Artie Lange's Podcast Channel - Letters to Artie - Episode 1

Episode Date: November 19, 2020

Artie discusses his journey over the past 18 months.  Topics range  from addiction to jail to stand-up comedy to recovery and he also answers fan emails. 

This is Artie's manager, Tommy. And I sat down and recorded this episode with Artie at his kitchen table so that we could put out where he's been lately and what he's been doing. And what ended coming of that conversation were some letters from fans that I read to Artie and that he responded to. And it's the kind of thing that was good for him and that we think will be good for listeners. And hopefully we'll do again in the future. If you enjoy the episode,

please make sure to comment and to share, and we'll try and do it again next week. Have you talked at all about being in jail? Not really, no. It wasn't that bad of an experience. It was a time to get my head straight and stuff like that and get ready to go into whatever else you wanted me to do rehab-wise. But you weren't in Gen Pop.

No, no, which is you know because i guess you know if you generate any sort of public attention they don't do that yeah but it's uh you know it's it's it's uh it's protective custody is what they call it or um uh you know uh solitary right um and uh how long how I mean, it's not 24 seven, but You're locked up 23 hours a day and you get an hour out to maybe exercise a little bit, but I didn't, you know, I did like a month. Okay. I've done a total of about two months, but you did a month, you know, 18 months ago in, for lack of a better term,

solitary confinement 23 hours a day right right i imagine at the same time nobody's feeding you medication nobody's feeding you drugs so no that was a big deal that was uh i had to you know kick drugs on on the floor to the jail you know paint that picture for me if i'm a fly on the wall and I'm looking in an Artie Lang cell And solitary What do I see? You see me curled up in a ball in the corner probably And you know really just Out of my mind

Yelling and screaming But the guards were cool to me They You know kept me hydrated And You know It's just a terrible, because you go through all the mental stuff too,

not just the physical stuff. The mental stuff comes back as well. Like what? Well, you know, just the regrets that you have and things that you wish you hadn't done because of drugs, you know, and how lucky you are that no one got really hurt physically or i'm not really hurt physically or in it and uh it didn't get any worse than it was you know but there's not there's not more to it than that there's not a uh

you know if i hadn't been pulled over if i hadn't you know there's not you know i could still keep i don't imagine that your mindset changes in a moment when the, or maybe it does when the door gets closed behind you, but where you go, you know, I, I still should have been able to keep living my life the way I wanted to live without people telling me what I can. You had your heads all cluttered with stuff at that point. You know, you don't know what to, you know, you know,

you want to make sure you get a glass of water first and then, you know, get into it. You've wrecked yourself, essentially, and you've got to repair yourself somehow. And there's a lot of people going through it, a lot of young people going through it that I see, and a lot of them, you know, see what I've done in life and they think it's cool, they think it's this, they think that. But, you know

something has to be done about the fact that so many people are going through this and you know it's a bad time it's a bad time fentanyl and people are

I went to rehab uh last year with um uh let's see uh about 40 guys were in the rehab with me eight of them were dead wow eight of them were dead that i can that i know of And this is not ancient history. This is 18 months. Yeah. Wow. So stay on this timeline with me. So you're 28 days in protective custody, if you will, or 23 hours.

And then I go to a halfway house they sent me to for three and a half months, which was, you know, an interesting experience. And three and a half months, which was, you know, interesting experience. And there were a lot of, again, younger guys and, you know,

their job is to get them halfway through into the world. And again, I had, I had the fact that I had a home to come back to. And, and like you say, like amazing fans that I'm treating me very well. But,

you know, a lot of these guys have nothing. And, you know, you become close with them. You see what happens. A couple of those guys are dead. You know, it's mind-boggling to think back of what's happened. I'm 53 years old. You know, kind of a miracle that I'm alive.

But the biggest message I have to younger people, it's just heartbreaking when I think of the younger people that I've seen who already seem hopeless, and they're not. They don't have to be. There's definitely a way out of this. If, if, if they put their mind to it and, and, and start doing the right thing, it's, it's, it's not, it doesn't have to be hopeless is the message I have for these,

these younger guys, you know, and with, with this, with this podcast, I started, you know, a while back and took a break with. And, you know, I go back and forth. And that's the good thing about podcasts. You can sort of do it on your own level, your own timeframe. I wanted to have that message for those people. Yeah. I wanted to let them know that don't give up because that's when it's over.

