It would be hyperbole to suggest that nationally touring comedian Drew Hastings wrote the book on humor. But the Ohio-based performer is indeed penning a work of musings and lighthearted observations and essays.
In fact, some of those stories from the yet-to-be-published work will form the nucleus of his more subtle, new show, “Stories For Grown-ups” scheduled at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Dec. 31 at YES Cinema, 328 Jackson St. in downtown Columbus. So he has announced that these performances are far from traditional stand-up.
“The writing has been on ongoing process,” he said, speaking by phone from his home in Hillsboro, Ohio, the town of 6,600 where he serves as mayor and a beef cattle farmer.
Comedy also certainly has been an ongoing process for decades. He has appeared on everything from Comedy Central to “The Tonight Show.” And he has built a strong following locally, selling out his last three shows over the years at the 177-seat YES Cinema.
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But he always has marketed his performances as more storytelling than joke telling. So he views the book readings as mainly longer-form comedy more suited to his ideal approach.
Still, he remains polished at quick-hit laughs. Consider this October tweet from him: “The heating oil guy is pumping hundreds of gallons of flammable heating oil into my basement fuel tank with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and I have 20 bags of fertilizer stacked in the garage. My home is essentially a bomb with a foundation. And a deck.”
Diane Doup, community outreach coordinator with Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center that operates YES Cinema, believes ticket buyers will relate to Hastings’ new format.
“I think audiences will enjoy hearing some new stories from Drew and be able to connect with him on a more personal level,” Doup said. “While Drew does tell stories in his traditional stand-up shows, I think these will be even more in-depth with twists and turns that we aren’t used to hearing. If anyone is a fan of Drew, I think they will enjoy getting to know him even better as he shares from his own book.”
Hastings, a conservative Republican, is disturbed by much of the national media today, seeing it as veering toward the sensational.
“When you read the headlines,” he said, “it sounds like we’re nearing Armageddon. You think, ‘My God, how do I even get out of bed every day?’”
The fan of humorist David Sedaris recently tested his new book-readings format at a show in Traverse City, Michigan.
“It went well.” he said. “I have learned that people do not want to hear a 15-page story. So I am doing excerpts.”
Despite those proclamations before the Michigan show, he still had to face an audience member who came expecting a kind of Hastings greatest hits collection and shouted that Hastings should include classic bits. The performer declined.
Here, he excepts to set up the readings one by one and offer funny observations. Then perhaps follow with a bit of digression and commentary on the reading.
Topics will include his experiences “as a psychedelic drug dealer” at age 18 “using the Mary Cosmetics business model,” which he swears is true. And there will be a story about his work in the 1980s as a confidential document shredder who was not very good at the shredding part.
“I got into some trouble,” he said. “That’s a whole story.”
Then there is his time in Los Angeles, a period in which “I was the guy who did not get picked up when the show ‘Friends’ did, when I was in the midst of a development deal with NBC,” he recalled.
He was pleased in 2015 that Hillsboro residents picked up on his positive political vibe and re-elected him as mayor. He has one year remaining, and loves the challenge.
“Being a small-town mayor is like playing a video game,” he said, “but not being able to hit the reset button.”
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Who: Comic and writer Drew Hastings, reading excerpts of stories from his forthcoming book in a show he has labeled "Stories For Grown-ups."
When: 7 and 9:30 p.m. Dec. 31
Where: YES Cinema, 328 Jackson St. in downtown Columbus.
Tickets: $20 in advance at yescinema.org or at 812-379-1630; $25 at the door.
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