Dressed up in his stage blacks, Drew Hastings isn't the type of guy any man would mistake for a farmer. But just replace that microphone with a shovel or a rake and he could be a regular, implacable-looking Eddie Albert. Drew sat down over the phone with CC Insider today, a baker's week before the world premiere of his new special, "Irked and Miffed," to talk about why he moved to the Midwest, how East and West Coasters are unfair to "flyover country," and looking for his neighbor Dave Chappelle.

Comedy Central Insider: I really enjoyed your special.
Drew Hastings: Thank you. You didn't watch any of the farming material?

CCI: Actually, I just heard you live on a farm. So I prepared mostly farming-related questions.
DH: That's fine, because if somebody would've said to me four years ago, "You're gonna have a huge fan base of farmers and rural types," I'd have said, "You're out of your f-ing mind."

CCI: So do farmers and rural types make up most of your fan base these days?
DH: I have a really weird fan base. I used to think, "This is no good. They're all over the board." Pediatricians, lawyers, punks with staples through their nose, grandmothers. And they would all say, "I really get you." Really? The punks and the grandmothers -- they both get me? But then I started thinking, that's what you want. That's mainstream success. Ultimately I think you want the pediatrician and the pierced-nose punk to both like you.

There's more interview, plus clips from Drew's special (premiering April 26th at 11pm EST on Comedy Central) after the jump.

CCI: When you first recognized that your fan base was so wide, did you think, "Wow, I really need to tailor my material to keep reaching this broad audience?" Did that stifle you at all?
DH: I think as you get a little bit of fame and notoriety your inclination is to start chasing the fan and think, "I wonder what my fan wants to hear." But that's a slippery slope, 'cause that's not far from pandering. Woody Allen said it best. He said, "Don't chase your audience. Let them find you." I'm sure in this day of immediate gratification there are a lot of young comics who do that because they're looking for the immediate success. I'm not disparaging young comedians. I'm just saying the way our culture is geared today -- it's so geared toward immediate gratification. I try to do what I do and the audience will let you know.

CCI: Why did you decide to move out to Ohio?
DH: I'd been in LA five years and I started thinking, "This place is corrosive and soulless. I'm getting out of here." So I bought a farm and here I am. I just made sure I was no more than an hour and ten minutes from the airport which, let's face it, if you're in New York, you're an hour and ten minutes from the airport. Dave Chappelle farms 40 miles from me right up the road. It's not like it used to be where if you're not in New York or LA, you're not in the loop.

CCI: Have you been able to build up a following out in the Midwest?
DH: The bulk of my audience is the Midwest, which is much larger than a lot of people think. It's like 35 states. I'm trying to do this material now -- about these animal activists that have gotten out of control and I'm shocked that the average Midwesterner doesn't want to hear it. If there's any issue on stage I've seen in the last five years that people have either been buffaloed by or taken to, it's the animal issue. And don't get me wrong -- I'm an animal lover. But they have their place. We are superior to them. My girlfriend the other day -- and she's much younger than me, she's in college -- was writing a paper about gay animals. And I was like, "Woah woah woah. Gay? Gay is a human attribute. You make it sound like it has a lifestyle. "

CCI: Living so far away from people, do you have trouble writing? Is it hard coming up with material so far removed from the urban bustle where you're constantly being hustled and bothered by people?
DH: I think that right there is a huge misnomer that people on the coast like you guys tend to think about the Midwest. Here's an example. In LA, I can't tell you how many industry people would tell me, "Your stuff is very intelligent. You should play San Francisco. I bet they don't get you in the Midwest. And I would tell them, "No, you don't get it. I grew up in the Midwest. I made a name for myself in the Midwest. I honed all this material in front of Midwestern audiences." The issues we have here are the same you have out there. Is there angst, is there rage, is there indignation? Of course there is! We just have more space, that's all.

CCI: In your special, you talk about how eerily silent it is out there. Can you talk about a little more?
DH: Especially moving from Hollywood Boulevard. God, you know I could figure out a way to answer that comedically. but it's almost more important to answer it informatively. When I came up with the line -- which is hugely popular in my act -- "At night, an opossum walking through a cornfield sounds just like three men with an axe," that is so true. Your reality out here is so different. The silence is literally overwhelming at times and in the silence you hear things that are just so magnified. It's almost like being on another planet when you're used to being an urban guy. It's given me a much bigger appreciation for nature. When you're an urban guy, you don't realize how far removed you are from nature. It is so quiet out here that I bought a white noise machine that gives off the sound of wind blowing and crickets chirping which is the same sound that I get out here, only it's digital and it's magnified. I have to play it at a much louder volume, 'cause I'm so used to the urban life. The rural life is very black and white. You look at things and you see nature. The hawk swoops down and picks up the rabbit and tears it to shreds and eats it. And that's genetics -- only the strong survive. You see the cow eating grass. And out of the back of the cow it's shitting. And where the manure drops, the grass grows five times as tall next year. And the cow is backed up five feet the next year eating from the same grass. It's all this big cycle.

CCI: Any plans to visit Dave Chappelle, since he lives nearby?
DH: That's funny you'd ask that. I just thought of doing a little short tiny film called "Looking for Dave Chappelle," because he's kind of disappeared off the face of the Earth. Not disappeared, I guess, but nobody really knows where he is, and there's all this talk about how, "Chappelle's got this farm in Ohio." And he's a fellow comedian who lives 40 miles up the same state highway from me. And I thought it'd be funny to go around with a flip video and just start asking farmers, "Do you know a guy named Dave Chappelle, lives around here. Skinny black guy, owns a farm. 'I'm Rick James, bitch!' You know?'" And just watch their dumbfounded reactions. "Do you know a farmer around here by the name of Dave Chappelle? 'I'm Rick James, bitch!' No, I didn't mean any disrespect sir." Next farm. You know?

Previews of Drew Hasting's "Irked and Miffed":

Drew Hastings on farming
Drew Hastings on aging

Drew Hastings on Premium Blend:

Drew Hastings on television advertising