You see some people have given up already in their eyes. They don't know why. Because the other thing is I never went through a case where I had to steal for my drugs. Sure. I made money. And that's why I don't judge these people. That's just not my story. They had to steal to get the drugs,

and that creates a whole other level of crime and hell that you're in. And what you got to do is somehow come out of the haze. And that's why getting arrested can be the greatest thing that could happen to you. In a lot of ways, I thought my luck ran out when I got arrested. My luck might have just been beginning. And, you know, something locks you away from the drugs long enough to get off them physically and then you um well let's be honest i mean the temptation never goes away does it well it gets better yeah sure because because you time gets in between you and the last hit or whatever, and it gets better. But you always have it in your head.

You know, there's a guy, Charlie Parker, this old saxophonist, a legendary genius saxophonist from the 40s, who has a quote about heroin where he says, they can get it out of your body, but they can't get it out of your brain. You know, you get over the physical controls, but that's when the real work starts when you psychoanalyze yourself and you start to go, you know, why am I that guy who ended up, after all this success, not being able to stop.

Sure. Wanting more, to stop sure wanting more wanting more wanting more and uh and somehow not dying young like a lot of colleagues i had because there are a lot of comics too who are having worse endings than me sure you know they're dead look i know a lot of those guys i talked to guys and oh how old is already already 52 and they can't believe it they can't believe 53 53 excuse me uh not only the things that you've done but but that that uh you're still young all things can well you may not view it that way right you're you you still got 20 25 years in front of you if you want it right uh there's things i realize now about my life and about me that i i wish i would have gotten when I was.

Some of these kids have a chance. They would tell me, you know, like you have a lot going on still. And, you know, you have these fans because my fans are the most loyal people in the world. And I love them and they're caring. And there's people like you in my life who came back, who uh genuine and good at what you do in in the comedy world friends like david tell and russman eve and all these guys uh in the in the comedy world who are genuine friends uh who you meet friends from your past you could have them but it it's it's about it's about changing uh the people you know the the people you know,

the bad people you know, and work on a program. But I would tell these young kids, I would say, you have this going on for you. I said, you know, you have it better than me in a lot of ways. And they'd say, why? I'd say, because you're 23. You're 23. I mean, think about how young that is.

Think about people say, oh, he's 53. He's young, but I mean, that's still, you know, look. Well, you just said, what is it? Eight of the 40 guys you were in the rehab with died? Dead, yeah. How many of them were older than you? None. How about that? None.

That's, you know, that's a good question. I never thought about it that way. There's not one guy who was older than me. Wait, wait. One guy might've been in his late fifties. These are not bad people. Most of them, they're just, they're just troubled. And a lot of them in some ways never had a shot with the backgrounds they had.

28 days in, in, in jail, uh, by yourself, 23 hours a day of those 28 days. get a lot of thinking done and then you're into the you're into rehab uh and rehab is you and three other guys and then you get out of rehab and you're back to work right is it too soon yes and i that that's part of the reason i i i pulled back and stopped um i never had a relapse since last year but i i you know a lot of people wondered about that i'm sure but i just i just pulled the plug on everything just because i was afraid i don't know what was gonna happen sure you know because it was moving too fast again and that's that's a mature decision i made that i never would have made before in my life at what point did you realize that because i think i know at what point it's you started to show the cracks a little bit

and not in a way not in a relapse kind of a way, but just in a, Hey, the noise is back. And then those things that drove me originally to, you know, escape are, are, you know, infiltrating back into my life again. Right. So what, in your mind, when do you think that was? A kid I knew died who I met in rehab, who was someone I, I became a real friend with. And when he passed away, that hurt. That was a sort of demarcation part for me where I was like, you know,

it's hard to get close to anybody that you meet in those situations because something might happen to them. And it made me go, well was he was doing well yeah he was doing well and then it uh and so you gotta sometimes you need time does part of that make you wonder not that you ever have this intention but if you were to use again somewhere down the line uh if that's what would happen to you? Sure. Absolutely. You got to, because part of the other thing,

a lot of addicts happen, they think they're invincible. Nothing's going to happen to me. They don't care what happens to them. And I went through both of those stages. But, you know, you got to realize at some point, you're not Superman. We're in january you're touring kid that you went through rehab with passes away and you could tell uh you're affected a couple more weeks of touring into february and then you kind of pulled back as you said um i hear this term anxiety right sure so i've spoken to you i've

got anxiety or or you know your mother or whomever you know already got anxiety i can't and i think maybe some of the listeners are the same i've never had anxiety right right i can't rationalize with what that is help me understand anxiety a big part of me was physically, you know, being away from, from drugs and dealing with whatever, just, just all like it's basically the way you put it, the noise in life and how you deal with it, how you quiet that noise. And it could be anything for a lot of people. It could be something simple in life, like just a kid's soccer game.

