Arthur Steven Lange Jr. (born October 11, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and radio personality, best known for his work on Mad TV (1995–1997) and The Howard Stern Show (2001–2009). Raised in New Jersey, Lange first worked as a longshoreman and taxi driver to support his family following the paralysis of his father. He debuted as a stand-up in 1987 and began performing full-time five years later, developing his act on the New York City club circuit.
In 1995, Lange moved to Los Angeles to join Mad TV. His arrest for cocaine possession during the second season led to his departure and rehabilitation. In 1997, Norm Macdonald cast him in Dirty Work (1998), which led to further roles, including on Macdonald's sitcom The Norm Show. Lange returned to New Jersey in 2001 and joined The Howard Stern Show. During this period he released two comedy albums, co-wrote, produced, and starred in Artie Lange's Beer League (2006), and published his first book, Too Fat to Fish (2008), which entered The New York Times Best Seller list at number one.
After a suicide attempt in early 2010, Lange completed rehabilitation and co-hosted The Nick & Artie Show with Nick Di Paolo (2011–2013), then hosted The Artie Lange Show (2013–2014). He released his second book, Crash and Burn (2013). From 2015 to 2017 he hosted The Artie Quitter Podcast, then appeared in the HBO series Crashing and co-hosted The Artie and Anthony Show with Anthony Cumia until 2018. That year he released his third book, Wanna Bet?, and subsequently paused his career amid arrests and drug treatment. After achieving sobriety, he resumed stand-up and launched the Artie Lange's Halfway House podcast before entering another hiatus in February 2022.
Lange was born on October 11, 1967, in Livingston, New Jersey, and was raised in Union Township, Union County. His mother, Judy (née Caprio), of Italian descent, was a housewife, while his father, Arthur Lange Sr., of German and Native American descent, was a general contractor who installed television antennas. Two weeks after Lange's birth, his father went on trial for keeping $200,000 in counterfeit money for a loan shark, but was spared jail time out of the court's sympathy for his young son. In August 2003, Lange found out he is approximately twenty-five percent Native American after submitting a sample of his DNA for testing.
Lange attended Union High School, during which he played baseball and became an all-county third baseman. His poor grades required him to attend summer school in order to graduate. In August 1985, Lange was arrested for attempted bank robbery. He claimed he was trying to impress his girlfriend at the time, by passing the teller a note that said he was armed and demanded $50,000. Once he saw that the teller took it seriously, he frantically threw the note in a nearby trash can and told the teller it was all a joke. However, the teller triggered the silent alarm. His charge was reduced to disorderly conduct which required Lange to pay $500 in court fees and complete 25 hours of community service in March 1986. As part of his probation, Lange attended the Connecticut School of Broadcasting from March to June 1987.
In 1985, Lange gained admission to Seton Hall University in New Jersey using a connection his uncle had with an employee of the admissions department. In one early assignment, he received an A grade for a presentation he made, telling stories about his friends and family to the class. "It was the first time I got a bunch of laughs in front of a crowd of total strangers and it felt amazing to get that reaction from people." After four weeks, however, Lange had become bored of studying and began to think of ways to quit. On October 18, his father fell off a ladder while installing an antenna and broke his back, becoming a quadriplegic.
Money soon became an issue in the family; Lange spent a short time installing antennas and his mother became a secretary. Lange recalled: "We took out a second mortgage. Medicaid paid for a nurse eight hours a day. When my mother got back from being a secretary all day, she had to take care of him. Every night, she set her alarm clock to turn him so he wouldn't get bedsores." In 1987, the family contacted celebrities asking them to donate items for auction. Howard Stern, the only one to respond, sent them an autographed jacket and said on the air, "Does this guy think that if he puts the jacket on he's going to walk again?", which Lange stated that he and his father both found funny. Lange's father died from complications of an infection in 1990.
Lange cites Richard Pryor, Richard Lewis, and George Carlin as early influences. On July 12, 1987, at age nineteen, Lange performed his first stand-up comedy routine at The Improv in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. He recalled, "I bombed for five minutes. Everyone thinks that they can do better. I was unprepared, I mumbled, and I forgot stuff. But I'm proud that I did it." Lange would not attempt stand-up again for another four years.
In 1988, Lange took acting classes for three weeks from Sandy Dennis at HB Studio in New Jersey; he quit after he could no longer afford them. In February 1991, Lange supported his family by taking up work as a longshoreman at Port Newark, loading ships at its orange juice pier. That year, Lange earned around $60,000. In September 1992, Lange quit his longshoreman job to focus on a comedy career, giving himself one year to make it at stand-up comedy. During his search for work, he found regular employment driving a taxi in New York City. The flexibility of his taxi job allowed him to perform sets at the clubs and resume work afterwards. Lange's first paid gig as a stand-up comedian followed at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, for a payment of $30. He then became a paid regular for the first time in 1992 at Stand Up NY in Manhattan, followed by Comic Strip Live, where he would perform a 20-minute set from Tuesday to Saturday nights.
Within a year of starting, Lange landed a role in a dinner theater play, touring restaurants and catering halls across New Jersey. He then co-formed an improv troupe called Live on Tape which sold out Caroline's on Broadway numerous times. The success of these shows led to a contract with the William Morris Agency where Lange met Peter Principato, his manager for the next ten years. Lange took up extra work with roles in commercials which were a "big step up", including a voiceover for Foot Locker, which entitled him to become a member of AFTRA. During this time, Lange developed an addiction to cocaine and alcohol.
1995–1997: Mad TV, first suicide attempt, and jail time
At age twenty-seven, Lange was selected as one of the eight cast members in the sketch comedy series Mad TV, from the eight thousand that were screened. He flew to Los Angeles in May 1995 to shoot the television pilot which was picked up by the Fox network. Lange moved to Los Angeles two months later to film the first season. The show paid him a large signing bonus plus a salary of $7,500 per episode, fueling his worsening cocaine habit; during this period he said he was using cocaine "like it was going out of style".
In November 1995, after nine episodes had been shot, he attempted suicide after he ran out of cocaine, drank whiskey and "a bunch of pills", and wrote a suicide note to his mother and sister. He claimed, "I was 100 percent serious about dying". He was found by his Mad TV co-stars and taken to intensive care. Lange returned to New Jersey to complete a rehabilitation and counseling program. At its conclusion, he wrote a new forty-five minute stand-up set that he felt "really proud of", and used his Mad TV fame to headline spots in comedy clubs around New York City, supported by further voiceover work for commercials.
In January 1996, Lange returned to Los Angeles to film the remaining episodes of the first season. Quincy Jones, the show's producer, supported Lange during rehab and sent him over on his private jet. Lange returned to form in his work, ranking his performance in these episodes as "the best I've ever done in sketch comedy", including the creation of his hit character, White Mama. In mid-1996, Lange secured his first major acting role for an independent film titled Puppet, starring Rebecca Gayheart and Fred Weller. He wrote, "To this day I have never seen it because I don't think it's possible to purchase a copy of it anywhere ... it was screened in a theater at least once, because my manager went to see it".