Joe Buck & Artie Lange: ‘It’s live TV, man.’
And now, with the colorful commentary... (Image by Getty via Daylife)
The buzz gods give, and the buzz gods taketh away…
HBO couldn’t have asked for a more auspicious and blogger-enticing episode of its new “Joe Buck Live” show last night — or, maybe it couldn’t have asked for a worse one.
The live sports discussion show (a replacement to the departed “Costas Now”) booked comedian and Howard Stern coattail-rider Artie Lange (“…because he was in town…” Buck later said by way of lame explanation) for a segment about celebrity and sports.
Instead, Lange did what any listener to Howard Stern’s satellite radio show would expect: he made crude and homophobic jokes, dropped some f-bombs and generally acted like he couldn’t care less about being on Buck’s show. (He also told a fairly amusing story about Buck’s dad, legendary sports broadcaster Jack Buck; so, you get the good with the bad.) You can see the Artie Lange-Joe Buck segment here (but hurry, HBO is yanking the videos down as fast as bloggers can put them up).
Lange’s performance isn’t much of a surprise — a joke or two lost amidst a huge pile of crap. What’s interesting is Buck’s reaction to it. The other panelists are seasoned comic actors and knew enough not to engage — when one joker is bombing, just stand clear of the shrapnel. But Buck is the host of the show — he had to say something and it was clear he didn’t really think this would happen. He tried to play along, but it was a tad uncomfortable.
“Do I think it went too far? Yes,” Buck was later quoted as saying. “Will he be back? If it’s up to me, no. But again it’s live TV man.”
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Joe Buck doesn’t want Artie Lange back on the show? Is he kidding?? I say sign him up, put him in a corner and just cut to him every now and then to see what he’s thinking. How can you invite Artie on the show and possibly be surprised by what happened? Plus, there’s the free publicity from the morning-after rehash on Howard Stern’s show, and the blog coverage.
Here’s the big question: Would anyone be talking about Joe Buck’s show today if not for Artie Lange?
If Randy Moss has been on the show, Joe Buck would have found the power to be truly outraged. Oh yes he would have. “That. Is. A disgusting act by Artie Lange!”