Topic: Artie Lange

Arthur Steven "Artie" Lange, Jr. (born October 11, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, radio personality, and author. Lange is most notable for replacing Jackie Martling on The Howard Stern Show, and for being an original cast member of the sketch comedy series MADtv. Lange co-wrote a book with Anthony Bozza titled Too Fat to Fish. It was released on November 11, 2008, and debuted at number one on the New York Times best-seller list on November 21, 2008.

Lange was born on October 11, 1967 in Livingston Township, New Jersey, United States and was raised in Union Township. His mother Judy (née Caprio) was a housewife while his father, Arthur Sr., was a general contractor. His sister Stacy is a fashion designer. Two weeks after Lange's birth, his father went on trial for counterfeiting money but was spared jail time out of the court's sympathy for his young son. In 2003, after some of the staff on The Howard Stern Show submitted a sample of their DNA for testing, it was revealed that Lange was approximately 25 per cent American Indian. Lange said that his father's background was a "grey area".

Lange played baseball during his time at Union High School, where he became an all-county third baseman. He spent his free time working with his father, who in October 1985, fell from a ladder and broke his back, becoming quadriplegic. Money soon became an issue within his family, and Lange's mother took a secretary job for income. "We took out a second mortgage. Medicaid paid for a nurse eight hours a day. When my mother got back from being a secretary all day, she had to take care of him. Every night, she set her alarm clock to turn him so he wouldn't get bedsores." The family contacted celebrities asking them to donate items for auction, and Howard Stern was the only one to respond, who sent an autographed K-Rock jacket in 1987. His father died from an infection on February 1, 1990, four-and-a-half years after the accident.