- I dunno if you know anything about me,
I've led a terrible life.
- [Narrator] Artie Lange has a rare, comedic gift.
- It's within him.
It's his X factor.
It's who he is.
- That's Artie? - Hey, there's Artie.
- Hey, Artie. Hey, man.
What'd you get fired for?
- Artie has such loyal fans.
I can't tweet about the show without 10,000 people,
10,000 being like, "Where's Artie?
"More Artie."
- Here's one. This ruins your day.
Three, snaps your neck.
One, ruined day.
Three, snapped neck.
- [Narrator] His raw talent matched
only by his wild exploits.
- The critic in my hometown paper said this about me.
"Artie Lange has all the charm of a date rapist."
I'm the only guy who ever got fat on cocaine.
Some people think jail is not a deterrent.
Oh, my God, I've been there.
It's a massive deterrent.
- [Narrator] And the comedic act to match.
- I play a scumbag on TV and I'm a scumbag in real life.
- As a comedian, you fantasize and idealize
the notion, if I'm messed up, I'm a little better.
- I think he was enabled by the Hollywood system.
- I wouldn't wish Hollywood on my worst enemy.
- [Narrator] But what happens when one comic's trauma-
- I'm dealing with a lot of guilt,
a lot of guilt. - Right.
- [Narrator] Is mined for comedy gold.
- For the first time ever see Artie uncensored and raw
as drunk as any human has ever been
in the history of drinking.
- His regular drug dealer said,
"Why don't you do heroin,
it's actually better for your liver?"
- When I'm blacked out it's the happiest time of my life.
- I think he's a cat and he has nine lives.
And hopefully he's not close to number nine.
- If you get it close, you can hear the breathing.
Not too close. (Artie breathing)
There it is.
- He just put Artie in rehab.
- You deserve a better life.
You deserve a sober life.
- Artie! No! - Go, go!
Now! Close the door! (dramatic music)
Jesus Christ, you people are crazy.
- [Artie] Give me my (beeps) money!
- Broke my heart, man,
broke my (beeps) heart.
- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
you are about to be entertained.
- [Woman] Getting a laugh is the greatest attention.
- [Man] They want more of it, they want more of it.
- [Woman] She was getting death threats.
- [Woman] It (beeps) with your head.
- He's out of his stuff. - That's what took her down.
- This is a crazy story.
(dramatic music)
- Everybody, my next guest is a comedian and an actor.
- He's one of the funniest guys there is.
He eats devil dogs for breakfast and cigarettes for lunch.
- Artie Lange.
Artie, come on out.
- Before I worked with Artie,
I felt much better about myself as a performer,
'cause I didn't know you could make
the crew spontaneously applaud,
but then I was like, "Oh, I could be better."
Now the amazing Artie Lange!
My friend, Artie Lange! (audience cheering)
- [Mike] He can act.
- Why didn't he punch you too?
- [Mike] He can do stand-up.
- Let's get a little (beeps) offensive.
- There's something about his voice
that you recognize in yourself.
- Life's all about time and man,
it's all about time and I've had shitty time
in my entire (beeps) life.
- My name is Bobby Lee.
I'm a comedian slash actor.
I'm 5'4".
I'm fat.
Artie, you know, has that vibe
where it's like he connects to blue collar workers.
He just has that look and that energy.
- When did comedians get good-looking?
This (beeps) group is awful.
- I guess he is an everyday kind of man.
- I'm gonna do something nuts.
I may punch something on live television.
- If an everyday common man like to go wild.
(Artie laughing)
- His voice is an instrument that he uses.
- I have done a shitload of drugs in my life.
I really have. Yeah.
- You know, Artie's Italian
and that's a part of his comedic persona.
- I come from a very loud Italian family in New Jersey.
Surprise. (laughs)
- My first impression of Artie was pretty much
that he's hilarious.
I'm Anthony Bozza and I am the co-author
of all three of Artie Lange's books.
I met him at Del Frisco's. The steak place.
I'd actually been in a fender bender in a cab.
And I had really bad black eyes.
I showed up wearing sunglasses
and kept them on for most of the lunch.
And he told me later that he thought
I was like probably on drugs
and that this was like really gonna work out.
- Now let me ask you something.
You do look, you look trim.
You look like you're taking care of yourself.
- It's, it's- - Coke. (laughs)
I went to rehab for cocaine and a black guy said to me,
"What do you sprinkle it on cheeseburgers?"
(all laughing)
- [Narrator] Before Artie earned his reputation
as a wild celebrity comedian,
he was a wise cracking kid growing up in 1980s New Jersey.
- We're back here at the Caprio Daycare Center
where children are playing,
birds are singing,
squirrels are climbing and jump.
- Artie was always the class-clown type.
I think he always wanted to do comedy.
- [Narrator] By the time he was a teen,
Artie was soaking up what he could
about boundary-pushing comedians,
dreaming of becoming one of them.
