Artie Lange

Did you know?!

1. Big break

   At twenty-seven, Lange was one of eight cast members picked for the sketch comedy series Mad TV, chosen from eight thousand people who were screened. In May 1995 he flew to Los Angeles to shoot the television pilot.

2. First role

   Lange's first stand-up set came on July 12, 1987, at age nineteen at The Improv in Hell's Kitchen, where he bombed for five minutes and did not try stand-up again for four years.

3. 

   Big break

   Norm Macdonald cast Lange in Dirty Work after happening to watch Mad TV for the first time and noticing Lange's melancholy reminded him of John Belushi, and Macdonald called Lange's first script reading perfect.

4. First role

   In 1992, Lange became a paid regular at Stand Up NY in Manhattan, after his first paid stand-up gig at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, which earned him $30.

5. Early training

   In 1988, Lange studied acting with Sandy Dennis at HB Studio in New Jersey for three weeks. He stopped attending the classes because he could no longer pay for them.