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Artie Lange.
A mere mention of that name brings an immediate smile to any fan of The Howard Stern Show. And then it's followed by a laugh. And then, inevitably, a recollection of a favorite "Artie story."
To hear economy-sized New Jersey native Mr. Lange on the air with Howard--or performing stand-up comedy solo, as in his uproarious DVD It's the Whiskey Talking--is to feel immediate affection for this gigantic talent, in between explosions of gale-force laughter.
Former longshoreman Artie mines comedic gold from his working-class, party-hearty background, serving up wild takes on his own overeating, (past) narcotic binges, alcoholic blackouts, compulsive gambling, Italian ancestry, adventures in prostitution, multiple career suicides, Garden State pride, and other over-the-top peccadilloes in a manner that immediately stirs up feelings of identification and appreciation. Plus, he is funny as fuck. That cannot be stressed enough.
Artie initially broke through on the first season of Mad TV and almost as quickly annihilated himself with drug-induced idiocy. He next teamed with Saturday Night Live wit Norm MacDonald (whose own taste for self-destruction may even surpass his partner's). The pair starred in the now-cult-classic big-screen comedy Dirty Work (1998), as well as two seasons of the ABC sitcom The Norm Show.
In 2000 Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling departed his post as an on-air contributor to The Howard Stern Show. A revolving array of comedians sat in "The Jackie Chair," but none made the sudden impact that Artie Lange did. His 6 A.M. retelling of his cocaine-powered departure from Mad TV--which featured Artie swinging at an LAPD officer and having his bacon saved in jail by an underage Mexican fan of his signature "That's My White Mama" sketch--became an instant classic. It was clear that Artie was the man for the job.
And now Artie is tackling another job: movie mogul. Sort of. Artie Lange's Beer League was co-written by our hero and features him in the central role as an overweight, booze-gulping, chain-smoking New Jersey sports fanatic and mama's boy with a hot girlfriend. Art (and Artie) may be imitating life here and, much like Artie's on-air imitations of Larry Flynt, Rush Limbaugh, and Jeff the Drunk, the results are rip-roaringly hilarious.
Artie Lange's Beer League opens in theaters on September 15, 2006. It was a special honor for MrSkin.com Editorial Director Mike McPadden to talk to Artie about the movie. And the Stern show. And New Jersey. And pizza.
A mere mention of that name brings an immediate smile to any fan of The Howard Stern Show. And then it's followed by a laugh. And then, inevitably, a recollection of a favorite "Artie story."
To hear economy-sized New Jersey native Mr. Lange on the air with Howard--or performing stand-up comedy solo, as in his uproarious DVD It's the Whiskey Talking--is to feel immediate affection for this gigantic talent, in between explosions of gale-force laughter.
Former longshoreman Artie mines comedic gold from his working-class, party-hearty background, serving up wild takes on his own overeating, (past) narcotic binges, alcoholic blackouts, compulsive gambling, Italian ancestry, adventures in prostitution, multiple career suicides, Garden State pride, and other over-the-top peccadilloes in a manner that immediately stirs up feelings of identification and appreciation. Plus, he is funny as fuck. That cannot be stressed enough.
Artie initially broke through on the first season of Mad TV and almost as quickly annihilated himself with drug-induced idiocy. He next teamed with Saturday Night Live wit Norm MacDonald (whose own taste for self-destruction may even surpass his partner's). The pair starred in the now-cult-classic big-screen comedy Dirty Work (1998), as well as two seasons of the ABC sitcom The Norm Show.
In 2000 Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling departed his post as an on-air contributor to The Howard Stern Show. A revolving array of comedians sat in "The Jackie Chair," but none made the sudden impact that Artie Lange did. His 6 A.M. retelling of his cocaine-powered departure from Mad TV--which featured Artie swinging at an LAPD officer and having his bacon saved in jail by an underage Mexican fan of his signature "That's My White Mama" sketch--became an instant classic. It was clear that Artie was the man for the job.
And now Artie is tackling another job: movie mogul. Sort of. Artie Lange's Beer League was co-written by our hero and features him in the central role as an overweight, booze-gulping, chain-smoking New Jersey sports fanatic and mama's boy with a hot girlfriend. Art (and Artie) may be imitating life here and, much like Artie's on-air imitations of Larry Flynt, Rush Limbaugh, and Jeff the Drunk, the results are rip-roaringly hilarious.
Artie Lange's Beer League opens in theaters on September 15, 2006. It was a special honor for MrSkin.com Editorial Director Mike McPadden to talk to Artie about the movie. And the Stern show. And New Jersey. And pizza.
Artie, I can't tell you enough what a kick this is for me to talk to you. The two Biblical foundations of comedy in my life are Mad magazine and Howard Stern. Plus, I'm a fat fuck. So your importance in my world of humor is just huge.Great! Well, this interview is starting off on the right foot.
I'm also the same age as you and I spent my summers at my grandmother's house down the shore in [notoriously roughneck amusement-park community] Keansburg, New Jersey.
I love Keansburg!
I heard you make a hilarious Keansburg joke awhile back, and I was keeling over. Howard was talking about the B and C-level gift bags at celebrity parties. You said, "A-level gets a trip to Paris, B-level gets a trip to Miami, and if we showed up, we'd get a trip to Keansburg!" I felt like you made that crack directly for me.
That's so funny. I try to sneak a reference in to Keansburg every so often. That's where my grandparents met.
Geez, they probably knew my grandparents!