- Some of the comics that Artie idolized are legends.
Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, John Belushi.
And of course Howard Stern.
He was a huge fan of Howard Stern.
- [Narrator] But Artie's first
and greatest comedic hero was his father.
- Artie's father was a real character.
He was kind of a tough guy around the neighborhood,
you know, not afraid to fight and stuff like that.
He also was like a prankster
and you know, his endless stories about
hilarious things that he did.
- My father was like Superman to me.
You know, my father was an old-fashioned
You know, he installed antennas for a living,
didn't have a lot of money.
- Artie idolized his father.
I mean, there was absolute idolatry.
- I feel a tap on my shoulder,
and this is classic my old man.
I turn around to my father.
He goes, "We won!"
And he puts me on his shoulders.
- Tells the story of running out on the field
at Yankee Stadium.
- Before the last out, he goes to me, whispers like this,
"Listen, when they make the last out,
"I'm not gonna be able to run on the field."
I'm like, "Okay."
He goes, "But you can."
And I'm like, "All right."
"As soon as they make the last out,
"I'm gonna throw you on the field."
(audience laughing)
- Throw you.
- [Announcer] Fly ball, anything.
That's all they need.
Let's do it.
That's gonna do it. - Torres gets it!
- With that, my father puts his hand
on the bottom of my back,
like he's shooting a free throw.
- [Announcer] The Yankees win their 21st World Series!
- Whispers in my ear, "I'll meet you at shortstop,"
and he throws me on the field.
(all laughing)
- [Narrator] Artie learned early on
that he shared his father's knack for making people laugh,
fueling his dreams of becoming a professional comedian.
Until one day, those dreams were suddenly put on hold.
- I think Artie idolizes his dad,
because his father was taken from him far too early.
He installed television antennas.
And that day his father went up on a roof.
It was a high risk set up.
Put a ladder up there.
He probably should have had someone securing it.
And that's when he fell and became a quadriplegic.
(somber music)
- [Narrator] Artie's father now required home care
around the clock.
- He had a very powerful and strong, loving relationship
with his father.
And when tragedy struck, it floored him.
- And it was a huge turning point in his life.
Once his father became a quadriplegic,
there's a lot more pressure on Artie
to be the man of the house.
And his dad raised him that way.
So he felt that pressure.
- Artie went to work for his family for real.
Artie took a lot on his shoulders as a young man.
- While we can all look at that and admire it.
It's not good for a child.
It's really, it's just not good.
They need to have a childhood
and to enter adulthood in a normal way on their terms.
- [Narrator] On top of helping to pay the bills,
Artie assisted with caregiving where he could.
- His dad was completely understandably, very depressed.
This is a very active man.
You know, a physical man who did, his work was physical.
- Think how chronically traumatic that is to a child
that idolizes his father.
- [Narrator] To cope with the stress,
Artie was partying more.
- He was obviously always looking for ways to escape,
whether it was gambling,
you know, smoking pot and drinking, doing coke.
- [Narrator] Four years after the accident
Artie's father died,
leaving his family devastated.
- Even though obviously they knew it was coming.
It was very hard on Artie.
- It really took a toll on him
emotionally and psychologically and spiritually.
- You know, I think the death of his father
was perhaps a wake-up call for Artie
that life is short.
And then if he has this comedy dream,
now's the time to try to make that happen.
So he went to his mom and basically said,
"Gimme a couple years,
"let's see if this is actually real."
Then he just went for it.
I think he'd always wanted to be like those comics
that he loved.
- [Announcer] And now your host is Penis and Kathie Lee.
(audience cheering)
- Hi, and welcome to the show.
In case you were wondering, I am Penis.
(audience laughing)
- Thinking you're funny out in the suburbs with your friends
is one thing.
Finding out you're funny on stage in a Manhattan nightclub
is very different
and that eventually started to happen for him.
- [Narrator] Meanwhile, music producer, Quincy Jones
was spearheading a bold new sketch show.
Artie lands a coveted spot
on TV's late night newcomer, "Mad TV."
- Hey, wanna be on a TV show?
- Sure, I got nothing better to do.
(upbeat music) (tires screeching)
- [Man] Oh, dear God!
- [Narrator] Cast on the first season of "Mad TV,"
Artie leaves the east coast
to live out his dreams in Hollywood.
- Coming out to Los Angeles,
even though he wasn't crazy about LA,
comedy was the rowboat that kept him afloat.
- And then you're trying to accomplish your dream,
but you gotta navigate through all the bullshit.
There's a lot of you gotta do to endure it in this business.
- He's a New Jersey guy.
There he was out in LA where things are very different,
sunny, more vapid.
And you know, more of an emphasis on looks.
- Here are the facts.
I have no job, no car, no money, no girlfriend.
I'm not particularly good-looking-
- [Narrator] Though Artie doesn't fit the LA mold,
his self-deprecating style helps him find his niche.
