Comedian Artie Lange attempts suicide

that dudes been a mess for awhile. Hope he finally gets whatever is driving him crazy figured out.

damn wtf

Love the show, love Artie... it's messed up. Wonder what happens now, I mean he's almost been kicked off the show numerous times. Look at how AJ Benza was kicked off the show. I always wanted Billy West back because him and Fred's sound effects are the best parts of the show. F Jackie!

You'd be surprised at how many comedians are depressed and/or lonely people. Laughing at the world keeps them sane.

"Paul 13 wrote:

Love the show, love Artie... it's messed up. Wonder what happens now, I mean he's almost been kicked off the show numerous times. Look at how AJ Benza was kicked off the show. I always wanted Billy West back because him and Fred's sound effects are the best parts of the show. F Jackie!

if he's still on drugs or alcohol or both, not sure what he was addicted to, him getting kicked off might be the best thing for him. Addicts need a bottom so to speak.........................

"unluckyluciano wrote:

if he's still on drugs or alcohol or both, not sure what he was addicted to, him getting kicked off might be the best thing for him. Addicts need a bottom so to speak.........................

Gotta think someone like Jim Florentine will "temporarily" replace him.

"unluckyluciano wrote:

that dudes been a mess for awhile. Hope he finally gets whatever is driving him crazy figured out.

Everybody knows what it is.

Heroin
Booze
Cocaine

all at the same time.

What is interesting here is that usually, when suicide attempts fail...it is a cry for help. People that REALLY want to kill themselves do a pretty good job of it. (My cousin painted his wall with his brains)

But this guy STABBED himself 9 times. Jeeez. This tells me (putting on my shrink hat) that some self loathing is involved.

I hope he gets better...He is very talented.

"Section126 wrote:

Everybody knows what it is.

Heroin
Booze
Cocaine

all at the same time.

What is interesting here is that usually, when suicide attempts fail...it is a cry for help. People that REALLY want to kill themselves do a pretty good job of it. (My cousin painted his wall with his brains)

But this guy STABBED himself 9 times. Jeeez. This tells me (putting on my shrink hat) that some self loathing is involved.

I hope he gets better...He is very talented.

I dont know. from what I know suicidal people also have a knack for just not thinking clearly and out of desperation can sometimes not do it "right" so to speak.
I would also assume he is doing the drugs because of whatever it is that is driving him to suicide as well.

It takes a special level of self loathing to try to kill yourself with stab wounds instead of one of the faster ways out.

i just started to listen to the show last week. Havent heard HS since he went to satellite. Sucks to hear about Artie.

This should come as a surprise to no one. He's been a train wreck for years.

The only thing that makes me sad about this is that he'll get press and attention for this like no other due to his association with Howard, yet far more talented and just as troubled comedians like Richard Jeni and Mitch Hedberg's deaths went unnoticed.

What I wonder is whether the six hesitation wounds came before or after the three deep ones.

I'm no expert on suicide.

"Pagan wrote:

This should come as a surprise to no one. He's been a train wreck for years.

The only thing that makes me sad about this is that he'll get press and attention for this like no other due to his association with Howard, yet far more talented and just as troubled comedians like Richard Jeni and Mitch Hedberg's deaths went unnoticed.

Yeah, exactly!!!!
Isn't this the same guy that sabbotaged a certain Sports talk show a couple of months ago?
If so, I don't feel quite as bad for him.
Ruining other peoples livelyhood isn't funny. :pity:

A couple of things. As probably the biggest Stern fan on this board ( I listen daily, multiple times), and as someone who had dabbled in standup/sketch comedy, I feel the need to clear a few things up.

First off, Mitch Hedberg was pretty damn sad...and covered fairly well when he died. Richard Jeni had sunk into the abyss, to the point where he was talking to himself and had cut himself off from everyone before shooting himself. Just as sad, but lets be honest, if you aren't in the spotlight and basically a club comic, you won't get the press as someone who is in movies, on a popular radio show daily, a number one selling author and one of the highest paid comedians on the road. The level of "talent," people fele he has is irrelevant. It is subjective as all art is.

