I'm not saying he has no talent. He has some talent and he can be very funny. But what I'm wondering is, out of the thousands of ULTRA talented people who try to break into show biz every day and fail, how did Artie hit the big time?

How did he even make it on Mad TV? You're telling me there aren't funnier sketch artists in LA? And what about his standup comedy...you can go to any lame comedy club in American and find tons of people who are better than him.

Can someone explain this to me?

I love Artie on the Stern show, but not because he's a comedic genius...but more in the reality show sense, as in it's entertaining to watch his train wreck of a life. I don't understand why anyone enjoys watching him "perform" in character.

Simple, he's on the Stern show. He got lucky.

Viral campaign through message board threads.

Artie = no talent. He was lucky enough to suck the Stern show dry.

Fuck Artie!

Simple, he's on the Stern show. He got lucky.

Well, yeah. That's why he's known now. But, I think the question is how the hell did he even make it to the Stern Show.

He had 8-titties in a bikini on MadTV...that gets you work, man....

He's another example of the Peter Principle in effect and of pure luck over talent elevating someone to the stratosphere....it's the Horatio Alger story only 200 pounds heavier
and doped up...

Pictures, lots of pictures of the KOAM with some sort of animal (I'm not ;) saying it's a horse).

Latched on to Norm McDonald, got intro'd to HS via Norm, the rest is the rest of his story.

obviously, madtv was his break. he was one of the original cast members. while in LA he befriended norm and got on dirty work and on norm's sitcom. norm took him on HS when he was promoting dirty work which is when artie met howard.

HOWEVER, this is how artie got to be on Madtv.....

artie was at conn school of broadcasting and was working odd jobs and as a longshoreman. he started going to open calls for improv groups in NYC and landed a job w/ the group "the improvables" which later became "midnight madness". this group had a big show at caroline's and an agent from william morris was in the crowd who struck a deal to represent them. the group changed names again to "live on tape" and did a show at the comic strip in NYC where someone invited artie and another member to audition for madtv. can't find details on the audition, but obviously artie must have done well enough to get the gig.

the below link is the bio for a guy named jimmy palumbo who was in these improv groups w/ artie. he claims he was the one who invited artie to go to the open casting calls w/ him. he also claims he came up w/ the idea for a softball movie, and he and other members of "live on tape" wrote and shot a short film called "gameday" which then lead to the group doing "beer league", which artie mostly wrote.
http://www.jimmypalumbo.com/bio.html

Every sketch show/troupe needs a fat guy. He found MadTV at the right time, must have been a shortage of fat guys at the time.

Well, yeah. That's why he's known now. But, I think the question is how the hell did he even make it to the Stern Show.

Oh gah. Simple answer. Everyone loved him and his honesty. hahahah

Here's a typical Artie Lange standup comedy show: " Hey PIttsburgh!!!!! Who's gettin drunk tonight???!!!!!!!!!! You guys fuckin gettin loaded or what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And then some stupid rantings about "I might die soon. I have done a lot of drugs." Repeat as necessary.

it's weird because he's not that good at stand up and also had no acting training at all.

he's also not a good writer

i think mad tv just needed that fat guy

Howard Stern.

Without him Artie would be nothing.

honestly, the only thing he is really good at is making fun of wack packers. Anyone can do that, its easy, but Artie does it with no remorse. That takes a special kind of asshole.

I loved it a few weeks ago when Hi Pitch Mike ripped on one of his lame jokes before he even had a chance to finish it, and Artie just shut up. I couldnt believe it.

By sucking Howards dick

Here's my personal theory-- he's not very talented, but he's extremely outgoing and charming on a personal level. It's the friendships he's forged with people in the entertainment industry (e.g., Howard and Norm McDonald) that have overcome his lack of talent.
Contrast this with your stereotypical talented comedian like Norm McDonald or Dave Attell who are brooding weirdos who have to rely on their talent.

As to how he got from being a longshoreman to Mad TV, I'm guessing he came to LA and made friends with the right people.

in the world of entertainment being a sidekick on a radio show isnt exactly the top of the mountain

Hey... audition for a nationally televised sketch comedy show and let me know how it goes.

Hey... audition for a nationally televised sketch comedy show and let me know how it goes.

