'Artie Lange Show' launches Monday; Nick Di Paolo mum

Friday January 11, 2013 5:00 PM By Chris Serico

Photo credit: Getty Images | Comedian Artie Lange attends Sirius XM Annual Celebrity Fantasy Football Draft at Hard Rock Cafe New York on July 19, 2012, in New York City.

"The Nick & Artie Show" appears to have been axed in favor of "The Artie Lange Show," and co-host Nick Di Paolo, a northern Westchester resident, isn't talking about the situation just yet.

A recent post on "The Nick & Artie Show's" Facebook page seems to confirm what fans had been wondering all week.

"You guys have been great detectives on trying to figure out what the new situation will be starting on Monday," reads the Facebook entry, posted earlier this afternoon. "Nick is pursuing some great opportunities and we are excited to announce the NEW Artie Lange Show."

With as much emphasis on humor and random tangents as it was on sports, "The Nick & Artie Show" aired on radio and the DirecTV cable system weeknights from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. It appears "The Artie Lange Show" will take that spot going forward.

This week, guest hosts had been filling in for Lange and Di Paolo, who were supposed to return from winter break Monday. On Dec. 24, Di Paolo even tweeted, "Have a great holiday everyone see you Jan 7," but neither he nor Lange was on the show this week. Since then, Di Paolo has tweeted just once, retweeting a fan's reference to one of his stand-up jokes.

Di Paolo told Newsday Westchester on Friday morning that he couldn't comment on the situation just yet.

Fans of "Nick & Artie" became even more suspicious shortly after Jan. 4, when the domain name "artielangeshow.com" was registered to someone under the name Ken Kohl. Someone by that name is the director of operations for the entertainment division of DirecTV, the television home of "The Nick & Artie Show." That website was "under construction and coming soon" as of Friday afternoon. A DirecTV listing for "The Artie Lange Show" appears on the cable company's website, and according to that listing, the first DirecTV episode of "The Artie Lange Show" is slated to air at 10 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 18.

Meanwhile, www.nickandartie.com was "closed for upgrades" on Friday afternoon, and slated to "return to service Jan. 14," the date of the purported "Artie Lange Show" launch.

Newsday Westchester's attempts to reach Lange on Friday were unsuccessful, but he did tweet the following on Tuesday: "Hey guys. The Nick & Artie Show is going threw some changes. All is well. See you back on air Monday January 14th. Thanks! Artie."

A Twitter account for "The Artie Lange Show," @ArtieLangeShow, already had amassed more than 14,000 followers as of Friday afternoon. The Twitter account for "The Nick & Artie Show," @NickAndArtie, had been shut down.

Lange is slated to headline Tarrytown Music Hall on March 23. Di Paolo headlined that venue on Nov. 10.

When Newsday Westchester interviewed Di Paolo in November, he raved about his co-host's talents but hinted at frustrating moments behind the scenes.

"Artie is so used to being on Stern for so many years, where they didn't have to watch the clock," Di Paolo said at the time. "He's so used to having people on for an hour without taking a break, but we can't do that, because we're on [some] terrestrial radio [stations]. So I try to keep it on track, and try to make it sound like a sports show, and Artie gets bored every three minutes and wants to take it off the tracks. That's been a challenge, but it's entertaining nonetheless."

Later in the same interview, Di Paolo added, "Me and Artie knew each other marginally, for years, and always in good times. And then next thing you know, you're thrown together every night, and it's like an arranged marriage. He'll definitely say a lot of stuff he doesn't like about me, and we butt heads here and there, but they're growing pains. ... We don't try to hide that [stuff]. That's what makes the show so great, warts and all."

What do you make of all this? Will you watch or listen to "The Artie Lange Show"? Vote in Newsday Westchester's poll and leave your comments below.

Tags: Westchester , Nick Di Paolo , Artie Lange , TV , radio , comedy , Nick and Artie Show , Artie Lange Show