- Artie Lange got a lot of love
'cause he was also doing stand-up.
So he was very popular and he was the affable guy.
So it was easy to get drugs and it was easy to get drink.
(dramatic music)
- You know, being in the comedy club environment,
it definitely has all the sex, drugs and rock and roll
that you could possibly want.
- [Narrator] But with more success comes more temptation.
- [Anthony] He didn't look at his behavior as addictive.
I think he was just hard partying.
- "Hey, Artie, get a drink.
"Oh, come on, let's do some coke in the back."
- He's got more money that he's ever seen in his life.
So this is now a playground
for anybody with addiction problems.
- Sketch shows are really hard.
And if you're in the middle of it running off
and doing coke, you can't do that.
- Artie is a consummate professional,
but when the camera was off,
he could be his own worst enemy.
(dramatic music)
(upbeat music)
♪ Mad ♪
- [Narrator] When Artie Lange gets his first big break
on "Mad TV," he finds instant chemistry.
- The moment I met Artie Lange it was instantaneous love.
It was instantaneous connection.
- What the hell is this?
- It's urine. (audience laughing)
- He was open. He was accessible.
And I knew that he was special.
- We met, we became friends.
We could spend a lot of time hanging out together.
A motley crew.
We had such long work hours together
so we were really a tribe.
We were "Saturday Night Lives,"
redheaded cousin, post stepchild.
- [Announcer] Remember when "Saturday Night Live" was funny.
(crickets chirping)
Neither do we.
Introducing "Mad TV,"
the late night comedy with something extra.
- We were second class citizens
in the world of sketch comedy.
- We really want you guys to have a good time.
- That's why we're handing out free beer
to everyone in the audience.
- Within the cast of "Mad TV" Artie brought
physicality, just absolutely ludicrous humor
and the ability to just throw himself into anything.
- Here, here, here, here then here.
Here's one, this ruins your day.
Three, snaps your neck.
One, ruined day,
three, snapped neck.
One, three, one, three, two, no worry.
Snapped neck, ruins day.
Out here, here.
Great!
- He was the John Belushi of delving deep
and creating these funny characters
and his commitment to it was a joy to watch.
- Hey, sexy, what time you gettin' off work tonight?
- Not a million years DeWarhead.
- Whoa! - Whoa!
- More more importantly,
pride is on the line here at Gladiator Arena.
- That's it, you're going back in the closet!
- Closet! Closet!
- I mean trunk. Damn you!
(dummy screaming)
- Working in a sketch comedy show is like entering bootcamp,
hell bootcamp.
- In terms of shooting 150 pages a week,
we worked our asses off man.
- No Americans ever been hacked to pieces in space
by a hockey mask wearing homicidal maniac
and it sure as hell isn't gonna happen on my watch.
- I had 12 years of sobriety when I got on "Mad TV"
and the first week I was at that show,
I relapsed 'cause it was so stressful.
- Are we gonna talk or are we gonna rock.
- [Narrator] For Artie, given his vices,
working on "Mad TV" is a ticking time bomb.
- Artie would go on a bender and be up for a couple of days.
You know, your nerves get frazzled.
- And there was like stories where he was in a pig outfit.
- The infamous "Babewatch" pig story.
(audience laughing)
- It was a parody between "Baywatch" and "Babe."
- Hey, Toots, wanna roll around in your own filth?
- [Narrator] The sketch is centered around
Artie's physical appearance.
- [Narrator] The biggest pig on the beach.
He was Babe.
- And see, I was not a fan of "Babewatch."
It's particularly pointed on body shaming.
- It was him, Carry, that pig of a man over there.
- What a pig.
- It's like a human pig. - Yeah, pig.
- What's the satire? Fat people.
- Pig, pig, pig! - Oink!
- He's literally a pig.
Like you are the funny, ugly thing
that everyone's pointing at and looking at.
You know, he talks about looking over
and seeing himself trying to eat food with a pig face on,
you know, while really high on drugs
after being up for a couple of days.
That sounds like psychologically scarring to say the least.
- For Artie, it was the opportunity to simmer
looking in the mirror and seeing himself as a pig
with all of that, including the expectation
to be the funny fat guy,
which is what he saw himself as at times,
the funny fat guy.
It's a lot and it can be a burden.
- Well, I think the combination of him being up all night,
early morning shoot,
and then going right in and doing a bunch of cocaine,
it all was really weighing on him
and got him to this, you know, pretty frantic place.
- We break for lunch and the bender continues.
- Artie went to go find drugs.
He felt that it was a necessary coping mechanism.
And so he's like, "I don't give a (beeps).
- So Artie got back to set,
went to his trailer and just did more and more coke.
And he said, every time he'd look over in the mirror,
he would literally say like,
"I'm a pig doing coke." (laughs)
But the skits hilarious.
I mean, he pulled off the performance.
- More Babe, anyone?
