Now nine months clean and sober, the radio personality and stand-up comic has a lot to share on stage about his darkest days
It’s been a long road back for Artie Lange, but with nine clean and sober months behind him, he’s back and more ready than ever to make his return to New England.
Setting up shop at Beverly’s Larcom Theatre on Wednesday (November 13), as part of the 20th Boston Comedy Festival, Lange brings with him an arsenal of stories gathered during his time at rock bottom, and while he’s planning on getting a little dark as he details aspects of his long battle, it’s nothing but smiles for miles for the former Howard Stern show personality as he makes his way back to the area that he admits has given him nothing but love, despite his sports fandom.
“For some reason, even as a Yankees fan from Jersey, there’s no part of the country that I’ve ever done better in, as far as selling tickets or anything like that, than New England,” Lange tells Vanyaland. “The funniest people in the world come from Boston, and I’m excited as hell to be coming back.”
Comparing his approach to material about his crazy life, his battle with addiction, and his time spent in jail to how someone like Ray Romano writes jokes about being a father and a husband, Lange is looking is looking forward to bringing some dark stories into a comedic light. While he also plans on submitting his two cents on the current political landscape, as well, he’s got a lot of stories from the past year that, in many ways, are some of the nuttiest stories he’s ever told on stage.
Lange admits that sobriety is cathartic for him while in recovery, and in many ways, it’s an extension of the enjoyment he gets from getting up and speaking in front of groups at 12-step meetings. But these past nine months have also proven to Lange that sobriety has his creative engines roaring on all cylinders. Between his stand-up that he’s bringing to clubs all over the country, to his upcoming podcast, Artie Lange’s Halfway House, and writing his fourth book, Ripping and Running: Life on Drug Court, while in jail, Lange feels the sharpest he’s ever felt.
“From a performance standpoint, I feel better because I’m clearer on stage,” says Lange. “I’m more articulate, which helps, and my timing is better, and I think the material is sharper because when I’m sober, I just think in a more creative way.”
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During a recent interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, the 52-year old told Rogan that this comeback is somewhere in the ballpark of his 11th attempt, and he admits that he’s lucky to have remained relevant in comedy after all these years, through all the past attempts. He also feels lucky that this is the longest he’s been sober during any of his past attempts at a comeback.
However, while he’s on cloud nine given his current state of being, this attempt is different for Lange. He’s adopted a new approach of living in sobriety one day at a time, and that viewpoint, along with the change in perspective that comes along with entering middle age, and the unrelenting support he’s received from his fans have proven this time around to be very different, indeed.
“I’ve learned a different approach to do it one day at a time, the fact that I’m in my fifties with a different viewpoint on stuff and the fact I got this clean time, from those two standpoints, that is what makes it different this time around,” says Lange. “Not to mention, my fans have been so unbelievably nice and supportive.”
Lange isn’t looking to put too much pressure on himself as a poster boy for what sobriety can do for you, because, as he points, he’s still an addict at the end of the day. He’s just trying to be funny and do his thing, but if the creative energy he’s currently exuding can help people who are struggling in their own battle with addiction realize that they too can make it out the hell they’re currently in, then he’s cool with that.
“If I can show people that I’m doing this, and getting through it while maintaining a career, and that helps them, that’s fantastic,” says Lange. “The fans mean a lot to me. They’re so loyal to me, and if they’re struggling, I hope it’s an example for them.”
BOSTON COMEDY FESTIVAL PRESENTS: ARTIE LANGE :: Wednesday, November 13 at Larcom Theatre, 13 Wallis St. in Beverly, MA :: 8:30 p.m., $35 advance, $40 at the door :: Larcom Theatre event page :: Advance Tickets