It would make sense. The official family history goes that my grandmother was playing leapfrog on the beach and my grandfather caught sight of her and couldn't resist. He had to make his move.
Well, Keansburg is such a romantic setting!
No shit [laughs].
So before I distract you with my years of personal nonsense that I've always wanted to talk to you about, let's get right to Beer League.
I'm really proud of the movie. And it's actually called Artie Lange's Beer League. I have to say that.
I was wondering if that had anything to do with the Broken Lizard movie Beerfest coming out a month before Beer League.
I'm sure that was a factor in it. We definitely want to avoid confusion, even though Beerfest is a drinking movie and Beer League is a baseball movie. With drinking. And nudity. I want to make sure to point that out for Mr. Skin!
Don't worry, our Skin Skouts are already on the case. So what's the basic premise behind Beer League?
Just imagine if the Bad News Bears grew up to become insane alcoholics.
I can probably guess which ones of them actually did.
[Laughs] Well, this is a whole team of those guys. It's not totally unlike a Sandler movie, but with tits, cursing, booze, and all the stuff you just don't see anymore. I'm honored anytime Beer League gets compared to Caddyshack or Slap Shot, because those are the movies I grew up loving.
It's not the kind of movie that critics are going to like. This is a movie for guys like me and you, Mike. I mean, there's a bachelor-party scene where a chick pitches ping-pong balls to me out of her pussy and I hit them with a bat!
But you've already gotten some good reviews!
That's true. Variety gave it a positive write-up. And the website FilmThreat.com gave us a great review. Thank you, FilmThreat.com!
Beer League also has an intriguing cast.
I was thrilled to work with these people. They are the best. Ralph Macchio is great. Seymour Cassel is absolutely amazing. People don't know his name right away, but they know his face because he's a veteran character actor who's been in just tons of great movies and he's just fuckin' incredible here. So funny. And Laurie Metcalf (Picture: 1) plays my mom. She is just the best actress. It was hilarious, when Laurie was on The Norm Show, because here she is, this incredible acting talent, having to play scenes against me and Norm! I love her.
What about cameos?
I'd like for those to be a surprise, but fans of the show might see some familiar guests turn up.
It's too bad the MrSkin.com office is in Chicago, because I know Skin himself would have been honored to make an appearance.
Yeah, that would have been great. I love Mr. Skin. He is absolutely one of my favorite guests on the show. I love how immature we all get when he comes on--even by my usual standards! Mr. Skin is very funny and I like just talking to him too.
Skin is the greatest. I was a member of the site long before he ever hired me. And one aspect of what I love about working here is that it's my own connection to the Stern show. I come up with a lot of the "furburger"-type jokes and I co-write the Mr. Skin Minute that Howard plays every Thursday.
The Mr. Skin Minute is really, really funny. That is really sharp writing.
Thanks. And for me to contribute, in any way, to the Stern show is a dream come true. Like you, I grew up with Howard. I heard his first show in New York when I was fourteen. I was in my aunt's car, which only had AM radio. Thank God. And I was hooked from moment one.
I grew up with the same feeling about the show. It was always like, "How is this possible? How can this be so funny and so honest and so great every day? My father initially turned me on to Howard. He said, "You are not gonna believe this new guy on the radio... "
And that leads me to how important your role on the Stern show is, and what a savior you were when Jackie left. I'm never going to badmouth Howard, but I will say that, in the wake of his divorce, it got a little uncomfortable hearing about him hobnobbing with celebs in the Hamptons and eating at Nobu. But then, genius that Howard is, he had you sit in The Jackie Seat and the connection was immediate. The show was grounded in reality again. You saved the show, Artie. I mean that.
Well, thanks. But Howard and Robin do a great show without me, which always worries me when I'm not there! You could say, though, that I brought in a blue-collar element that fit in really nicely with everything that was already there.
I remember, back in 2000, when it seemed to be a contest between you and Craig Gass for the permanent position. I was really rooting for you. Gass is great, but when I'd wake up and hear that it was you in the studio, it changed my whole attitude about waking up. So I'm certainly glad that it worked out as it did. Especially since the leap to Sirius.
Craig Gass is fantastic. I love when he sits in with us. And I am also glad that I got the job. Because, to be honest, I really, really wanted it. And doing the show on Sirius is the greatest thing that could have ever possibly happened.
It sounds greater than ever!
Thanks. Sirius has been even better than I could have hoped for. I think that's true for everybody on the show. Howard is not only my hero in comedy, but I love working with him. He's amazingly supportive. Everyone on the show is.
Well, let's talk about your favorite nude actresses.
My favorite nude actresses are in Artie Lange's Beer League, opening in theaters September 15th.
Of course! But what about from the past?
It's hard to argue against Phoebe Cates (Picture: 1 - 2) in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. And Jennifer Connelly (Picture: 1 - 2). She is smokin'! You know who I love--Jessica Alba (Picture: 1 - 2). Has she done a nude scene?
Not yet, but we have awesome panty and bikini-bottom shots of her on the site. Real deep-wedgie stuff with great cheekage.
I have to check those out.
And we all have to check out Artie Lange's Beer League on September 15th!
And subscribe to Sirius Satellite Radio! And go to Artie-Lange.com and BeerLeagueTheMovie.com.
Thanks so much, Artie. Next time you're in Chicago, I'll take you to Santullo's Pizza. Now I'm from Brooklyn, so this means a lot--they make the best old-school slice I've tasted since the 1970s.
What's the name of the place?
Santullo's. It's on North Avenue in Wicker Park, right across from the Mr. Skin office.
I'm there!
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