Joe Buck Live (Artie Lange as a guest?)
 

Disclaimer: I grew up in St. Louis and Joe Buck was sort of a fixture for Cardinal games. And while things like the Randy Moss "mooning" incident make Joe Buck look kind of foolish I never really understood the hatred for him.

So last night I decide to catch this show. I figured, correctly, that he would have a lot of big name stars and maybe they would say something interesting. His first interview was with Brett Favre and it was not interesting at all and then he had Chad Johnson on (from my favorite team) but failed to call him on his bs about not wanting the attention and not putting down Carson Palmer. So anyways it was a pretty ho hum show until the trainwreck that happened during his roundtable. It was basically Artie Lange just going completely over the top and really pissing Buck off.

I am not sure where I stand. On one hand the producers had to know that Lange was a loose cannon and I don't understand why they would book him. But on the other Lange just took stuff way too far. (talking about jizz, smoking on the set, telling Buck how boring he was, a lot of cock jokes) Buck looked like a first year teacher whose class is out of control but has no idea what to do. You could tell he wanted him to shut up but also wanted to stay "cool" and not appear bent out of shape about it. A couple of times he really looked like he was about to cry.

If you hate Buck or really enjoy watching a trainwreck you need to see a clip of the show.

Youtube keeps pulling it so I would just do a new search to find a clip.

Anyone else see this? I figured there would be at least one post about it.

Comedian Lange crosses the line on 'Joe Buck Live' - USATODAY.com

That sums it up pretty well but you have to see the video to get any idea of how uncomfortable it was. Paul Rudd was on there and Buck starts joking about growing up in Kansas City and Lange just goes off on how boring it all is. (Which it really was!)

I am not a big Stern fan and never found Lange funny so I was kind of pissed about what he was doing but I guess Buck is a big boy.

I heard this on Stern this morning. I'll make this clear...I don't like Joe Buck at all but I think it was a bit dick what Artie did. And this is coming from someone who really likes Artie on The Howard Stern show.

I watched the whole show last night (on a side note - did HBO get set to be free last night for this show? I accidentally clicked on it not thinking, and there it was - even though I don't subscribe to HBO) and I thought it was an absolute asshole move by Lange. He was a complete over the top dick. Yes, it's HBO, but it's also a relatively serious talk show that doesn't want jizz and cock jokes.

That being said, as Mike Florio at PFT says, I imagine someone on the Buck staff has to have gotten their pink slip today. Whoever booked Lange has to know what he's like and you just can't have that on a show like this.

I had never even heard of Artie Lange before reading about this on si.com. The picture they have of him shows him to be a big, fat slob wearing an Ohio State t-shirt. So, I am not surprised at the leat by any of this.

I really have no feelings either way as to Joe Buck. The only time he annoyed me was when he went all shocked and horrified over Randy Moss' faux mooing of the Green Bay crowd. I felt that he reaction was ridiculous and way over the top, but, other than that incident, he's never really bothered me one way or the other.

I doubt anyone gets canned over it, they rolled the dice & lost, but that's pretty much being treated as "shit happens". And honestly it's way more publicity than the show would have gotten otherwise.

For the people that did see the show I thought Paul Rudd and the SNL guy were pretty gutless in not defending Buck. Love him or hate him you know the Buck is kind of an old school humorless guy. And instead of saying Lange was out of line they were laughing at him or keeping quiet. I am pretty sure they didn't want him to come after them but I just felt bad for Buck.

Buck got what he deserved. He's a douche and a disgrace to his father. He was an idiot for having Artie Lange on his first show and hopefully this is the end for his show. What a trainwreck. Joe Buck standing up doing a monologue and trying to be funny was a joke to begin with.

would have been entertaining if Artie Lange was actually funny....like, at all.

Buck is so douchy, I actually hope this ruins his career.

See I don't get the intense hatred for Buck I guess. Outside of the Moss thing what does he do that is so douchy?

I agree that his show was pretty bland and his Favre and 8-5 interviews weren't great. Plus he tried a couple of comedy bits that were really flat. But I just think it isn't his thing but doesn't make him a bad person. Am I just brainwashed by the Saint Louis media and his local restaurants and commericials? I really want to know this, he doesn't seem that bad!

