Artie Lange

About Artie Lange

Arthur Steven Lange, Jr., (born October 11, 1967 in Union, New Jersey), is an American stand-up comedian, radio personality, and actor. Lange is most notable for replacing Jackie Martling on The Howard Stern Show, and as a member of the original cast of the sketch comedy series MADtv.

Artie Lange was born and raised in Union Township, Union County, New Jersey. His mother was a homemaker and his father was a general contractor. Two weeks after he was born, his father went on trial for counterfeiting money, but was spared jail time out of the court's sympathy for his young son. His family identified themselves as Italian-Americans, despite having German and Native American ancestry on his father's side. Lange has said that his father's background "has always been a gray area." During a segment of The Howard Stern Show, Lange provided a blood sample which was taken to a laboratory for genetics testing. Howard Stern announced that the results indicated that Lange was approximately 25 percent American Indian.

During high school Lange excelled in baseball, becoming an All County third baseman, and spent his free time working with his father. Some time after Lange finished high school in 1985, his father fell from a roof and broke his neck, becoming quadriplegic. Money soon afterwards became an issue within his family and they contacted celebrities to donate items for them to auction, the only one who responded was Howard Stern, sending them an autographed jacket and mentioning on the air "do they think it's going to make him walk again," which he found funny. His father would eventually die from complications from the fall, although Lange has speculated that his father may have committed suicide through an overdose of medications (perhaps with the assistance of a third party).