Brent Stover just tipped off he may be the Nick replacement.

[TakeRicola]

If you remove the first and last letter of his name he becomes rent stove hihih

[IlluminatiJones]

Good conspiracy. Well....decent at least. My theory is that one of the hosts is using heroin so the other host walked away from the show. I won't reveal which one though...though you're probably smart enough to figure it out on your own.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to piss in a trash bin, and then get arrested in Paris. I also should mention that I have the flu. I'm sober. I swear.

Nick would have campaigned for Obama before quitting the show. He's making, in 3 years, more than he'd made in the previous 10, and without having to hump it back and forth across the country................and all the depressing crap that goes along with that.

Ever catch the show when they have another comedian on, and how seething with jealousy they all are? They're all really knocked out by the studio, and you can just hear in their voices how much they would love to land a job like that, because they know what a plum gig it is/was.

There is 0.0 chance Nick quit.

And I don't think Artie got him fired.

I think he was fired based on some kind of research/ratings/testings/etc., where it became clear that he just wasn't liked, and that not only were people not tuning in for him, they were tuning out because of him.

[Gunnar]

Nick would have campaigned for Obama before quitting the show. He's making, in 3 years, more than he'd made in the previous 10, and without having to hump it back and forth across the country................and all the depressing crap that goes along with that.

Ever catch the show when they have another comedian on, and how seething with jealousy they all are? They're all really knocked out by the studio, and you can just hear in their voices how much they would love to land a job like that, because they know what a plum gig it is/was.

There is 0.0 chance Nick quit.

And I don't think Artie got him fired.

I think he was fired based on some kind of research/ratings/testings/etc., where it became clear that he just wasn't liked, and that not only were people not tuning in for him, they were tuning out because of him.

Damn it, I am still a big fan of Nick (on the N&A Show).

But you, and recently mpa, are making some good points.

I do not think this was something "spur of the moment", if Nick is really gone. I can deal with losing Nick if it was just business. However, I think it is a mistake to let him go. Go listen to the fall 2011 shows. Nick is always good for laughs that must be made out loud.

I am still hoping they (DirectTV) gave the dudes another week off, renamed the show "The Artie Lange Show", are taking the pressure off Nick to manage the show (i.e., Artie which can not be done), and Nick is back just to break balls, create radio magic and let Artie carry the load (by having his name on the show).


G. "Just Waiting Like The Rest Of You"

[cigar]

I can imagine someone higher up with a more liberal outlook never really liked Nick to begin with. The show is a little less rambunctious since last year and they've talked about how they were told to stay away from certain topics. Still, it's anybody's guess.

Stover is okay, but I did like the Nick/Artie comedian dynamic. If anything, just get Brian Jones liquored up and throw him on every night.

[Greekfreak]

Nick would have campaigned for Obama before quitting the show. He's making, in 3 years, more than he'd made in the previous 10, and without having to hump it back and forth across the country................and all the depressing crap that goes along with that.

Ever catch the show when they have another comedian on, and how seething with jealousy they all are? They're all really knocked out by the studio, and you can just hear in their voices how much they would love to land a job like that, because they know what a plum gig it is/was.

There is 0.0 chance Nick quit.

And I don't think Artie got him fired.

I think he was fired based on some kind of research/ratings/testings/etc., where it became clear that he just wasn't liked, and that not only were people not tuning in for him, they were tuning out because of him.

I think you hit the nail on the head--but Nick definitely became more "straightlaced" when they started filming the show. You could see there wasn't an ounce of relaxation in his body during the broadcasts. He's also flatly unlikable, which won't increase your appeal to the masses.

It had to gnaw at him: Artie would do a shitty set of stand-up and get 40-50K a night, while (and Nick being a much better stand-up) Nick's lucky to get between 7,500-10,000 a night, and they're co-hosting a show. I think he let himself believe that they were in fact equals, but then Artie would do crap that would either jeopardize the gig for both of them, or else outshine him on the show. Nick should have kept his mouth shut and rode the Artie gravy train into the grave. Artie would gladly have done it, too.