They got to get to, or something like that. But for me, I made life complicated. And I always dealt with it through dope or whatever or some kind of pill or drinking and work. And when I started to get afraid of even the work, like I cut out all the drugs and stuff. And I said, the other way I dealt with it was my work, my comedy and then the fans and everything like that. And the affection you get from them,

because that's a big deal. That's something that you go through where you go, do I deserve this? Because a lot of these are great people. They're saying, we love you, love this. Do you? No. No. I don't feel I deserve the love of a lot of these people. And do you? No, no.

I don't feel I deserve the love of a lot of these people. Why do you think that you're loved? For the same reason I'm hated by a lot of people. Honesty, you know, I think genuine and being flawed. Look, I mean, there's nothing that you really have to be jealous of me about. People relate to me, I guess, because I'm sort of this lucky loser type guy. And the fact that I'm honest about it. Without question, you're beloved by the fans.

As you said, you know, some who do and some who don't but it's overwhelming the amount of people who've been writing you for the last year 18 months either they saw the interview on joe rogan and it made them feel or think something or saw uh saw you live or something else so i printed out a couple of these. I want to read them and use this platform for you to be able to respond to your fans and to the people who either have questions or problems or support in that way. And I won't use full names, obviously. And I won't use full names, obviously. Artie, this is from Al. Artie, you are inspirational.

I have seven spine surgeries and have been off and on pain meds, so I know much of the struggle. I just had nine-level fusion in July and trying to get off oxycodone right now. I've detoxed at home cold turkey over 30 times in the last 18 years. Big deal because I'm behind the eight ball again right now. The sad thing is the pain meds don't even work at all anymore, so I don't even feel the effects of the opiates. I just get sick when I take them. So the cycle repeats itself over and over.

It's just insane. My back pain has made me contemplate suicide often, and now I can't even go to the hospital for pain relief because the opiate crisis has fucked up everything. Doctors tell me that they can't help me. I'm trying to figure out if I should ask for help or just jump off the train one last time. I don't know if I have the strength to go through the withdrawals again.

My guess is that you feel the same. Good luck, buddy. You were unbelievable in crashing. I'm rooting for you. Let's face it. The pills, et cetera, are not that great at this point. You got the straight edge now. So enjoy life because you're super talented and you can do whatever you want because you're a fucking strong bastard.

Al wrote that in October. Well, there's a perfect example. That guy says I'm inspirational. He's inspirational to me. I mean, seven spine surgeries. My father was a quadriplegic, and the spine is nothing to fuck with. See, again, that's where the opiate crisis, people don't know what to do. The doctors don't know what to do.

They tie their hands. There should be someone in the world to put their arms around that guy and say, you know, you don't have to jump off the bridge. And please don't, Al. But yeah, you get to the point where they don't work anymore and then you think about intervening with drugs and that's just a dance you don't want to do.

And when the doctors say they can't help you, that's where... Look, if there's anything... I'm not as strong a guy as that guy is. And if he thinks I am, it's wrong. He's strong and he should stay strong. If there's anything I've ever done that's inspired that guy to do something positive, it's probably the most important thing I'll ever do. But stay good, man. You know, it's the fact that he could take the time to write a letter like that going through that hell.

It means a lot to me, you know. Dear Artie, my name is Miles. I interviewed you backstage at Caroline's five years ago when I was 15. I'm 20 now. I'm going to college for broadcasting. It feels like an expensive waste of time, but that's okay. I don't know if you check your email, but I've been watching your Halfway House podcast online, and I can't stress enough how great it is to see you looking happy and healthy.

