Drew Hastings

“Isn’t it ironic that the finest coffees in the world come from countries where no one has a reason to get up in the morning”?

This is a typical observation from Drew Hastings as he surveys the crowd and begins his show in a recent stand-up performance. At 6′6″ tall, clad in a tailored black suit and trademark black horn-rimmed glasses, Hastings is a commanding presence onstage as he launches into a study of the human condition that is both hilarious and self-deprecating. Though his angst can be easily sensed, he is obviously at home onstage.

Raised in Ohio by a British mother, Drew brings to every performance a down-to-earth Mid-western sensibility tempered – or, rather, contradicted with typical British aloofness and condescension.

Drew Hastings is a raconteur with a lot of stories to tell. Before becoming a comedian at age thirty-one, Drew’s escapades included owning a trucking business, running a document shredding company that never actually shredded any documents, leading archaeological expeditions (some would call him “looter”) to South America, and playing polo with stolen horses at polo clubs in Washington, DC and Cincinnati, OH.

And, his foray into psychedelic drug dealing in the early Seventies using a pyramid marketing scheme modeled after Mary Kay Cosmetics is hilarious, though like most of his stories, one never knows when he’ll tell it again.

Drew moved from Ohio to Los Angeles in the early 1990’s, where he was quickly noticed by the entertainment industry. His acting talent landed him a number of guest-starring roles and he has done television pilots for some of the big networks including Fox, NBC, and HBO. He has also made many stand-up appearances on television and is one of a very elite group of comedians to have received a standing ovation on “The Tonight Show.”

His storied and colorful life has been the subject of three different one-person shows, “Commencement Speech,” “Life & Other Short Stories” and “The Business of Living,” a satire of the success/motivational industry. His character from that show, Jack Freeman, found an immediate cult following in Los Angeles, and in 2001 caught the attention of the nationally syndicated Bob and Tom Radio Show, where the hilarious Freeman was introduced to a much wider national audience. Drew’s initial appearances on the Bob and Tom Show were so well received that he soon became a regular guest, regaling listeners with his stories, questioning his life and everyone else’s, and giving his comedic opinions on just about any topic that comes up. Drew spends much of his time headlining with “The Friends of the Bob and Tom Show” which has played over 70 cities thus far.

In October 2007 Drew taped his one hour comedy special in front of a sold out audience at the Valentine Theatre in Toledo Ohio. The special titled “Irked and Miffed” premiered on Comedy Central in April 2008 to an audience of over one million viewers. The special will continue to air through 2008. “Irked and Miffed” was released on DVD and CD in May 2008 and is available in stores now.

Clean Comedy