Audition for a nationally televised music show = sanjaya is good?

in the world of entertainment being a sidekick on a radio show isnt exactly the top of the mountain

it's a pretty big deal considering their gigantic audience back in terrestrial days. plus, it isn't any old radio show...it's the biggest most high profile radio show ever.

when the show was on terrestrial radio they got way more of an audience than say conan obrien, and conan's sidekick andy richter was able to get his own tv show and do movies, only because of his gig from conan. sidekicks can use their fame to springboard into other things. artie has already done this w/ his movie,dvd, and book. when the HS show finally comes to an end, as long as artie hasn't imploded or died, you can be sure he will be on tv/movies/etc. he's already come close to leaving the show b/c of a tv opportunity w/ fox.

He became famous by luck, like everyone who is famous.

and the artie jealousy continues....

--

his became famous when he made a movie called Beer League.

They needed a quick replacement for Jackie.

in my opinion the only famous person on the Stern show is howard

remove Howard from the situation and Robin, Fred, Gary etcetcetce are all just normal citizens noone cares about

you wont see any of the staff anywhere when Howard retires, Stuttering John has already has the most successful post-stern career out of any of the staff

it's a pretty big deal considering their gigantic audience back in terrestrial days. plus, it isn't any old radio show...it's the biggest most high profile radio show ever.

when the show was on terrestrial radio they got way more of an audience than say conan obrien, and conan's sidekick andy richter was able to get his own tv show and do movies, only because of his gig from conan.

To all the Artie Haters on SFN....Go suck some more cock.... faggots....bunch of whining,jealous pussies on here who keep listening to the show! Face it...You can whine until you're blue in the face, your opinions,comments and suggestions do not matter! So if you don't like Artie or anything else on the show, Stop Listening!! You have no influence on the show at all...None!!....Fucking shut up and leave the Stern Fan Network!!

in my opinion the only famous person on the Stern show is howard

remove Howard from the situation and Robin, Fred, Gary etcetcetce are all just normal citizens noone cares about

you wont see any of the staff anywhere when Howard retires, Stuttering John has already has the most successful post-stern career out of any of the staff

just because howard is the big star doesn't mean there arent talented people on the show who can do things on their own. there are lots of examples where there is one "star" who overshadows everybody, but someone else branches off and does big things on their own.

as for the HS show...

artie's career will definitely continue on. standup, movies, tv, books, dvd's.

gary will continue on as an executive producer for some show somewhere - whether it be radio or tv. he won't be heard from anymore though, really...he'll be behind the scenes.

richard christy will go back to being a popular metal drummer.

robin will write a top selling book and maybe host her own show - talk radio or tv. she could also end up on the view or some sort of panel show like that.

just because howard is the big star doesn't mean there arent talented people on the show who can do things on their own. there are lots of examples where there is one "star" who overshadows everybody, but someone else branches off and does big things on their own.

as for the HS show...

artie's career will definitely continue on. standup, movies, tv, books, dvd's.

gary will continue on as an executive producer for some show somewhere - whether it be radio or tv. he won't be heard from anymore though, really...he'll be behind the scenes.

richard christy will go back to being a popular metal drummer.

robin will write a top selling book and maybe host her own show - talk radio or tv. she could also end up on the view or some sort of panel show like that.


and the artie haters will be stuck in their shitty little jobs making thirty grand a year or less.

well...the ones who actually have jobs.

too funny.

--

i think there are talented people but im pretty sure that even Robin or Fred will not go on to do anything that's major media on a daily basis

Robin is clearly angling to become a diet guru when the show is over , if you listened to the detox special she did you'll realize why she can't carry a show on her own

The Artie estate will probably realize a short term boom in sales contributing to the maintenance of the estate.

just because howard is the big star doesn't mean there arent talented people on the show who can do things on their own. there are lots of examples where there is one "star" who overshadows everybody, but someone else branches off and does big things on their own.

as for the HS show...

artie's career will definitely continue on. standup, movies, tv, books, dvd's.

gary will continue on as an executive producer for some show somewhere - whether it be radio or tv. he won't be heard from anymore though, really...he'll be behind the scenes.

richard christy will go back to being a popular metal drummer.

robin will write a top selling book and maybe host her own show - talk radio or tv. she could also end up on the view or some sort of panel show like that.