You told me the night I interviewed you that if I ever got into heroin, you'd come find me, and luckily, I have never used heroin. As I've gotten older, however, I've certainly been faced with my share of depression. I'm in a bit of a tough place right now in that regard, and keeping up with you and your show is a true moment of light in dark times. I'm sure you can understand. You look the happiest you've been publicly in years. I can't imagine how difficult though the fight is for you. And I just want you to know I'm rooting for you harder than I've ever rooted for anyone. Sincerely, Miles. So, yeah, I remember that kid. Yeah. I told him if he ever got into heroin, I'd find him because I wanted to buy heroin from him. You make jokes like that. So even stuff like

that, like where I just, we do willy nilly, I think, should I make a joke like that? Like, that's my life. You know, you make jokes. Well, I set it up for Miles to connect with you and he's on the line. Hey Artie, it's so great to hear you and talk to you. I appreciate you guys having me on. Yeah, no problem, buddy. But the line that kind, Artie. It's so great to hear you and talk to you. I appreciate you guys having me on. Yeah, no problem, buddy. But the line that kind of stuck with me in his letter is that I've faced my share of depression. And this letter was from earlier this year, and he's feeling great, feeling better now. And I know, obviously, you have experience with that, maybe between you and him or him.

How do you, how do you pull yourself back up? Well, I don't know. It's the first thing you're used to. You're in college now, huh? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, I'm going to school in Boston right now. Okay. And, um, you,

uh, yeah, I mean, again, when you say depression, it's, it's, uh,

when someone like young says it, you get, you get like, you get worried, especially nowadays. But you're doing all right? Yeah, well, you know, I can go into it a little bit. You know, I've never been suicidal. And that's the big thing. You know, suicides run in my family.

So I'm always weary of that and careful of that. But for me, it was OCD. I mean, OCD kicked my ass. And I ended up finding out later that it was actually, it had to do with Lyme disease and, and they got me on the right stuff. And, you know, I kind of pulled myself out of it, but you know you have just been, I've gone to you as somebody to, to pull myself out of shit my entire life since I was 13 and started listening to you, you know, old clips of Stern. So, I mean, to answer the question from Tommy, how do you pull yourself out? I mean, someone like Artie

really does help. This kind of thing is fantastic. I mean, I think you could be the future Dr. Laura. I'm not even. Yeah, thank you. Hey, Miles, if you would, you know, after the call, obviously, if there's any projects you're working on, I know you said you're doing broadcast or anything you want us to share. We want to want to make sure to do that. So make sure to send those. I appreciate that. Thanks. Hey, thanks for supporting Artie, man. Really appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. Hey, Miles, thanks for calling. Thanks for letting me know you're doing OK. It means a lot to me too, buddy. And keep up the good work, all right?

Yeah, Artie, I'll say this real quick. When I met you, the thing that stuck out with me that you said to me is, you know, never do heroin, kid. I'll find you if you ever do heroin. And I took your advice. I've never gotten into any of that shit. Good. I didn't give you the same advice, so, you know, maybe it's my fault, but,

but you know I really just, you're the greatest. So thank you so much. Thanks a lot, Miles. I appreciate it, buddy. Yeah. All right. Thanks, Miles. All right. Thanks guys. Let's see here. Long story short, financial hardship, I'm about $7,500 short on my mother's bills. Will you help me out? So there's that one. Maybe in the old days, brother.

Yeah. I wish you luck though. Let's see here. My addiction was Coke and crystal meth. Constant user for five years. Good news is I've been sober for about eight months. You're a good man. Inspirational.

Old hick boy from Kentucky. Oh, yeah. Meth is that's something I never really did. That's another whole world really did. That does. That's another whole world. And they, you know, obviously they just,

they keep coming and coming, but here's one that I wanted to, I wanted to ask you about because this goes to families who are around people who are suffering with addiction. So this woman writes, I won't read her name, but hi, Artie.

My husband's been a fan of you for as long as I've known him. Uh, he's basically dwindled away to a shell of the person that I first met. Uh, when I stop in and visit with him, we're separated at the moment. He's, you know, listening to your clips, uh, on Howard or watching dirty work. Uh, and basically that's the only time I see him that he's happy, uh, other than when he's doing drugs. Um, you know, and she writes on obviously about, uh, other than when he's doing drugs. You know, and she writes on obviously about sharing updates and things of that sort. But somebody who feels like they've

lost this person closest to them. What should they do? How do you advise them to handle that person? Well, I don't know. Again, that's a tough road to walk down because then you see the families right when you go to rehab you see a visitation day and you see the families what they go through and you go at what point do you cut it off and go i gotta i gotta get loose of this this adam bomb i'm attached to everybody's different is the answer like she she knows this guy i don't sure maybe there's something she sees in him where there is hope and it sounds like there might be yeah i hope there is it's just it's heartbreaking you know uh but she's also got to be selfish you know that that's the