Mm. (audience laughing)
- Woo, this will do, Kimmy.
This will do.
- I'll tell you this about Artie Lange.
No matter what he did,
no matter what he put in his body,
no matter what kind of binge he went on,
when he was on that set,
when the cameras were rolling,
you would never know the difference.
That's beautiful on one end
and very frightening on the other.
- [Narrator] The "Babewatch" sketch
is the last shoot before a hiatus
and Artie commits to getting clean over the break.
He returns to set struggling with withdrawal symptoms.
When Artie fails to show up one morning,
his coworkers worry something isn't right.
- He was definitely a live wire and had his ups and downs.
So it makes sense that somebody
would basically do a wellness check.
You know, it had gotten to that point.
- Me and David Herman,
we went over to Artie's and he had OD'ed.
I don't have any information about what it is.
I just know Artie's passed out,
the hospital down the road.
We got him in the car.
We got him to St. John's Hospital.
They pumped his stomach and saved his life.
- [Narrator] When Artie wakes up, a clearer picture emerges.
Over the weekend, Artie had gone on a cocaine spree,
topping things off with a mix of prescription
and over-the-counter pills.
- And obviously the things he took were not by accident.
- [Artie] But what I did was,
I had these Restoril sleeping tablets,
30 milligrams, they were pretty strong
and I took about 25 of them.
Then I took about, I had a whole bottle of Excedrin PM.
I took the whole bottle, whatever the
fuck was in the bottles
And I had a half a bottle of Jack Daniels left
and I just swigged it.
- [Narrator] Artie also left a note.
- [Artie] I remember the note verbatim
because it wasn't that long.
The note was to my mother and sister,
and it said, "Ma and Stac, I'm sorry about this,
"but I can't deal with life for some reason.
- Right? - "None of this is your fault.
"Do me a favor and keep on living.
"Maybe I'll see you again someday," and I sign my name.
- People often think about suicide as depression.
That is not the only circumstance for suicide.
Addicts and alcoholics will kill themselves
out of desperation to stop their disease.
They're literally killing the addict in themselves.
- Getting the help,
asking for help was a little challenging to come by for him.
And that was painful because he never got to that point
in our relationship while he was here to say,
"I need your help."
(dramatic music)
(somber music)
- [Narrator] Artie returns from rehab
after his suicide attempt.
- Who's down here making noise
interrupting my stories on the TV?
I love my stories.
They're my only view into the good world.
They're so classy.
- [Narrator] Sober, Artie blossoms.
Co-creating many of "Mad TV's" favorite,
sometimes controversial characters and sketches.
- As far as the skit,
"My White Mama,"
could any white comedian do that today?
I'd be hard pressed to find out who that is.
- By the time season two started, he was clean,
ready to get back to work.
- I just couldn't see my man going back to the same place
where all that had happened.
So he was coming back for season two.
I just wanted him to feel like it was a fresh start
'cause it was.
And why would you go back there?
Just come live with me.
You know, mean I live by myself.
So that's how he came to live with me.
- It looked like everything was going okay.
- In five short years you put men on Mars
and acquired three new states.
- Three new states.
- Cuba, Saskatchewan and Germany.
(audience laughing)
- Artie's at work on time.
Artie's one of the funniest guys in the room.
You know, Artie's not the guy walking in
a half hour late disruptive.
You know what I mean?
Artie's not some Neanderthal.
You know what I mean?
Artie's super smart.
- I find him to be just extremely intrinsically funny.
I really like the guy a lot.
He's got a good heart.
He's wild, like I am though.
- Artie seems to spiral
around the anniversary of his father's accident.
Certainly on season one of "Mad TV."
And then in season two, it was exactly the same time again,
when that happened.
It was painful because I didn't know what was going on
when it first started happening.
But I used to just watch my boys suffer.
- [Narrator] Artie does his best to hide
that he's using again.
- Didn't do such a great job
because towards the end of shooting,
the plan was to have an intervention with him.
- He was in a blocking rehearsal and every time they cut,
he couldn't be still.
And I think he had been speed balling.
He had been up for 24 hours, if not longer
and he couldn't come down from that high.
His agitation became overwhelming
to the point where they said,
"We have to shut this down right now."
They said they would call his mother and he lost his shit.
He started knocking things over on the set.
- Took a swing at his manager, he punched him in the face.
And then basically just started running.
- And Artie went into the grocery store.
He was knocking things off the shelf.
Anger in his eye and he couldn't come down,
he just couldn't come down at that time.
Then finally, the store had no choice
but to call the police.
- [Anthony] And it ends with Artie taking a swing
at an LAPD officer.
- True to Artie, during the arrest,
the black officer has him and Artie says, "It's okay.
"You can beat me up. (laughs)
"I'm not black." (laughs)
And they take my dude away.
- And that's how that intervention went.
- But my personal take is, sometimes we wanna be caught.
All of that drug-induced energy comes up
and it has to come out.
