Artie Lange reunites with Nick DiPaolo on podcast, reveals details about his hospitalization, show cancellation

It’s been a trying few weeks for Artie Lange. A packed schedule left him run down to the point where he ended up being hospitalized in Detroit after going into diabetic shock. Then just as Lange was out of the woods and settled back into his groove, his DirecTV talk show, The Artie Lange Show was abruptly cancelled with 5 months left in his contract. Lange made the shocking announcement on his show Monday.

The first move Lange made after his show’s end was right to his longtime friend Nick DiPaolo’s podcast to talk about these current events. The duo first co-hosted a talk show on DirecTV before DiPaolo departed in a similar, unexpected manner. DiPaolo’s podcast now calls Riotcast, home.

Very quickly, Lange and DiPaolo slipped back into their comfortable routine, as longtime friends, their conversation slipped into talking about sports, pop culture, and news stories of the day. Including the current scandal surrounding LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling. DiPaolo eventually got down to the task at hand and asked Lange questions to find answers to it all.

On Lange’s diabetes diagnosis…
Lange revealed that he was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes about a year earlier, after explaining the differences to DiPaolo; he stated that he’d have to control it with daily medication and that it wasn’t as difficult to manage as one would expect. With treatment consisting of taking a single pill daily to regulate blood sugar levels.

How he ended up in the hospital…
A hectic schedule is what Lange stated eventually did him in; he admitted never to being great with his diet and add on top of travelling for many shows, he simply forgot to take his daily medication and paid the price. Lange was well aware of the irony of the situation joking to DiPaolo, “When I was addicted to pills, I’d have $1,200 dollars’ worth delivered daily and consume about 100 in a day, but I couldn’t remember 1 pill of medication.”

After a sold out show in Detroit, Lange went to bed at night and woke up feeling the “worst he ever had” and an ambulance was called to the hotel. Lange stating, “Had I gotten on the plane, they probably would’ve had to make an emergency landing or I would’ve died.” Stating that more than any other withdrawals he’d experienced as a recovering addict did he feel as bad as the pain of diabetic shock, “I never want to feel that way again. It was a real wake up call.”

The subject turned to their fallen friend Patrice O’Neal whose stroke was due in part to diabetes. Both he and DiPaolo agreed, “That guy was made out of mortar, you couldn’t hurt him” both emotionally and physically, and if diabetes took out someone like Patrice, it could do it to anyone. Artie also joked that he wished the entire world interacted the way that Nick and Patrice did, it would be probably solve race relations.

Lange ended up spending 9 days in the hospital as the doctors, “got him normal” forcing him to cancel some upcoming tour dates and an arc on the TV Land show, Hot In Cleveland where he missed his chance to trade some barbs with Betty White and earn some insurance from his union for appearing on the show.

Nevertheless, Artie stated he’s never felt better or clearer, and in the short time since his hospitalization, he’s cut out the carbs and sugar from his diet and lost 25lbs already. Just in time to return to his DirecTV show.

He thought…

The Artie Lange Show cancellation…
Lange didn’t reveal much behind the scenes of his show’s cancellation. Reiterating how great his fans were to him, his staff was, and how it would’ve been great to finish his contract.

In fact, Lange pretty much glossed over the subject leading us to believe that he’s not revealing much because he still does have 5 months left on his contract and is staying mum about the situation because A) there’s not much to reveal, or B) he’s staying quiet until the contract ends.

On his future…
Lange told DiPaolo that he has a-lot of opportunities in front of him that have him excited. The pair mentioned that they could do a new radio show or podcast together. Lange even recalled advice Howard Stern gave him when he was on the show. Stern said, “Take a definite black and white opinion and just stay with it. Never waver. People that agree with you will listen and the people that don’t will listen more.” While there’s no definite, show plans there are a few stand-up appearances on the horizon so we will see more Artie very soon.

A new stand-up special…
There was one project that Lange did confirm, he’s recording a new special for Comedy Central this June to be released in September. He added that he was, “running my act for the Comedy Central lawyers” this Saturday night at 11:45pm at Gotham Comedy Club.

While the podcast wasn’t just about Artie’s situation, he and DiPaolo flowed in an out of topics, and Lange even discussed the new moves at late night. When DiPaolo asked about Stephen Colbert making the move to Late Show Lange stated, “He’s funny but I’m not sure how it’s going to work because he’s doing an act… I wonder how many Midwesterners and execs at CBS don’t realize he’s doing an act… He’s a funny and smart mother*cker… At least it wasn’t Chelsea Handler.”

Lange also has an affinity for the new Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon. “Jimmy is good to me. He’s kicking ass and it could not happen to a nicer guy… he’s one of those guys you root for.”

We checked in with Nick DiPaolo and asked the podcast, catching up with his old friend, and being reunited on the mic and he told us, “It was like jumping back in the sack with an ex-girlfriend…you know each other’s moves, there’s lots of laughter, back hair, and when it’s over you’re left empty and sad inside… Ha! Just kidding. I enjoyed every second of it!”

Speaking of enjoying every second of it, you must listen to the entire Artie Lange appearance on The Nick DiPaolo podcast, available now on Riotcast.com. Riotcast is one of the best podcast networks in existence. Just this week, they’ve delivered us this Nick and Artie reunion in addition to Robert Kelly’s< YKWD Podcast whose most recent episode (Monday) hosted a murder’s row of comics with Dave Attell, Mike Vecchione, and Kurt Metzger on as guests. They were there to plug Attell’s spectacular late night stand-up show Dave Attell’s Comedy Underground.

They are must-listens for comedy fans.