Artie Lange on Stern — ‘I love him, he did nothing but help me’

When Artie Lange performed in Atlantic City last weekend he mentioned on stage that the lines of communication have been opened between him and Howard Stern. He elaborated on that with Steve Trevelise when he came to our studios.

"Howard has been very sweet," Lange said. "He kind of alluded to the fact that he might have some guilt over what happened. He should have no guilt, all Howard did was try to help me. All he did was give me the best job ever and I take full responsibility. He had no choice but to let me go. I was gonna die and he tried to get me help, he got me into rehab a couple of times and I would leave...he was in my crazy life, and I don't think he knew what to do after a while. When a junkie is in your life and you care about them, they start to rip your heart out. So, Howard, I love him and he did nothing but help me. He's got no reason to feel any guilt."

"He was very nice to me through the press when his book came out," Lange said. "I was pumping gas at an Exxon station reading the book...If I get a year clean God willing, and it's one day at a time, I would certainly love to go back as a guest on the show if he was into it. I have to reach out for him, I'm gonna give him a call and we'll see."

I asked him what his thoughts were about possibly going back to do morning radio again as well.

"I don't know about morning radio," Lange said. "Before I make any decision where I have a schedule that's insane, I would want a year clean. Like I said I got eight months [sober], I don't want to rush anything. The lifestyle, I'm going back on the road, I got a podcast I'm gonna do called 'Artie Lange's Halfway House.' It's gonna start in a few weeks, and that's an easier schedule."

Lange left the Stern show in 2009 as his addiction problems mounted. He did read Howard's new book while working at a gas station last May.

"I'm reading interviews I did with the President of the United States with Howard in a book," Lange said. "And someone goes, 'hey fill it up with regular.' My crazy life."

Stern told the New York Times last May, "I choose my words about Artie carefully, because I love him. What’s happening with Artie makes me very sad. We’ve lost touch, and that’s my doing. I got my fingers crossed for the guy. And it wasn’t a clean break. It was many years of wanting Artie to get help. I know that a lot of fans want me to talk about Artie and feel it’s a cop-out for me not to. I’ll take that. I don’t want to do anything that would rock his boat. I get sad talking about Artie. He was a tremendous contributor. But we had to move on."

They say time heals all wounds and rehab should be added to that phrase. It sounds like Artie Lange and Howard Stern are in a good place with each other, or at least a good place for now.

You can get tickets for Artie's tour here.

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