Someone else on here said Nick fucked himself, the more I think about it, the more I agree. We'll never know what was said off the air. But first chance I get through, I'm gonna ask Artie flat out what happened, and if he's at least able to talk about it legally.

[IlluminatiJones]

I think you hit the nail on the head--but Nick definitely became more "straightlaced" when they started filming the show. You could see there wasn't an ounce of relaxation in his body during the broadcasts. He's also flatly unlikable, which won't increase your appeal to the masses.

It had to gnaw at him: Artie would do a shitty set of stand-up and get 40-50K a night, while (and Nick being a much better stand-up) Nick's lucky to get between 7,500-10,000 a night, and they're co-hosting a show. I think he let himself believe that they were in fact equals, but then Artie would do crap that would either jeopardize the gig for both of them, or else outshine him on the show. Nick should have kept his mouth shut and rode the Artie gravy train into the grave. Artie would gladly have done it, too.

Someone else on here said Nick fucked himself, the more I think about it, the more I agree. We'll never know what was said off the air. But first chance I get through, I'm gonna ask Artie flat out what happened, and if he's at least able to talk about it legally.

Yeah, it must suck being the less talented but much more dependable one of a duo, but them's the breaks!

Nick, like you said, should have been grateful just to be along for the ride. But instead, his sense of entitlement seemed to grow as the show went on, as his gratitude seemed to diminish.

What makes Nick such a jerk-off is in not giving Artie props for being the draw, and the inability to see his own place in the grand scheme of things.

I'm sure Nick thinks that Artie only got those huge stand-up paydays because of the Stern show...........................which is obviously correct..........................but I'm equally sure Nick didn't really see or acknowledge what Artie was to the Stern show. He held that fucking thing up for a decade! That's no small feat, and Nick can't point to doing anything close to that, but I'm sure Nick has it down to luck, "the breaks", "politics", or any one of a dozen other excuses.

pure speculation, but that's how Nick comes came across to me. He'd get his moobs in a wringer every time Artie mentioned his time on the Stern show.....................would actually get angry at Artie about it.........................................but he brought up his playing days at Maine almost daily.

Artie eventually dropped the hammer on him for it, saying something like "sorry I was on the greatest radio show of all time and I'm proud of that fact!".

Nick's obviously a bit of a hot-head, and a prickly pear to boot. So if he got sat down and was shown some cold, hard data on just how unlikable he was........................and how likable Artie was.............................I'm sure he reacted extremely poorly in that situation. So yeah, I could definitely see him fucking himself.

He's another one, like Jackie, who seems completely confounded by the concept of "leverage".

[TelegramSam]

I don't want to get off topic, but Jackie's problem was that he thought he was negotiating with the station/Tom, but he was really negotiating with Howard and he/we didn't find out until years later. He could have had all the leverage, wouldn't have mattered, Howard wasn't handing over one red cent of syndication money.

I really think we'll never know, most likely. They usually pay hush money when someone is fired, the only way you'll hear from Nick is if he quit, or the statute of limitations runs out (and they can be really long; Huey Lewis sued a guy for plagiarism in the 80s, and just now talked about it, and was sued by the guy for violating their non-disclosure agreement).

[Mugsysam]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Artie won't be the only one nodding off if this is true.

[TakeRicola]

I just listened through the first part of the show with Brent and Artie. Interestingly Artie commented on his own hosting skills, here’s a direct quote:

“Uhh, I guess we should take a break right, yea? Is that true? I’m just, look… um.. okay eh, Brent’s gonna be.. By the way, I just opened the show, Brent is gonna… good news, Brent is gonna host the show cus’ I have absolutely… I’m a horrible host, unless I have a virus, then I’m a great host, according to.. According to my doctor.”