And as it came out,
it had to be contained by someone else
since he couldn't contain himself.
And after Artie got into therapy and rehab,
he wanted to come back
and the Fox executives wanted him back.
- But I guess that might be a testament to how good he was.
And they saw his value with the show.
They see in the long run, if he can get himself straight
and do what he does best, he's profitable.
- We knew he wasn't ready.
We got together in a circle and said,
"If you bring him back, we're all walking
"cause this is about his life."
Artie Lange didn't come back.
We got our way.
- And he was gone from the show
and that was kind of it, man, for a while.
- Orlando was amazing.
Orlando's home was open.
Orlando's heart was open.
But after a while, Orlando can't be his mother,
his father, his keeper, his therapist, or his confessor.
- [Narrator] Artie returns
to the safety of his mother's home in New Jersey.
- He moves back into his mom's house
and lives down in the basement
trying to put his life back together.
(dramatic music)
(somber music)
- [Narrator] Fired from "Mad TV,"
Artie is living in his mother's basement hoping for a break.
Then it happens.
Bob Saget is directing a movie called "Dirty Work,"
starring Norm Macdonald.
- Norm and Bob both got Artie a part in the movie.
Not a big part, but a good part.
- Hey, I think I feel a slight itch.
Oh, maybe not.
It could be my imagination.
- Norm loved Artie.
And he went on Howard Stern and took him with him.
- My name is Tim Sabean.
I worked with Howard Stern for about 26 years.
- Man, this guy Artie's crazy.
- Norm Macdonald told Howard that you gotta meet this guy.
You gotta meet this guy.
- That's Artie? - Hey, there's Artie.
- Hey, Artie.
Hey man, you got fired from "Mad TV."
- [Narrator] Growing up in New Jersey,
"The Howard Stern Show" was legendary.
- Artie had always listened to "The Howard Stern Show."
You know like so many other east coast,
you know, class clown, wise ass guys,
those were his people.
He loved everything about it.
- [Howard] So you had a big coke problem?
- Not a big coke problem.
Like I never did it every day,
but like once a month you couldn't find me
for like four days.
(all laughing)
- It was a dream come true for Artie to get in there.
- I went to like,
I was in jail for like...
(all laughing)
- [Howard] I love outta control guys.
- Howard has an incredible sensibility about talent.
- They needed someone else on the show
and he just said, "Hey, you should come back
"and be a regular on the show," which blew him away.
- Then it just rocketed from there.
- [Howard] What was your dream?
Get on "The Howard Stern Show" to be with Norm,
to be in the movies.
- You think you're (beeps) family now?
- [Howard] I want to tell you something.
- I think I'm in heaven. (laughs)
- [Howard] You are.
- [Narrator] Co-hosting the popular radio show
means that Artie will now be introduced
to millions of listeners.
- We're laughing. - Oh.
- It's a big deal.
Especially when he was at the show
at the height of its popularity.
I'm Doug Goodstein.
I was Howard Stern's executive producer on "Howard TV."
- We were just a gang of misfits that created magic.
We would always pinch ourselves
that it was the greatest time of our life.
- [Narrator] Artie's open book style
endears him to listeners.
- Artie would talk about listening
to Howard Stern with his dad,
you know, in the car on the way to doing an install.
- [Artie] He was listening to you working in the van.
- Yeah. - And I was 14.
Told, he said, "You gotta hear this guy,
"you gotta hear this guy, he's hilarious."
And that's how we started listening,
when I worked with him in the summers,
we would listen to you all day.
When you were on in the afternoon.
- [Howard] But he was a good guy.
- [Artie] Best guy in the world.
He was the greatest father in the world.
- He would talk about it all the time.
He would bring it up on the air.
And that's why it meant so much to Artie to be on the show.
- [Howard] Why was he good?
Tell me why he's a good father.
- [Artie] He used to...
Every Sunday, from the time I could remember.
We played baseball together
and he was more like a friend than a father.
- When he was on,
he was at his best and there was nobody better.
- He became a fan favorite very quickly.
- [Narrator] The Stern Show
propels Artie into super stardom.
(audience cheering)
Between the show and his stand-up career,
Artie would eventually make close to $4 million a year.
- He had the extra money to indulge
whatever whim came to mind.
- [Narrator] Once again with more fame and money
comes more temptation.
- Every time he gets a lot of success,
the demons rear their head
and he sort of goes the way of chaos.
- [Howard] Artie, what's going on?
- [Artie] No, no, I'm all right.
- [Howard] Do you wanna go lay down?
- [Artie] I'm listening, too.
- [Howard] Do you wanna lay down?
- No, I'm listening. - I think, he's sweating.
He's falling asleep.
- The hours are crazy and you're intent...
You have to be funny.
You have to be on and funny and keep up.
- Put 'em in bed. - Really?
I mean, one time it was a joke,
but now I feel like I'm being unprofessional.
