Artie Lange's Suicide Attempt Reveals Tragedy Behind Laughter

Artie Lange's suicide attempt brings up the larger issue of pain in the lives of comedians. It has been proven to be true that those that try to make us laugh too often have sad and even tragic lives. Artie Lange's suicide attempt focuses on the fact that those things he has historically made light of, his weight and drug addiction are really things that still hurt him. The suicide attempt by Artie Lange didn't kill him; he still has a chance at life.

Luchina Fisher has posted an article on ABC News titled "Artie Lange's Near Suicide Reveals Dark Side of Funny."

According to the article Lange, had a rough childhood in addition to the other problems.

It has been reported that Lange was bleeding heavily when brought to the hospital and it was no small feat that his life was saved by the surgeons.

Artie Lange is known for his role as Howard Stern's sideman and while this was going on he had missed the show.

This is an area that I am familiar with for a couple of reasons.

I used to write comedy. I wondered for a long time why it was that I wrote my funniest material when I played sad music. Somehow that melded my humorous thinking with the sad memories of my childhood.

Perhaps no illustration brings out the truth of "comedy covers grief" than that of Richard Pryor's life.

Richard Pryor was raised in my hometown of Peoria, Illinois. When he was growing up he lived in a "house of prostitution." He saw all the men, all the women, all the drugs and all of the violence that existed and as a result "escaped to humor."

However it is interesting and sad to note that he often was involved in self-destructive episodes in his life.

He came back to Peoria to film a movie "Jo Jo Dancer Your Life is Calling" in 1986 and I got a chance to meet him. He was almost shy.

We can only hope for the best for Artie Lange. He represents a group of people that are hard to reach.

References:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/howard-stern-sidekick-artie-langes-suicide-reveals-dark/story?id=9508209