[Greekfreak]

I just listened through the first part of the show with Brent and Artie. Interestingly Artie commented on his own hosting skills, here’s a direct quote:

“Uhh, I guess we should take a break right, yea? Is that true? I’m just, look… um.. okay eh, Brent’s gonna be.. By the way, I just opened the show, Brent is gonna… good news, Brent is gonna host the show cus’ I have absolutely… I’m a horrible host, unless I have a virus, then I’m a great host, according to.. According to my doctor.”

I'm going to presume that the higher-ups have figured out how to just program the show, let Artie know who's coming on, tell him, and let shit FLY. It's radio gold when he's on his game.

[Greekfreak]

Yeah, it must suck being the less talented but much more dependable one of a duo, but them's the breaks!

Nick, like you said, should have been grateful just to be along for the ride. But instead, his sense of entitlement seemed to grow as the show went on, as his gratitude seemed to diminish.

What makes Nick such a jerk-off is in not giving Artie props for being the draw, and the inability to see his own place in the grand scheme of things.

I'm sure Nick thinks that Artie only got those huge stand-up paydays because of the Stern show...........................which is obviously correct..........................but I'm equally sure Nick didn't really see or acknowledge what Artie was to the Stern show. He held that fucking thing up for a decade! That's no small feat, and Nick can't point to doing anything close to that, but I'm sure Nick has it down to luck, "the breaks", "politics", or any one of a dozen other excuses.

pure speculation, but that's how Nick comes came across to me. He'd get his moobs in a wringer every time Artie mentioned his time on the Stern show.....................would actually get angry at Artie about it.........................................but he brought up his playing days at Maine almost daily.

Artie eventually dropped the hammer on him for it, saying something like "sorry I was on the greatest radio show of all time and I'm proud of that fact!".

Nick's obviously a bit of a hot-head, and a prickly pear to boot. So if he got sat down and was shown some cold, hard data on just how unlikable he was........................and how likable Artie was.............................I'm sure he reacted extremely poorly in that situation. So yeah, I could definitely see him fucking himself.

He's another one, like Jackie, who seems completely confounded by the concept of "leverage".

The main difference being: Jackie overestimated his worth, and Howard underestimated it. It took the departure of Artie from the show for most people (myself included) to realize both.

In this case, Nick overestimated his value to the show and really should have hitched his wagon to the Artie train, however long it would have run. I don't think anybody would have faulted him for that. After the fact he could have done interview after interview about how "Artie was a grown man, he knew what he was doing..." and he would have gone scot free. But in fact, I think it's all about Nick's passive-aggressive resentment about Artie's popularity (which he underestimated) and how valuable Nick thought he was to the company. I don't think for a minute that he quit because of Artie's addictions.

[Brew]

...I don't think for a minute that he quit because of Artie's addictions.

I think it's highly possible that Nick left because of Artie's addiction. I think that no one knows what Nick saw behind the scenes or what he may have had to deal with. Artie was trying to be as professional as he could, but still signs of his addiction came through on the air. Think about what was going on off the air. What the public sees is obviously only the tip of the iceberg. Also, why would they fire Nick? I don't buy the low ratings for Nick argument. For the record, I'm not a fan of Nick's, although I do think he's funny at times. But, if they saw Nick being awful when Artie wasn't there as the reason to fire him, then who are they gonna bring in? Someone who's equally as talented as Artie? The point is that, if they knew Artie was the draw, then why would they care how bad Nick was on his own? He did his job, which was to keep the show going while Artie provided most of the entertainment. I think Nick was getting upset that Artie was messing up, not showing up, etc., and it made his job harder (Gilbert Gottfried interview is a good example) and probably saw it as only getting worse. He probably confronted Artie. Artie probably said, you're making good money, just deal with it, and Nick decided to leave. Mixed in with the "making his job harder part" was probably also the feeling of not wanting to enable Artie. Yeah he could just do what Howard did and ignore it and do the best he can with what he's given, but look at how much shit Howard took for doing that. If Nick did that, I think he would get even more shit because he saw it happen once.