hardest part to teach the families that's why this whole it's a whole business on different levels that addiction has created, where there's Al-Anon, which deals with the families of addicts, because they need, you know, all this comfort and this attention. And the great thing about a 12-step program is that, that's why I suggested this woman to look into it, an Al-Anon type of thing, is it's, they don't want anything from you. These people I've met in the 12 step programs, if they're really working the 12 step of AA or NA, uh, they, um,

they want to, they feel helping other people helps them. And that's all they want from it. They don't want any money from you. They don't want any, they're not part of that noise. They don't want to be part of that noise. Sure. But they can, they want to help you. But you're, obviously, your family, mother, sister, and people around there, they, I'm sure, numerous times have tried to break through to you

or connect with you. Is there a point at which nothing's going to get through to you, just wrong place, wrong time? Well, you hope that, you know, like the day I got arrested could have been the day I died. So you got to hope that the day something happens, the day something happens that changes you, either permanently, like you're in the ground or, or, you know, get locked up or,

or having some sort of the, the best way to do it is have some sort of, uh, enlightenment mentally, uh, spiritually. That's the big thing. Spirituality is a big part of this 12 step board,

not God stuff, higher power stuff that that's where they teach you the spiritual part of it. Having a spiritual awakening. What is that? And, they teach you the spiritual part of it, having a spiritual awakening. What is that? And I've had versions of it, but you meet people who really have had it and you go, wow, that's, that's amazing. But I've had it more than I ever had in my life in the last couple of years, because you can think clearly. You hope that when that day happens, you're not dead, because that's the, that's the only time where it's really over. And then you go on. You go on. And hopefully, some people you, you know, you're never going

to get back as friends. I'll do one more with you here. One more letter. Again, supportive, unbelievable supportive. Artie, hope all as well. Uh, in the summer of 2014, I just started my job in news media. I lived across the street from the comedy seller and fat black pussycat on Western and Greenwich village, the apartment above the ACE hardware. Uh, anyway, I look out my window and I could see already chain smoking across the street. I'm like, no shit.

Maybe he has some advice he could give me to navigate the media world. So I go over and strike up a conversation, rip a cig with him, ask him straight up, what's some advice you can give me? And Artie said, follow your dreams and never give up. And I said, you know, is that all? And he said, no, the most important thing you can do in life is never buy cocaine from hookers because they'll blow it all. anyway so we laughed he finished his cigarette shook my hand and said it was great meetings and since that day in 2014 i've used his advice never give up on follow my dream and since then i've become pretty successful in my career so uh i want to say thank you already uh it's been great best uh peter yeah well i have

to beat i'm glad you're doing good the The hooker thing, remember that too. Never, never, never go back on that advice. It is amazing how, again, this was your idea to do this. And I, at first, I was like leery of reading the letters or something like that. But because you never know what somebody shares in that intimate way. But it is amazing how there's so many people around you in this world and you never know who's looked and who's watching, um, and who, uh, who's good, who's bad, who's, who's, who's got a future who doesn't, uh, I would just say, be one of those people that has a future, you know, and, uh, and, um, you know, never giving up as a big part of it too. Wow. You don't know, you don't know just the chance encounter that you may have had. I mean, think of it this way. People have their Mickey Mantle stories, right?

The first time my father brought me in the Yankee Stadium, Mickey Mantle, et cetera. I wonder, you know, somebody you spent five minutes with at the backstage at Caroline's that five years later you could affect them in a positive way when depression becomes introduced into their life. I mean, it's amazing. It's just... My uncle was like that with Mickey Mantle. I mean, it's, it's, uh, it's amazing.

It's just, uh, my uncle was like that with Mickey Mantle. It's funny. I think it's my uncle Bruce, uncle Bruce, my uncle, my uncle Tommy. Uh,

my, my other uncle Tommy was a, uh, a cop in the Bronx in the sixties. Right. And he got them in to see the locker room once. And I think it was my uncle, my uncle Bruce.

And, uh, he got a chance to, uh, ask Mickey Mantle for an autograph or something. And Mickey Mantle just came and looked like, get the fuck away from me and walked away. And, you know, it's something he, you know, he was a kid and he's a stronger person than I, so he never did drugs over it.

