Artie Lange
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Template:Infobox Biography Living Person
Arthur Steven Lange (born October 11, 1967) is an American television and movie actor, stand up comedian and radio personality. Lange was born in Union, New Jersey.
After being held back from graduating high school, Lange worked as a longshoreman and had many odd jobs, but scored big in 1995 when he landed a recurring role in Fox's hit sketch comedy MADtv. At that time, Lange used his Chris Farley-esque appearance to gain him the upper hand in gigs. However, just two years later he would be fired.
MADtv staff, upon noticing Lange's apparent prolonged tardiness to the set, and deteriorating physical appearance questioned him about his drug use and about possible rehab. When Artie still adamantly refused, the staff then contacted the police. When the police finally showed up, Lange took off on foot, with the Los Angeles Police Department and MADtv staff in tow. Jumping fences and running through backyards the hefty Lange was eventually tackled by a police officer. Lange admitted during interviews on the Howard Stern Show that he did the stupidest thing that a person can do, which is to take a swing at a police officer. After being apprehended by the police, he was charged with the possession of cocaine, assaulting an officer, and possessing an open alcoholic container in his car, amongst other charges.
After a short time in jail and rehab, Lange began capitalizing on his friendship with Norm MacDonald. He appeared in MacDonald's movie Dirty Work (1998), and also on his ABC comedy sitcom The Norm Show (1999). Lange also has starred in Mystery Men (1999), and The Bachelor (1999) before landing a full-time spot in the Howard Stern Show after long time cast member Jackie Martling quit. In addition to the Stern Show, Lange also still works in movies and does stand up at comedy houses around the United States.
Lange's life is a sort of terminal adolescence, with his mother delivering food parcels and cleaning his apartment, gorging himself on pizza, and frequent drunken binges. His drink of choice is Jack Daniels with a "splash of water," sipped through a straw. He has an attractive and extremely tolerant girlfriend named Dana. On a mid August 2004 broadcast of the show, Artie said he doesn't know what life is for and thinks he might want to die.
In early June, 2005, he began missing many mornings of work at the Stern Show, prompting concerns of a possible relapse into the substance abuses that had affected him earlier. That has since been resolved as Artie was simply not feeling well due to being under a lot of stress between shooting a new film and the show.
External link
- Artie Lange's Official Site (http://www.artie-lange.com/)
- Internet Movie Database entry for Artie Lange (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005119/)