It seemed for a time that the only hour-long episode of television that would bear Artie Lange's name would be an "E! True Hollywood Story."
The Union-raised comedian and longtime Hoboken resident shot to fame on "Mad TV" and as a celebrated sidekick on "The Howard Stern Show" before depression and a heroin addiction led to a grisly suicide attempt in 2010 and a still-painful rift with Stern. But seven years later, after rehab and a raw memoir "Crash and Burn," the famously foul-mouthed Lange is enjoying a second act as the host of a popular podcast in addition to his stand-up and a string of TV gigs.
That latest, in fact, is HBO's "Crashing," a semi-autobiographical account of comedian Pete Holmes' early years in the business, which was created by Holmes and directed by Judd Apatow. Lange co-stars as an unlikely mentor (see previous paragraph) of Holmes, who is forced to crash on the couches of more established comics -- Lange, Jermaine Fowler, Sarah Silverman, T.J. Miller among them -- when he discovers his wife has cheated on him.
The pilot, in which the brutally honest yet sympathetic Lange rescues Holmes after a pathetic gig, is named "Artie Lange."
NJ.com talked with Lange last week about "Crashing," the camaraderie and competition among comics, his love for stand-up and his relationship with his own mentor Howard Stern:
Q Congratulations on "Crashing." I noticed you've played yourself in the film 'Laugh Killer Laugh,' on the Jim Gaffigan show and now on "Crashing.' And I was wondering if you're a little concerned about getting typecast?
A (Laughs). Actually it's the hardest character I play. It's hard to get in this guy's head. No, I love it. It's very simple because if I say something improvisational or something, which Judd likes to do, they can never say, 'The character wouldn't say it.' I'm like, 'Yeah, he would.'
Q How much of the show is improvised?
A A lot, a lot. Almost all of my part. Judd likes doing it that way. Judd has my book, my first book, and I found that out about a year ago, and he knows all the stories in it. and that helped auditioning. He just yelled out stories from the book sometimes, and I know them better than anybody.
Q Given your personal demons and what you've gone through in your life, did you ever think you'd make to the point where you'd sort of be this Yoda figure to a younger generation of comedians?
A Am I? I didn't even know that I was ... The most flattering thing a comic, a younger comic, ever said to me was that the book 'Too Fat To Fish' was a textbook ... That was the best compliment I ever got. You do want to help people. No, I never thought that all. I never thought anyone would try to advice from me -- at any level. I am able to tell the guys, not how to be funny, I'm certainly not the funniest guy around, but how to not step on landmines that I did. They're not all so obvious, 'Don't do drugs.'
Ep. 66: Is 'This Is Us' just too much?
Q One thing I thought about "Crashing" that was very interesting was that it reveals this very supportive and very generous world of stand-up comics. How true to life is that?
A It's true to life, but in a very small percentage. Most comics are not helpful. They're very selfish. In acting, actors tend to be fake. They smile and stab you in the back. The good thing about comics is they tell you, 'I am not rooting for you. I want you to fail, and the worst thing I can see is you do well.' But there's a small percentage of guys that do help each other out. It's true, but not for the whole part of it.
Q After you hit rock bottom and you got kicked off 'The Howard Stern Show,' did you feel that from your fellow comics? Did you feel blackballed, that you were too damaged to touch?
A No. Oh God, no. The direct opposite is true. The Comedy Cellar, the people that run it, this woman named Estee and a guy named Noam, they could not have been nicer to me ... After I got in a tragic situation, I thought I was out of the business, I didn't consider myself back until I played the Comedy Cellar. They never turned me down. The first time after I stabbed myself, I went and I did a set and it made a highlight of Page Six in the New York Post, and it was the first article about how the Cellar was supportive of me. People like Dave Attell, Russ Meneve, another amazing comic, Louis C.K., they would see me struggling with new material about what happened to me, and they were supportive. It was amazing.
Q The show also lets you talk a little about your podcast Artie Quitter. You invite Pete on the show in the sixth epsiode. It seems very casual on the show, it's at your dining room table. Is that what it's really like?
A It's even more casual. I lay on my couch. I make six figures a year from the podcast, literally laying down on my couch saying stuff I would say to a football game anyway ... I literally put CNN or Fox News on and I just riff.
Q Did working with Howard Stern for so many years have an influence on your podcast?
A I knew of Howard's show, I was a fan since I was 13. My father turned me on to it ... It was a bond between me and my dad. When I got there, I got to work three feet from the best guy who ever did it. And I was there for eight and a half years. I am totally influenced. I feel his moves all the time, especially in interviewing. And without him, there would be nothing right now without Howard. My father died long before before I got into show business, but if he, or anybody from my neighborhood for that matter, saw me on the show, on 'The Howard Stern Show,' as a co-host, it would be like I was a senator, a U.S. senator. A senator would be less exciting for him.
Q You've said a lot of good things about Howard over the years. A few months ago on your podcast, you said some not-so-good things ... Do your feelings about Howard ebb and flow? Where do you guys stand right now?
A Like any other friendship, they ebb and flow, but right now it's a big ebb. Howard doesn't talk to me. Look, me and Howard for a long period of time, I was on the show eight a half years, and for six to seven years of that, me and Howard were not only great on the air, we were great friends off the air ... It was surreal that I was friends with one of my heroes. But I became a junkie. I was always a drug addict, but heroin didn't come in a big way until I had done the road too much and I overextended myself. It was nothing but my fault. Howard tried to help me. I just did the road too much. The money was three times what I was making, and I got addicted to the money. And then I had to be nocturnal on the weekends and had to have paper route hours during the week. ... I became a full-blown junkie, and when you do that, after helping me and trying to help me immensely, they tell you in rehab, you might lose some relationships that you cherish, and Howard is one of them.
Q I know you've done a lot of TV, your podcast is very popular, but it seems like stand-up is what you're really all about. What do you get personally -- besides money -- out of doing stand-up?
A Every comic starts out with this goal, if they want to be a good comedian, they want to have a connection with the audience, they want the audience to become like a friend. ... They know you, you don't have to explain yourself. It's like no exposition in a movie. If you've seen the first one, they love it. In the sequel, you don't have to explain that Al Pacino is the Godfather. He's Michael. You want the first part of your career to be the first movie, and the rest, if they love the first movie, to be the sequel where they know you. It's just like telling jokes to a buddy. That's what it's become for me, through the Stern show and hard work and 'Mad TV' and sketches and my own stand-up and now the podcast, with a whole group of new fans ... When I see the fans, it's the greatest thing. I do feel like they're family, but the family I charge $60 to hear me talk.
"Crashing" premieres Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on HBO.
Vicki Hyman may be reached at vhyman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickihy or like her on Facebook. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook, and check out Remote Possibilities, the TV podcast from Vicki Hyman and co-host Erin Medley on iTunes, Stitcher or Spreaker, or listen below or here.