Artie Lang

Personal life

Lange frequently discussed his on-again/off-again relationship with longtime girlfriend Dana Sironi after they began dating in early spring 2002. Most of the couple's problems stemmed from Lange's lifestyle. In mid-2006 Lange declared that the couple had officially broken up, for which Lange cited his heroin abuse as the primary reason, and claimed to have warned her that she would be "tortured" if they stayed together. However, Lange announced on an early November 2006 Stern Show that he and Sironi were again together to some extent, but that the situation was a mystery even to him. The couple broke up in early 2007, but began dating again in December 2007. On January 29, 2008, Vinnie Favale from The Late Show with David Letterman accidentally emailed Dana the itinerary for the night of Artie's appearance. The email contained the details of the reservations Vinnie made for Artie and three Penthouse Pets at a hotel and the Penthouse club. They have since parted ways.

Lange remains very close to his family, which includes his sister Stacie, a successful corporate fashion designer^[10], and his mother Judy, who retired in March 2007 from a secretarial career.^[11] He considers comedian George Carlin to be the all time greatest and jokingly said "it's easy to follow the funniest guy ever" when he appeared after Carlin as a guest during his first late night talk show appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.[1] Contrary to popular belief, he had not met comedians Norm MacDonald or David Spade prior to his making films with them (Dirty Work and Lost And Found respectively) though he has remained close friends with both in the years since.

Politically, he has said he does not consider himself to be a "liberal," though he supports abortion, gay rights (despite his notorious penchant for gay jokes) and unions since his time as a longshoreman. He has called President George W. Bush a "dolt" and voted for John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election. He initially supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but has since changed his mind. When documentarian Michael Moore visited The Howard Stern Show in 2007, Lange told him that he had changed some of his political opinions because of Moore's films.

He has indicated that his favorite band is The Who, he is also a devotee of Bruce Springsteen and AC/DC. His favorite book is A Confederacy of Dunces.

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