- [Howard] Well, I'll tell you what is unprofessional.
You gotta stop taking gigs during the week.
- [Artie] No, I apologize.
- He was doing comedy gigs.
So he would fly out for the weekends
and do like a Friday, Saturday night and then come back
and get right back into it.
So along the way to deal with all of that stuff,
he started getting more and more into opiates.
- Artie is such a respected comedian in the business,
but once the drug use started to weave itself
into his vernacular, it was like watching a train wreck,
you know, in slow motion.
- If you get it closer you could hear the breathing.
Not too close.
There it is. (Artie breathing)
- Oh, no. - What are they doing?
- Somebody's backing in butt first.
- Oh, guys, don't do that.
- People would call in constantly,
"What the (beeps) is wrong with Artie?"
- You know, he was very obviously descending
into the abyss of his addiction.
- I'm gonna tell you something.
- He's a dick. - Whatever, Artie.
- [Howard] All right, hear my point of view.
- Really (beeps) up, man. - No, I hate you, Ted.
- [Howard] No, no, no, no, no.
Artie, no. - Oh, Artie.
No. Artie.
- You know, he was moody, irregular.
He basically threatened his assistant
and physically went after him.
- Artie! Artie, stop! - No, go. Go, now!
Close the door!
Jesus Christ, you people are crazy!
- And when you have something that's creating great content
for a show like that, do you let it go
or do you throw the guy into rehab where he should be?
Or do you just let him live his life?
- For me, I felt it was exploitative
because he needed help.
And I felt like those jokes were at his expense.
- [Howard] You said to me,
I prodded and pushed you into this.
I did not. - Right.
- [Howard] Somebody just said to me,
"Artie was yelling at Teddy in the hall."
I go, all right-
- So why wouldn't you go,
"Artie's a little outta control sometimes,
"let's stay away from that."
- No.
- No, because you want this? - You gotta be in control.
- You want this, Howard. - No, I don't.
- Yes, you do. - I did not want that.
- [Artie] Dude. Come on.
- I really just felt like somebody needed to really
force him into therapy and rehab.
- It seemed like every other week
there was another stent in rehab.
- Howard and I would sit down with Artie
on several occasions and Howard tried to talk to him
and just ask him,
"You know, is there anything I can do to help
"or send you anywhere?"
He loved Artie and wanted Artie to be healthy.
And none of us knew how to really handle the situation.
It was delicate.
- If you have trauma,
you have typically the inability
to regulate intense emotions.
And so you seek out solutions so that
you find your way to substances, they work.
Childhood trauma is the rocket fuel for addiction.
- [Narrator] The year of his dad's accident,
Artie had been working as his apprentice.
But the day of the fall, Artie was away at school.
- [Artie] I'm dealing with a lot of guilt,
a lot of guilt, okay. - Right.
Couple of things became very clear to me
from your book. - Yeah.
- Number one, you're feeling tremendous guilt
not being there, of course, for your father
when he fell off the ladder,
because that was your job to hold the ladder.
- That was the main thing.
- [Howard] You started college and you know, all that.
- He holds it.
He feels responsible for it, right?
- That shit stays in your body and it never goes away.
And no matter how successful you become,
if you don't deal with that shit,
it rears its ugly head.
- Artie, it seems to me. - Right.
- I don't want to-
- Go ahead. - Go ahead.
Do whatever.
- It's almost like, just reading your book.
I mean, it seems like,
and I only just sort of sense what's up with you.
- What, I can't be a great writer and sober?
- Your book scared the hell outta me.
But it's almost like you want to join your dad.
You know what I mean?
And if you can't live without him,
you're not gonna live.
- And he's not responsible for it.
But you can't tell him that, right?
- You deserve a better life.
You deserve a sober life.
- Broke my heart, man,
broke my (beeps) heart.
- I'll never forget the day that
I came up to Artie's apartment to visit him.
And Artie's showing me around.
And one of the walls at this headboard of his bed
was a frame with a piece of cable in it.
And I said, "Artie, what is that?"
He goes, "It's the last cable my dad hung
"before he fell off the ladder."
- Every day of Artie's life,
he wakes up, the first thing he sees
and the last thing he sees is that cable.
- It's just kind of a morbid poignant moment
that I'll never forget.
(somber music)
(dramatic music)
- This is gonna be one of those things
where I shouldn't say this out loud, but I'm gonna.
I purchased Europe. - You're kidding.
(Artie laughs)
- [Narrator] Artie continues his downward spiral
live on-air.
- It just always left a black eye on the show.
And it was just always a nuisance.
- [Narrator] For some time, his erratic behavior
has been fueled by something new.
- It started with opiates.
It started with pills and eventually his pill intake
was so much that his regular drug dealer said,
"Why don't you do heroin,
"it's actually better for your liver."
- [Artie] Let your freak flag fly.
- [Howard] What do you want right now, Artie?