[Mugsysam]

I think it's highly possible that Nick left because of Artie's addiction. I think that no one knows what Nick saw behind the scenes or what he may have had to deal with. Artie was trying to be as professional as he could, but still signs of his addiction came through on the air. Think about what was going on off the air. What the public sees is obviously only the tip of the iceberg. Also, why would they fire Nick? I don't buy the low ratings for Nick argument. For the record, I'm not a fan of Nick's, although I do think he's funny at times. But, if they saw Nick being awful when Artie wasn't there as the reason to fire him, then who are they gonna bring in? Someone who's equally as talented as Artie? The point is that, if they knew Artie was the draw, then why would they care how bad Nick was on his own? He did his job, which was to keep the show going while Artie provided most of the entertainment. I think Nick was getting upset that Artie was messing up, not showing up, etc., and it made his job harder (Gilbert Gottfried interview is a good example) and probably saw it as only getting worse. He probably confronted Artie. Artie probably said, you're making good money, just deal with it, and Nick decided to leave. Mixed in with the "making his job harder part" was probably also the feeling of not wanting to enable Artie. Yeah he could just do what Howard did and ignore it and do the best he can with what he's given, but look at how much shit Howard took for doing that. If Nick did that, I think he would get even more shit because he saw it happen once.

While I think Nick is gone because of whatever is going again with Artie, I once again will say that I highly highly doubt Nick quit. He would not walk away from all that money, a steady job, not having to travel the country to do stand up and lastly, if he just quit, not matter the reason, I am certain he'd be sued for breach of contract.

I am almost certain that Nick and Artie were not getting along behind the scenes-for a number of reason-one of which I am sure was because of Artie nodding off during the show and itching his balls off-literally-on camera. I think whatever bad blood was going on behind the scenes boiled over to the show during the last show before the break during the Bonnie Bernstein interview when Nick snapped at Artie for going off the rail when they were trying to get through their picks.

I think it got to the point where they could no longer work together, and the higher-ups chose Artie over Nick due to more people just knowing who Artie is.

I am sure they paid Nick for the remainder of his contract and also made him sign a no talk clause to say what happened.

All I know for sure is that the first few minuets of The Artie Lange Show should be interesting. But at the same time, I bet Artie will toe the company line saying Nick left to pursue other opportunities and that will be it.

But not matter what, mark my words, Nick DID NOT QUIT. Period.

[mpa]

Nick's back at hahas because he sucked balls on the radio

[IlluminatiJones]

The main difference being: Jackie overestimated his worth, and Howard underestimated it. It took the departure of Artie from the show for most people (myself included) to realize both.

I've got to believe a bean-counter like Howard knew exactly what Jackie was worth.............................he just refused to pay him that amount.

I think Howard was simply done with Jackie.....................and it didn't hurt to pocket Jackie's salary in the "searching for his replacement" meantime, either.

In this case, Nick overestimated his value to the show and really should have hitched his wagon to the Artie train, however long it would have run. I don't think anybody would have faulted him for that. After the fact he could have done interview after interview about how "Artie was a grown man, he knew what he was doing..." and he would have gone scot free. But in fact, I think it's all about Nick's passive-aggressive resentment about Artie's popularity (which he underestimated) and how valuable Nick thought he was to the company. I don't think for a minute that he quit because of Artie's addictions.

all this

It's ludicrous to think Nick quit: while Jackie had been banking major coin for well over a decade on the Stern show.........................I'm going on the premise that Jackie didn't make that much on the Stern show for the first few years.....................this was Nick's first year of a real payday.

You just can't say "f-you!" without f-you money, and Nick doesn't have it!

His wife had immediately gone "n-word"-rich, with the wall-building and buying the horse and the fuckin' stable. None of that would have happened if Nick already had money.

There is NO WAY he would have willingly walked away from that cash, and a job as easy at that one to get it.

People talk about Artie's self-destructive impulses but nobody mentions Nick's.

It looks like he passive-aggressively, cranky-old-manned himself out of the biggest payday of his life.



I'm sure he'll be all sunshine and kittens now though, after he's learned his lesson and all.