Early life
Lange was one of the original nine castmembers of MADtv when the series debuted in 1995. Unlike some of his fellow castmembers on MADtv, Lange came to the show with limited sketch comedy experience, his background being in stand-up comedy. It was around this time that Artie became heavily involved with drugs, particularly cocaine. He has stated that his lowest point of cocaine use occurred during a shooting of the MADtv sketch "Babewatch", in which Artie played a pig who was a lifeguard. Because the sketch involved Artie going through hours of make up to transform him into a pig, he snorted the cocaine in his car in full pig make up, during a break in the shooting of the sketch. Upon returning from the shoot, Artie passed out in his hotel room, and awoke to find he had defecated in his own bed. The cast and fanbase of The Howard Stern Show now refer to this incident as "The Pig Story". His tenure with MADtv came to a dramatic end when, during a cocaine binge, the police were called to the studio. Lange fled, running through a number of backyards and stores before being arrested. He was charged with cocaine possession, assaulting an officer, and possessing an open alcoholic container in his car, among other charges. Upon Lange's arrest, legendary jazz producer and songwriter Quincy Jones, an executive producer for MADtv, intervened to arrange for Artie to continue on the show for a second season. Lange's sobriety did not last and he was fired after two seasons.
Artie performed as a few recurring characters on the show, such as "That's My White Momma", but was mostly used for impressions. Among the people he imitated were Ed Harris, Ed McMahon, F. Lee Bailey, George Clooney, Joe Pesci, Larry Csonka, Newt Gingrich, Richard Karn, Roseanne Barr, Rosie O'Donnell, Rush Limbaugh, Wayne Knight and Yassir Arafat. Though Artie was on the show for only two seasons, he has become one of the most famous MADtv alums. During the show's tenth season, Artie again appeared on an episode of MADtv.

MADtv
Following a short jail term and successful completion of a drug rehabilitation program, comedian Norm MacDonald contacted Lange to offer him the role of Norm's character's half-brother in the 1998 movie Dirty Work. While promoting the movie, Norm brought Artie to The Howard Stern Show. Artie appeared on the show several times after, and was eventually asked to take over Jackie Martling's chair when Martling left the Stern Show in 2001.
Since Lange joined the show, Stern has often teased Lange for his eating habits, his role in the poorly-received movie Dirty Work and his lack of professionalism, but Stern also makes a point to praise Lange's comedic talents. Stern is especially impressed by Artie's ability to memorize and deliver lines with perfect timing. Artie's almost flawless renditions of scenes from movies such as The Godfather have become a Stern Show favorite. Stern and his staff have commented that Lange's life is a sort of perpetual adolescence; his mother delivers food parcels and cleans his apartment, he continually gorges himself on pizza and other fattening foods, and his frequent drunken binges are legendary among Stern fans.
In early June 2005, Lange began missing work at the Howard Stern Show, prompting concerns of a possible relapse of past substance abuse. The situation climaxed in Lange behaving incoherently and belligerently on-the-air. He infamously sneered at Howard and crew that: "Artie's going to do what Artie's going to do!" Howard later commented that this statement had scared him. Lange missed the entire week of work.
At the time, Lange's absence from the show went largely unmentioned and was written off as stress from doing the radio show and beginning production of his movie Beer League. The real reason for Lange's absence was revealed in a spontaneous revelation on the September 21, 2006 Howard Stern Show, on which Lange acknowledged that he was regularly snorting heroin from February to June 2005. Lange discussed past episodes of heroin use, beginning when he was a stand-up comedian and continuing until Beer League was set to begin shooting. Lange detailed his painful withdrawal, which included common side effects such as cold sweats, shaking and vomiting. Lange recalled disconnecting the telephone to avoid speaking to his mother, who ultimately intervened to help Artie recover. Lange was threatened with legal action by the Beer League producers (whom he later described as having "waste management connections") if he failed to show up for the first day of shooting in June 2005, which led Lange to secure a home visit from a doctor who prescribed Lange with buprenorphine (Subutex) to alleviate his heroin dependency. Since starting the medicine, Artie has claimed to be free of any illegal substances, though he has gained almost 100 pounds since quitting heroin.
In the days leading up to Stern's departure from terrestrial radio, Lange revealed that he and Gary Dell'Abate were approached by Infinity Broadcasting about replacing Howard Stern on terrestrial radio with their own show. Lange claimed he was offered roughly $5 million to defect, but he and Dell'Abate claimed to have never given the offer much thought.
On May 24, 2007 it was revealed during The Howard Stern Show that Artie was upset about a segment of the show from the day before. Stern had brought in a girl who was attracted to Artie, mainly because of his size. Artie took the bit seriously and thought Stern and the rest of the cast were goofing on him, leading Artie to tell Stern he was no longer his "bro", calling Stern a pelican and stating that he was contemplating leaving the show. Stern took this to heart and fired back, saying Artie was no longer a friend, just someone who works on his show. By the end of the argument, however, they had seemingly patched things up, with Stern giving Artie his blessing for whatever he felt he had to do. Artie stated that he was thinking of leaving the show for six months in order to "dry out." Artie claimed he was burnt out from his career and felt he was in a "hurricane." Artie has since changed his mind, stating on the David Letterman show that he is not leaving the show as well as confirming this on the air.
On July 25, 2007 Artie gave out his home phone number on the air wondering how many people will call him and said that he would bring in the funniest messages. He stated he would change his home phone number in three days -- however, the following morning he revealed he had already changed his telephone number.
Artie is known for doing many impressions on the show, among them are Rush Limbaugh, Ted Kennedy, Iron Sheik, Eric the Midget, Don Rickles, Katt Williams, Johnny Fratto, Jeff the Drunk, Brian Johnson, Mark the Bagger, Elliot Offen, Bigfoot, Crazy Alice, Bubba the Love Sponge and others.

The Howard Stern Show
Artie is not shy about sharing his personal life on the Stern Show. Lange lost his virginity October 3, 1985, about a week before his 18th birthday. Because Lange was young for his grade, he had already graduated high school. The act took place in Lange's 1974 AMC Matador.

Personal life
Lange's unhealthy lifestyle of overeating and past drug use has caused concern among family and fans alike. During a Stern show weight loss competition, Artie was the only contestant to actually gain weight. He has also been asked to appear on Celebrity Fit Club for each of four seasons, but has declined every time.
In May 2004, Las Vegas station KLAS-TV reported him dead and many who heard the broadcast actually believed it. The story turned out to be a prank executed by Stern Show regular caller and Wack Packer Captain Janks.
The website artielangedeathwatch.com was started to predict when Artie would die if he continues this lifestyle. Before discontinuing updates, the site projected that Artie would die at age 53.
Since quitting heroin, the portly comedian has gained well over 100 pounds, and on July 26, 2007, it was determined on The Howard Stern Show that he had reached 300 pounds.

Health
Artie also auditioned for the role of Milton in Office Space He lost both roles to Stephen Root.

See also