- I'm taking,
well, I'm taking this anti-anxiety, anti-depressant.
- He was all messed up one day.
- [Howard] He's only on one.
You're on two. - No, isn't he on two?
- Is it one pill? No.
And the Klonopin.
- Oh, Klonopin. - See.
- It was a Thursday, you know, morning.
I'll never forget it as long as I live.
- [Howard] Yeah, you can't handle those road gigs.
- [Artie] No, I don't...
Listen, I'm burnt out from them.
- Yeah. - That's it, you know?
- Yeah. - There's nothin' from that.
- [Howard] You wanna get yourself...
Look at you, already you look better.
- [Artie] I don't want to be found dead in a hotel room.
- [Howard] You wanna be found dead at home.
- Yeah, that would be nicer. - Right.
- And Artie was just whacked out.
- [Howard] You gonna make it through the next year?
- I'll be okay. - We'll see.
- I'll be okay. - I don't know.
- [Artie] I don't want you worrying about me.
- [Woman] Oh, yeah, it's too late.
- It was just a mess.
- [Howard] Are you resigning?
Let me ask you a question. - Am I resigning?
- [Howard] Let's say we're...
I'm fast forwarding a year, okay?
- [Artie] (laughs) I gotta ask my doctor?
- You've got, I mean, really. - You gotta ask your doctor.
- [Howard] You're not gonna be able to do it.
This is killing you.
- Howard and I would talk during the breaks
and finally came to the decision
that maybe we should send him home.
So I got him in the hall and I said,
"Artie, you know, maybe it's time for you
"to go home, you know?"
And he said, "No, no.
"I wanna finish the show."
- [Howard] In a year Artie won't physically be able
to sign his name to a piece of paper.
- We asked him to take a break.
And I said, "Artie maybe we just put things
"on hold for a bit and hopefully you'll get some help."
And he went home.
- [Narrator] Artie - agrees to go to rehab.
But his friends at The Stern Show
are left with an uneasy feeling.
- I felt very concerned and afraid 'cause I didn't know
if I'd ever see him again.
- You can't force somebody to take treatment.
You can only leverage them.
And if you are also causing the addict
to lose his or her job,
well that might get their attention,
that might be the one thing that gets them into treatment.
It also might be the thing that sends them
to the streets and death.
So it's not a clear thing.
- [Narrator] Just eight days into rehab
after his forced hiatus,
Artie checks himself out.
- His mom was living with him at the time
and she had arranged for an intervention
with close friends who've been great supporters
of Artie throughout his life,
especially with his sobriety.
- I tried calling Artie just to check on him.
And of course he doesn't answer the phone
and you know, his mom and his sister are,
you know, in hysteria because of the situation.
- [Narrator] While his family and friends
gather for an intervention,
Artie has other plans.
- Artie took a kitchen knife
and just started sort of cutting,
kind of like kept cutting himself.
He wasn't like, you know, plunging it in like a sword.
He drank some bleach and started vomiting.
- [Narrator] When his mother makes her way
into Artie's home,
she's met with a gruesome scene.
- He was bleeding pretty profusely to the point
that if he wasn't found he would've lost enough blood
to bleed out and died.
- That was the biggest shock.
When I heard that news, it was just...
didn't even seem real.
- I felt, you know, really guilty,
you know, with the whole thing
because I was the one that maybe provoked it
or pushed him over the edge.
I didn't know.
I never dealt with this situation before
and I didn't know how fragile he was.
- [Howard] I will never forget the feeling that shook me
when I got the call,
what happened to Artie and what he did to himself.
It rocked me.
It rocked me profoundly.
I was so upset.
I did a lot of self-examination.
I said, "Did I feed into this?
"Was I responsible for this?"
- Looking back at it,
we didn't get the professional help that we should have.
So shame on us.
- It's tough.
What do you do with Artie?
He's a grown man.
He he's making his own decisions.
I never saw him at work
doing anything that was inappropriate or illegal.
- [Howard] I never even realized...
I'll tell you, I'm very focused on the show.
I never realized Artie was in that kind of trouble.
I never, you know what I actually thought Artie
was off drugs.
- He's never been one to hide what he's struggling with.
He's been very public about it
and it's actually hard for him not to be public
'cause some of it has been bigger than life.
- [Howard] I don't know if the show
was good for him or bad for him.
I don't know.
I can't make those decisions.
- You know, I have mixed feelings about
somebody being made fun of for addiction.
In some ways that's the way
of breaking through their denial.
The issue for the addict
is to the extent that they're exposed to shame.
And if they really are,
if you sense that they're shattered and
then it's important to back off.
I'm not sure if anybody was paying attention to that.
- The thing that sucks is that we'd laugh at Artie
because Artie's funny.
He didn't need the drugs to make him funny.
- As a comedian,
you fantasize and idealize the notion of,
"If I'm messed up, I'm a little better.
"I'm wild and I'm crazy.