I doubt Florentine, or any other comedian will take his seat. Remember, Howard, as it currently stands, has less than a year left before he retires (he will re-up), and will not fill Artie's chair. He may have the usuals come in and sit in on the news (Attell, Florentine, Fitzpatrick, DiPaolo, etc.).

And yes, a LOT of comedians are very depressed. They cope by cracking jokes and saddling themselves with booze, drugs, etc. It is a very dark business, one of the darkest I have been exposed too (still way behind the wrestling and stripping industry).

And I agree with Section about the stabbing. Simply a harsh and gnarly way to try and off oneself. I guess you give him points for being original (bad joke)? I imagine that he had to have been on something.

Also it probably is worth noting that he was sent home from the Stern show in early December for not looking too hot (drugs) and he HAS tried to kill himself previously (after getting fired from MadTV).

And as for the Joe Buck show, Artie didn't sabotage anything. He was asked to go out there and do exactly what he did. It is fairly well documented that Buck and the producer threw him under the bus. Look no further than the second episode where they brought Artie BACK to film some skits.

Terrible news about Artie, hopefully he gets help. I only have heard a little of his stand up act and heard him on a few podcasts (Bill Simmons and Adam Carolla) and enjoyed them.

"azfinfanmang wrote:

Yeah, exactly!!!!
Isn't this the same guy that sabbotaged a certain Sports talk show a couple of months ago?
If so, I don't feel quite as bad for him.
Ruining other peoples livelyhood isn't funny. :pity:

Not quite right. It was Joe Buck's show. The producers told Artie to stir the pot and do his act. It was only after people complained that Artie used bad words that Joe Buck and his staff said Artie didn't listen to them and went off on his own. The only good part of the show was the stuff Artie did, the rest of it was pure crap. What Artie did actually helped Buck's show.

"Pagan wrote:

This should come as a surprise to no one. He's been a train wreck for years.

The only thing that makes me sad about this is that he'll get press and attention for this like no other due to his association with Howard, yet far more talented and just as troubled comedians like Richard Jeni and Mitch Hedberg's deaths went unnoticed.

+1 on the Mitch Hedberg comment. What a horrible, horrible loss that was.

"Muck wrote:

What I wonder is whether the six hesitation wounds came before or after the three deep ones.

I'm no expert on suicide.

I would have the think the hesitation wounds came first.

Not a huge fan, but I feel bad for the guy. Here's hoping he gets some things figured out.

Fair enough, and thanks for clarifying (Both of you that did) :up:

"Samphin wrote:

Just as sad, but lets be honest, if you aren't in the spotlight and basically a club comic, you won't get the press as someone who is in movies, on a popular radio show daily, a number one selling author and one of the highest paid comedians on the road. The level of "talent," people fele he has is irrelevant. It is subjective as all art is.

Bro...WAY off base on this. Jeni was NOT a club comic. He was in movies, had his own TV show, (albeit short lived) had four GREAT HBO specials, and did numerous LARGE events. He was at the top of his game when he killed himself.

Calling Artie a "best selling author" is a stretch too. He sold cause Stern fans bought the book. Let's be reasonable here. If that's the case then Jim Norton is a best selling author too cause all the O&A fans bought it, and Stern himself is a best selling author cause all his fans bought the book.

You probably won't find too many people outside of Stern fans saying "Oooh look, Artie Lang wrote a book!"

"Pagan wrote:

Bro...WAY off base on this. Jeni was NOT a club comic. He was in movies, had his own TV show, (albeit short lived) had four GREAT HBO specials, and did numerous LARGE events. He was at the top of his game when he killed himself.

Calling Artie a "best selling author" is a stretch too. He sold cause Stern fans bought the book. Let's be reasonable here. If that's the case then Jim Norton is a best selling author too cause all the O&A fans bought it, and Stern himself is a best selling author cause all his fans bought the book.

You probably won't find too many people outside of Stern fans saying "Oooh look, Artie Lang wrote a book!"

