotional heavy lifting is on the actor’s shoulders — and often some of the most intense scenes live and die at his feet. Especially now that Will Graham — season one spoilers, kids! — is locked up for the crimes creepy Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) has committed.

During the actor’s Reddit AmA we learned heaps not only about the show, but about Dancy’s homelife with fellow seriously-addled type (Homeland’s Carrie Mathison, played by his wife Claire Danes), the genius that is Bryan Fuller, and why actress Nina Arianda could've ended up on the show. (Which would've been AMAZING, for the record.) Turns out? Hugh Dancy is a funny man. We've compiled his 11 funniest moments as he danced around the conversation of swiggity swag the nightmare stag (really: we just wanted an excuse to type that).

For those of you that need a refresher on what’s happened leading up to Friday night’s premiere, check out our very own Jesse Carp’s impressive write-up here. Otherwise sit back, relax, and let a little bit of levity wash over you.

  1. On Will Graham’s excessive bodily fluid make-up: “There's so many different types [of sweat]. But that's nothing compared to the blood. There's clothes blood, hair blood, eye blood, mouth blood, prosthetics dept blood and on and on. For some reason it's never quite the right consistency or colour so we end up creating a cocktail with everyone chipping in their opinions - bit darker, no no that's too arterial. And then they cover me in it.”
  2. Regarding what flowers Mads Mikkelsen’s breath smells like: “Not any I’ve encountered.”
  3. On his favorite moment inhabiting Will Graham’s illness: “I liked when Will started sleepwalking except that it required me to walk around the country roads outside Toronto in sub-zero temperatures in my underwear. ... Lots of fun. Like, 'this week you get to have aural hallucinations'. Great!”
  4. On a particularly noisy moment (of the bodily variety) during season two: “I had to join those good people on the floor (as you'll see) and I can tell you all bodily noises were being emitted.”
  5. Answering the question “How does Mads Mikkelsen smell like?”: “With his nose like everyone else.”
  6. He even had culinary suggestions for Friday night’s premiere: “I would try something vegetarian for dinner. Or just watch Hannibal we'll eat for you.”
  7. As to whether or not Hannibal would survive a zombie apocalypse (always gotta have a zombie question on Reddit): “He would be their God. But I think he'd find it a little trying, I've never heard of a zombie with a passion for cooking their food.”
  8. On the tousled perfection that is Will Graham’s hair: “I have a professional tousle who travels with me at all times.”
  9. Regarding his convincing American accent: “They can do amazing things in post though so its possible they put me through some kind of American filter.”
  10. On cannibalism and whether or not humans would realize they were eating humans: “Absolutely. There’s no way you can recognize something you haven’t already encountered. Unless there’s something you’re trying to tell me..?”
  11. On his favorite Will Graham line from season one: “I like the smell of urinal cake.”

Hannibal returns for a second helping Friday, February 28th at 10PM on NBC.