"I'm Lenny Bruce.
"I'm Richard Pryor."
That's the way to greatness, but it isn't.
It's a lie you tell yourself.
You can't be great that messed up.
You just can't.
It's swimming with cement boots on.
- [Narrator] Artie miraculously survives
his violent attempted suicide.
Howard is reluctant to invite Artie back to the show
concerned it could be detrimental to his recovery.
- [Howard] But in all seriousness,
when the reality of life and death hit me,
that he plunged a knife into himself several times,
I vowed right then and there I am not
gonna go on these airwaves and do anything
to upset him or to rock his world.
He needs lots of tender, love and care.
He needs the love of his family.
He needs the love of his friends and he needs to get better.
- You know, he was on Stern for 11 years
and that was his whole world.
- When he got let go,
it had to just be another demon to him
that just probably haunted him.
He's just a tortured soul.
(somber music)
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] Gone from The Stern Show,
Artie moves back into his mother's basement,
trying to piece his life back together once again.
After a stint in a psychiatric institution,
Artie returns to the world he knows best,
drawing audiences through stand-up, TV roles and podcasts.
- Direct TV could not be a more awesome company to work for.
You see I've led a full life.
I've tried heroin and on occasion I've run.
Let me buy you a slice of pizza.
You wanna get a slice of pizza?
I'll buy you a slice of pizza.
Come on, I'll do that.
- [Narrator] Industry heavyweights take
- Judd had, I'm gonna say a brilliant idea,
which was instead of having Pete paired with someone
who was kind of like Pete,
why not pair Pete, my character Pete
with someone who's completely not at all like Pete.
- My buddy here's not that experienced,
human education. - Okay.
- He was always saying stuff
that was just better than what I wrote.
So like the debt I owe him, but also just the humanity.
He was always encouraging me.
- It's not all it's cut out to be.
It's not all the good shit you think it is.
It's not about being on stage all the time.
It's about the killing of time.
It's about times like this.
- You know, we tried to talk about
what he's going through on the show.
So last season we did a whole episode
and it was basically about Pete realizing
how bad Artie's addiction is and the fact that
no matter how much he tries to help
it doesn't work.
And it's really up to Artie to find the strength to do it.
And Artie was very brave about showing how painful
his world can be.
- [Narrator] By 2017, Artie's drug abuse
leads to a serious criminal record and physical decline.
- You know, every time Artie goes sort of off the deep end,
it's deeper and deeper each time.
And you just kind of,
you're like waiting for something bad to happen.
- The only way that Mr. Lange
is going to be able to succeed
is if he's ultimately in an 18 month, two-year type program.
Understand drug court might be an option.
- [Narrator] In a 2018 court appearance,
Artie is almost unrecognizable.
- But the situation with his nose was really shocking.
- The story was that he had broken a pill with a salt shaker
and the salt shaker broke.
And then he snorted not only the pill,
but some broken glass.
All of the damage is literally right there on his face.
Just doesn't look the same.
It breaks my heart.
- [Narrator] In Artie's darkest days,
he has always turned to comedy.
- Artie was like, take it all.
He's like, you can have the shame,
you can have the pain and the jokes.
He was like, I'm here for the show.
I never saw him blink or hesitate.
- Killin' is a comic,
it takes away all the pain,
you're so in the now.
When you're doing drugs, you're in the now.
- But he can't live with everything that comes with that.
It's like his undoing.
- I think he was enabled by the Hollywood system.
- [Man] How you doing?
- [Debra] So he didn't have to do anything arduous
to be able to cover up that wound and everyone else.
And every sycophant said, "We'll cover it up with you."
- He can't live with comedy, and can't live without it.
It's kind of where he lives.
- Fill it. - Yeah.
- Regular.
- [Narrator] In 2019, Artie was spotted
working at a gas station as part of his probation
for drug charges.
- No, it's a tip, man. - Oh, it's a tip.
- Yeah. - This a tip?
- But I gave you a little message on the inside
just in case, you know, a...
Ah, (beeps) bastard. - Wow.
- It seems like he's doing good now.
- He's been clean now for over two years,
you know, that's a major, major win.
He's fighting the good fight every single day.
- You know, obviously my nose is still a mess,
but it's funny, I like that as a reminder.
This nose should be a reminder to young people.
I hope it is what,
even if you make money and have some success,
you could still live like a straight up scumbag.
- [Narrator] Today, Artie prioritizes his health,
working at his own pace.
- And Artie, I want you to forgive yourself.
We're all trying to do that.
And Artie's wounds are bigger and louder.
- I hope he gets to spend some time in his life
spreading the joy that he has.
Artie Lange ain't done yet.
He's got a lot more to give.
- Artie I miss you and keep going where you're going.
He's a survivor.
And we need him in this world.
- Artie Lange has been going through so many struggles
to begin with and he's still here.
He's still here mother (beeps).
(gentle music)