Howard Stern and Artie Lange talking — about each other

Artie Lange is getting close to returning to the stage but right now, he's pumping gas as part of his drug court rehab. Earlier he was working on a garbage truck. Talk about paying your dues! The comedian who once announced his rehab on New Jersey 101.5. Lange was recorded at the gas station explaining his situation.

"Now I'm pumping gas, I gotta pump gas for 10 more days and then I satisfy the program I think." Then he added about Howard Stern, whom he worked with from 2001-2008, "If this gets back to Howard, tell him I love him, I love him to death and I miss him, God bless him he's the best."

Howard, whose new book, "Howard Stern Comes Again" is out, tells the New York Times regarding Lange:

"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."

Times change, people change. It's evident that Howard's changed from the interviews he's been doing, distancing himself from his past. Artie's trying his best to change and we all pray that he's able to do it. Who knows, maybe one day Howard Stern could "Come again with Artie Lange."

More from New Jersey 101.5: