So I finally completed the 'cycle', so to speak, on reading the books written by the Howard Stern Show staff.
1). Howard Stern's Private Parts
2). Howard Stern's Miss America
3). Robin Quiver's A Life (audiobook)
4). Artie Lange's Too Fat To Fish
?). Riley Martin's The Coming of Tan... I will read that down the road.
Now Too Fat Too Fish was released in November of 2008 but the paperback version was released on June 2, 2009. Now I strictly prefer paperback books over hardcover books. That's just my preference. I got it on June 4th which was a Thursday and I didn't really start to read it until the weekend.
Too Fat To Fish was one big rollercoaster ride from the first page all the way to the very last page. The first two chapters had some very funny stories about
Artie's childhood but by the end of the third chapter it was the start of a depressing storyline. This is where I had to put the book down for a few moments to collect my
thoughts together. Every self destructive moment (past, present, and maybe future) is attributed to the accident/death of Artie's father. Drugs, booze, and gambling were all
Artie's outlet with coping with the aftermath of his father's accident and eventual death. I had an eerie feeling that I was reading about the stories of drugs and booze use of
Sam Kinison. When you think about the comedians John Belushi, Chris Farley, and even Sam Kinison (even though he was on the path to recovery), you have to put Artie Lange in the same group as those guys.
Artie tells a story about how he was working as a longshoresman and then three years later as a regular castmember on FOX's MAD TV. Artie's time on MAD TV was his darkest period as an entertainer. This was at the height of Artie's cocaine habbit and he tells a story about how he scored coke in a pig costume. The producers of the show made him go to rehab and when he came back, he relapsed. Later on, the producers again wanted Artie go to rehab but Artie refused. They chased him down in a grocery store and Artie was throwing produce at everybody. He was arrested and fired from the show.
Artie's childhood but by the end of the third chapter it was the start of a depressing storyline. This is where I had to put the book down for a few moments to collect my
thoughts together. Every self destructive moment (past, present, and maybe future) is attributed to the accident/death of Artie's father. Drugs, booze, and gambling were all
Artie's outlet with coping with the aftermath of his father's accident and eventual death. I had an eerie feeling that I was reading about the stories of drugs and booze use of
Sam Kinison. When you think about the comedians John Belushi, Chris Farley, and even Sam Kinison (even though he was on the path to recovery), you have to put Artie Lange in the same group as those guys.
Artie tells a story about how he was working as a longshoresman and then three years later as a regular castmember on FOX's MAD TV. Artie's time on MAD TV was his darkest period as an entertainer. This was at the height of Artie's cocaine habbit and he tells a story about how he scored coke in a pig costume. The producers of the show made him go to rehab and when he came back, he relapsed. Later on, the producers again wanted Artie go to rehab but Artie refused. They chased him down in a grocery store and Artie was throwing produce at everybody. He was arrested and fired from the show.
I don't want to give out much but there was a shocking revalation that really hit me hard. There aren't many bright moments in this book. So much of the bad moments outweigh the good moments. There will be a second book coming soon and there are also rumors of this book being made into a movie ALA Howard Stern's Private Parts. I know you will enjoy this book ,as much as I did, for the good, the bad and the ugly sides of Artie Lange's life.
CHEERS.
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