Not exactly true. Look no further than me. I buy ALL of Jim Norton's books and I don't listen to O&A (by the way, Norton's books are hilarious).

And so what if Stern fans bought his book? The point is, LOTS of people bought his book, you can't take that away fro him. It is not skewed, it is not made up, people bought his books.

WHICH, by the way, I can list at least five people that I know that bought and loved his book who DON'T listen to Stern. One of them is my mother who actually tries to talk me out of listening to Stern. :lol:

As for Jeni, you don't have to convince me of anything. I loved his act. But the fact remains, he was not as popular as Artie, so it stands to reason that Artie will generate more news. And I know you don't like Artie's act, but a lot of people do. Again, comedy is subjective.

Jeni was in the abyss at the end. He was telling himself to "just do it," days before shooting himself and completely ignoring his girlfriend as she tried to talk to him. He had mental problems and was regressing. Very sad.

Anyhow. I was just reporting the news I heard today.

"Muck wrote:

What I wonder is whether the six hesitation wounds came before or after the three deep ones.

I'm no expert on suicide.

Thats the thing about suicide, its hard to become an expert and stay alive.

Really hope he is able to get some stability in his life, very sad.

Difference is, I knew Jeni and his comedy, before the Joe Buck incident, I had NEVER heard of Artie Lange :up:

"Samphin wrote:

Not exactly true. Look no further than me. I buy ALL of Jim Norton's books and I don't listen to O&A (by the way, Norton's books are hilarious).

And so what if Stern fans bought his book? The point is, LOTS of people bought his book, you can't take that away fro him. It is not skewed, it is not made up, people bought his books.

The point I was making was that it was a pre-packaged audience bro. I mean c'mon, you know as well as I do if Stern told his fans to buy the Bible sales would go through the roof.

As for Jeni, you don't have to convince me of anything. I loved his act. But the fact remains, he was not as popular as Artie, so it stands to reason that Artie will generate more news. And I know you don't like Artie's act, but a lot of people do. Again, comedy is subjective.
I actually like Artie's standup. I understand he's way popular...again due to Stern's exposure. Would he be as famous without him? Anyone hear about Jackie anymore? :wink2:

As far as across the board though, Jeni was more widely known due to his exposure on late night TV and HBO specials.

Jeni was in the abyss at the end. He was telling himself to "just do it," days before shooting himself and completely ignoring his girlfriend as she tried to talk to him. He had mental problems and was regressing. Very sad.
I know man...VERY sad. :(

"Pagan wrote:

The point I was making was that it was a pre-packaged audience bro. I mean c'mon, you know as well as I do if Stern told his fans to buy the Bible sales would go through the roof.


I actually like Artie's standup. I understand he's way popular...again due to Stern's exposure. Would he be as famous without him? Anyone hear about Jackie anymore? :wink2:

As far as across the board though, Jeni was more widely known due to his exposure on late night TV and HBO specials.


I know man...VERY sad. :(

I think Artie would be the first to tell you that Howard Stern's Show revived his career. Before that, he was in a few movies, and a MadTV alum. Good stuff, but no where NEAR where he is now. However, at some point, you have to give the man credit for running with the ball when he was handed it.

Stern's influence only goes so far. Look no further than Yucko the Clown, Reverand Bob Levy and a couple of other Stern favorites who get plugs and exposure on Stern, but realyl just aren't that good when you see them live (I once saw Yucko hump the air with a dildo for 10 minutes of his set...fun :pity: ).

And Jackie always sucked...bad example. :wink2:

"azfinfanmang wrote:

Difference is, I knew Jeni and his comedy, before the Joe Buck incident, I had NEVER heard of Artie Lange :up:

We all have our favorites. Louis C.K. is probably my favorite comic of the past few years, but the "average" person will like Carlos Mencia, Dane Cook and George Lopez before C.K., even though I happen to think that C.K. is the best in the biz right now.

But it is all subjective. I recognize that if Dane Cook and C.K. die tomorrow, Dane Cook is getting the headlines.

I think to the average person, Artie Lange is probably more well known than Jeni.