Think about how silly that would be to get high. Think about how silly that would be to ruin your life over something like that. But some people take it that seriously. Yeah, yeah. And you have people like that. You have people, these trolls on social media oh my god you know the uh wannabes or i don't view that as a negative term they just don't have anything uniquely genuine themselves necessarily to offer but there are people like that and and why you would want we only have as you well know we only have a finite amount of time on this planet why you'd want to

spend your time just following and trolling and destroying somebody else is beyond me. Technology offers you the perfect way to do that. But, you know, that's a little scary. The other part of jail, it's a big

thing is, and just really think about this, guys, if you're out there doing something wrong that could send you to jail, think about this part of it. You know, you, what really kicked in with me after physically, I got over the withdrawals, which took a few days, and I'm sitting there, I feel better, I finally get a shower in. And like I said, the guards were all cool and helpful. But you know, you, you think about sitting in that jail cell, sitting in that fucking jail cell, especially when,

I mean, I was someone in life when my younger years had a lot of ambition, didn't want to waste time. Part of not going to college was, you know, there wasn't any money and my father fell.

It's a long story, but I don't know why I want that shit you're getting into, but nothing bad happened because anybody but me. And I had a lot of the wow wow shit you get into but nothing bad happened because anybody but me um and i had a lot of opportunities other people don't have just by living and being healthy but you know so i never wanted to waste time i wanted to get right into life i even thought college was a waste of fucking time uh for being a comedian who needed to live life you learn you get experiences you get stories and you get on stage and tell them.

So when you think of the time you waste in that jail cell, because rehab can be a waste of time, but it doesn't have to be. Rehab's hard. You got to work to get out and graduate these places and their programs that they develop specifically for it. So that's not a waste of time, but, but jail that is, that's just, I mean, time's going by out there and you're just sitting there and it's, you know, so really think about that part of it is, is, is, do you want to be sitting in that jail cell at any age, looking out a small

window for any, it could be a, I mean, look, I've already done any time compared to people, you know, these are nothing. I mean, people do solitary confinement forever. You know, some of these, these terrorists, these, these idiots up in Boston, like those two brothers, like one kid woke up alive and now he's going to be in his, you know, what, what, what, or it could be for something you drink in your drive and you change your life. That could be 10 years of that shit. You know, uh, what I'm saying is what I noticed even in the small amount of time I had in

there was the waste of time. And that's what I would get into these people's heads is don't waste any more time because drugs are a waste of time. They're a big waste of time. Good. Well, we'll, you know, if you have a thought, positive, negative, a letter, you can send it to Artie through the website arty at arty quitter dot com um you can catch all of the episodes of arty lang's halfway house you can catch now

almost 400 back episodes of the arty quitter podcast yeah that's like and those weren't our shows we would do like before i realized what podcasting was about uh you know our hits because nobody really wants to listen to you for four hours. But I come from the Howard Stern School of Broadcasting. You know, there's like 800 hours of stuff that we have the rights to. It's unbelievable. So I've been uploading them and listening. And besides that, I mean, you have shows from the green room

at the Tonight Show where Jimmy Fallon walks in the door. You've got episodes where, you know, you're here in the apartment or people on the phone, just some really amazing stuff. But you don't sound anywhere near as good in any one of those episodes as you sounded sitting here today. It's just to hear the difference in you is fantastic. Well, this was something that was Tom's idea to talk about the letters and the anxiety and really have a real serious episode without a lot of the jokes and stuff and just say what the fans mean

to me and how I realized that the mistakes I've made has affected some people and I just pray that people can keep on living. When these guys guys you know I've known a lot of comics who have died you know the question you asked before was a great one of you know who

do you relate to more the comedians you met or these guys you know from jail and rehab and stuff and I'll tell you what the guys that the comedians I've known who have passed away I'm not as affected in a sad way by them As I am by the kids I've met in jail

Because those guys did have a life Those comics A lot of them saw a lot of great things Had their fun Made some money Saw success Saw some dreams come true And then it went away

Could you say life is shorter than you think? But the ones from jail are harder because just as good people and guys that I got to love, and they never had a chance to have any of that. Yeah. They never had a chance to see any of that flourish. Just sad because it didn't have to be that way. Right. No, absolutely not

and again you think of the at the very end when you start to think of the time you waste it's it's it's a hard thing to get out of um but we'll get back you know again we're getting back into this now at at this pace and um i'll be here uh the fun will start again this was a special episode we wanted to get done i'm glad we did i i thought about it for a while and i'm glad we did you know we'll try and do this once a week or so if you want to send a letter to arty you can do that through his website at artyquitter.com that's artyquitter.com you can catch every episode of arty lang's halfway house and the arty quitter podcast on the new platform, thecomicsgym.com and make sure to

monitor Artie's website for his touring dates when he is back out and on the road. This has been Letters to Artie, Episode 1. Hopefully we'll do it again next week.