Life's a Party for Howard Stern Sidekick Artie Lange
Posted on: Friday, 16 May 2008, 09:00 CDT
NEW YORK -- Artie Lange wants you to know that he's doing just fine, thanks.
Sure, Howard Stern's comedic sidekick had that well-publicized on-air blow-up last month, when he walked off the Sirius Satellite Radio show, saying he had to resign after flying into a rage at his assistant. But they've all moved on, and Lange came back after the show's cast returned from a scheduled vacation.
No matter what the folks at artielangedeathwatch.com or various TV shows may think, he's not going anywhere anytime soon _ other than to work.
"Yeah, there's a party persona, but I'm 40 and I decided I may want to see 50," said Lange, calling from his home in Hoboken, N.J. "If I partied nearly as much as some people think I do, I'd be dead. I don't want that. Nobody wants that _ at least I don't think they do. Some Web sites that predict my early death might want it, but I'm doing my best to disappoint them."
Aside from his weekday job on the Stern show and his weekend job doing stand-up shows around the country, Lange is working on a book for Random House and considering acting jobs, such as his recent well-received guest appearances on "Entourage" and "Rescue Me." And he plans to enjoy it all.
"I think it's a great time to be a comic," he said. "The world is just insane, if you take a look at it, and it's not just because it's an election year and all the obvious material that goes with an election. Time is moving on and we're evolving as people, when for the first time a black man and a woman have a really serious chance at being, not just nominated, but possibly elected president ...
"So many things are out there that are just ripe to be made fun of _ reality television, this technology that's running rampant, from Blackberry to Treo. ... Exciting and scary is always great to be made fun of.
"Thirty years ago when Richard Pryor and George Carlin were in their primes, if they did jokes about a black man or a woman running for president, it would sound too contrived, it's like Fantasyland," he continued. "Now we get to really make those jokes, it's a real thing. It's hard to avoid just using all the stereotypes that you would fall into with them."
Like nearly all comics, Lange exaggerates for the sake of the joke. But what he finds funny these days is how so many people get confused by the jokes he tells about himself.
"I am a gambler. I love sports. I talk about that," he explains. "I like betting on sports still. I like going to Atlantic City and playing some games. I still drink. I haven't done blow in a long time, but I still talk about it. I did it enough to get enough ... material about that.
"If I was partying like I used to, there's no way I'd have the job I have," he continues. "For seven years, I've been getting up at 4:45 and I'm at work at 6 a.m. ... When I first got the gig, I would try doing stand-up sets during the week in New York and then maybe go drinking.
"I tried staying up all night a couple of times, going straight from the bar to the diner to the studio and that doesn't work, man. Howard will call you on it. I tried going in hung over, I tried everything. The only thing that works is `Look, I'm gonna take this seriously' like Howard. You get into bed at 8, 9 o'clock and you try to fall asleep."
Besides that, though, Lange, who got his start on "Mad TV" and in the Norm MacDonald movie "Dirty Work," says sometimes he feels like he has to pinch himself because he's on "the biggest radio show of all time."
"Look, it's a sacrifice," he says. "I've left Yankee World Series games early because the biggest thing in my life came along and it involves me getting up early. ... You gotta hunker down and take something seriously."
Source: Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
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