Saturday, April 5, 2008

A Tribute to Artie Lange



First a bit of History about Artie. Here's his Wikipedia Page. Read it and then we'll continue. Go ahead, I'll wait

I'm a relatively new listener to the Stern Show and didn't start listening to Howard until July of 06, and I've been hooked ever since. One of the biggest reasons that I'm as hooked to the show as I am is Artie Lange. I don't believe in the term "hero" as I've said before, but if I did, Artie would be one person that I look up to. Artie's struggled with lots of issues in his life, among them, being jailed, drug addiction, failed relationships, the death of a central figure in his life (his dad), alcohol abuse, and of course his weight. He smokes and drinks alot as well. Thru all of that, he's managed to maintain one thing that defines him: His Sense of Humor. The first few days I listened to the Stern Show, I found that I just kept dying laughing at Artie's comments and jokes, so I googled him and spent about two hours reading about his life and his professional career.

Artie is a fascinating character and he is the "everyman" on the show. I feel the reason that Artie is so popular to Stern fans is precisely that reason. We've all been thru most of the stuff mentioned above, but most of us can't still hold our heads up high and be one of the funniest human beings alive. His brand of humor relies heavily on the issues in his life, and just from personal experience, the hardest thing in the world to do is talk about yourself, much less joke about it. Artie's had some world famous bits on the Stern Show which are right out of the pages of his book of life. The Pig Story from MadTV, The hooker story from Vegas, his father throwing him onto the field at Yankee Stadium at a playoff game, his weight stories, and others have made him world famous. Many comedians don't have the ability to poke fun at themselves to get laughs. Artie not only pokes, he rips his life to shreds for laughs and it's something that many people not only won't do, but they can't do. I find that many of the same struggles I'm dealing with, Artie has dealt with in the past. As screwed up as it sounds, he's been a bit of an inspiration to me for the way he deals with things.

Artie has been my favorite on the Stern Show since I began listening. I proudly bought "It's the Whiskey Talking" as well as Beer League the day it came out. I also bought Dirty Work as well. All three are excellent DVDs and Artie is nothing short of brilliant in all three. Dirty Work is my favorite of the three because of the greatness of one scene.


Three of the best comedians in one scene. Norm, Artie, and the greatest comedian of all time, Don Rickles.

So that's it for my tribute to Artie Lange. I hope to get out to see him at some point this year if he's anywhere close to Knoxville.

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