Artie Party

PS (Pre Script)  I wrote this a few weeks ago but it's only now appearing.  And the day before I post it what should I see but this headline: "Comedian Artie Lange in Custody for Drug Possession, Says He'll Enter Rehab"

I just read Artie Lange's book Wanna Bet?, his third collection of stories taken from his life.  While there are some fascinating moments, I feel this book series (all co-written with Anthony Bozza) is getting a little threadbare.

Artie's first collection, Too Fat To Fish, had the tales he'd been telling for years.  After that sold well, he did a second book, Crash And Burn, concentrating on the effect of dugs in his life, including an attempted suicide.  It was less entertaining than the first, but had some harrowing moments.

The third book however, about his addiction to risk, is sort of a grab-bag of what's left.  We get more stories about taking drugs, more stories about gambling and more stories about doing comedy, with a theme that barely holds it all together.  Sure, doing heroin and quitting a good job to do standup are both risks, but they're not quite the same thing (though Artie insists they're all related to his need to live on the edge).

Worse, there's less storytelling here than in the previous books.  For instance, Artie notes he lost a lot of money betting on the 1986 Boston Celtics.  He then riffs for eight pages on how ugly the team was.  I'm not denying they were an ugly team, maybe the ugliest of all, but that's not what I was reading the book for.  Maybe Lange can do that stuff in his act, but people who check out this book want to know about his life.  He also goes on the occasional political rant--it's sort of weird reading an unrepentant drug addict complaining how doctors and big pharma created the opioid crisis.

So it's a hard book to recommend.  By the way, I should note we left Artie in his last book clean and sober, with a new, understanding girlfriend.  Well, she's gone and the drugs are back--as are the drug-related arrests.  It makes you wonder if he'll be around long enough for a fourth book.