Artie Lange's blind rage leads him to resign from the Howard Stern Show

Last Thursday, co-host Artie Lange got into a fight with his personal assistant in the halls during a commercial break. When the show came back on air Howard Stern inquired as to what was going on in the halls, what was the fuss all about? Artie Lange responded by explaining how incompetent his personal assistant is. You see, his assistant asked for his passport so that he could jot down the numbers in order to do something that would aid in his upcoming trip to Amsterdam. The thing that really irked Artie was that he has already given him this information and thought that, if he were supposedly a good assistant he would never have to ask for such information again, that he should have, like a good assistant, saved and cataloged that information and simply whip it out later whenever it's needed.

As the quarreling between the two dragged on while Stern moderated, the two got more and more heated and got into territory regarding money. Specifically, how much the assistant, Teddy, owed Artie and when that money would ultimately be re-reimbursed. For those of you that know Artie, you already know that he is supposedly a very generous man. For instance, he ignored a huge debt owed to him by his bookie. A huge chunk that he had previously won when Eli Manning and the NY Giants beat the Patriots in the Super bowl. A pot totaling somewhere around $75,000. Given this reputation as a generous man, one could imagine how he might have been hassled by friends and relatives for money without any concern for ill-feeling or retribution from Artie when asking for money and (if loaned) not being able to pay the money back.

Keeping this in mind, consider the events that ultimately led Artie to declare that he will resign from the show. During the discussion about money between Artie and his assistant, Artie mentions how much money Teddy owes him. Teddy responds by mentioning that Artie implied that the money could be paid back whenever he was financially secure enough to pay him back. His overall tone and attitude seemed to be that of someone never intending to pay the money back. I believe this is what ultimately triggered Artie to attack Teddy. After Artie implied that he obviously has little or no money, he asks why he's spending even more money he doesn't have for a trip to Amsterdam. Artie then asks why he doesn't save that money and use it to pay him back instead. Teddy replies by saying something like, "no, why would I do that?". I believe it was at this moment that Artie felt, and justifiably so, that Teddy had in a sense robbed him of the money that he had "lent" to Teddy.

After the attack, which took several men to suppress, Artie blames Howard Stern for instigating the fight by confronting the situation in the first place, from the halls into the studio. Now, was he justified in such an accusation? I don't think so, as I genuinely think that Stern had no idea the dispute would become violent. However, at the same time, I don't think the fight would have ever occurred without the presence of Stern and his line of questions. If Stern had not joking mentioned that he would not pay the money back to Artie if he were Teddy, implying how much of a sucker Artie is, Artie would never have lost it as attacked teddy.

The question is, will Artie be back next week or has he really resigned from the show? I'd like to believe that he will be back next week, however, a few things lead me to believe that he might not. For one, he's grossly overweight and in poor health and his work schedule on the Stern show isn't helping. Secondly, I think his pride will not allow him to ask for his job. Stern implied that Artie would have to promise to control his emotions in order to stay on the show, Artie stated the he could not. To go back and say that he will control himself and so forth, maybe get into an anger management class or something, seems unlikely. If Artie truly gone from the show, he will be missed. I hope they find someone good to replace him, if that is the case. Too bad Adam Carolla has too much going for him to be a potential replacement.