I just set this to tape. I love Artie Lang on Stern. Anyone who listens to the show realizes that he is actually a very funny, talented comedian that is more then fart jokes. IMO he really isn't over the top on Stern.

My guess is he doesn't like Joe Buck for whatever reason and decided to be a dick, which he is capable of doing.

If anything this is good for the show. The only thing worse then bad publicity is no publicity. Would anyone actually be talking about the show had this not happened?

I haven't watched it yet, but if it the way you guys described it and the show gets canceled Buck has no one to blame but himself. It's his show and he needs to take charge.

+1

Can Bucks voice sound any more fake than what it already does?

I'd rather listen to Steven Wright do the play by play than Joe Buck. At least Steven would make it sound interesting and won't repeat the same phrase over and over and over and over and over again.

Something perhaps missed in all of this is the ridiculous statement made by Buck about Favre:


Yeah, I am sure Favre never gets to answer anything in his own words. What a joke that statement is. What universe is Buck living in?

As for the incident, I don't like Lange and really don't care for Buck. This is a win/win for me I guess. But seriously, what the hell did HBO expect when they brought in Lange? This is what they wanted, a lot of publicity.

fixed

Put me in the camp that doesn't get the extreme hatred for Buck. I don't see how you have anything worse than a "neutral" feeling. He's just a very blind guy to me - I don't get the vitriol.

It makes no sense to have Lange on a show like this. Lange is kind of an idiot (or just a drug addict who can't help himself) to pigeonhole himself, but at least he's consistent. He does over-the-top offensive stand-up comedy, and over-the-top offensive commentary on Stern. That's it. He barely even acts any more. Anyone remotely familiar with him could see this coming. Lange can control himself for something like Letterman, but this is whole different thing.

Which is why this screams "set up" to me.

That is why HBO and Buck are full of shit. They had to know exactly what they were getting. This is an attention grab.

EDIT: what Logan said.

I don't think Buck is that good of an actor and he was pissed last night. Maybe if you are saying the HBO bosses set it up I could agree. But I don't think Buck had any idea Lange was going to get so outragous.

If you don't understand why Buck is a complete and total douche, it clearly must be one of those "douches don't smell their own" things.

I agree except it really did look like Joe Buck was going to cry. So either he is a heck of an actor or he didn't expect it to happen to this degree.

Edit: What panerd said :-)

Classy.

Seriously - what's wrong with him? He's just your typical, bland, fake voice play-by-play guy.

:shrug:

anyone have the video to this?

Buck's nephew stayed at my frat one summer. The doucheapple doesn't fall far from the douchetree at all.

+1

Thank you for the fix!

Steve Tyler, Steve Perry, Steve Martin, any Steve would be better than Buck. Well, except for maybe Steve Sax, but, I hate the Dodgers, so I'm biased on that one.

I think youtube is being actively monitored by HBO. Not sure if it is to hide it or because they want people to watch the replay on HBO. (My guess is the latter) I don't really get how youtube works but since I see parts of movies on there all the time (which has to be illegal) I can assume it will probably get posted and you just have to catch it before it is pulled.

It was on deadspin earlier.

edit:
hxxp://deadspin.com/5292467/watch-artie-lange-crap-all-over-joe-bucks-first-show?autoplay=true?skyline=true&s=i

also, Irvin's joke was hilarious. Rudd had a few good lines as well

I heard the HBO folks told him (Artie) to act up and as he was walking out he said to Joe, "Did I do good?"

Not sure if that's true, but if it is.. shame on HBO and Joe Buck. If it's not, who the fck would book that douche?

I don't care for Madden or Kornheiser as announcers but that just makes them unliked announcers. I want to know what Buck does that makes him a douche. He is a play by play buy. Give an example.

And that wasn't really the whole purpose of this thread but I have never understood what Buck does that is so disliked.

I also don't get the hatred for Buck. I think he's solid.

Quick thoughts on Buck and doucheness:

is not a good announcer but gets feted like he's the best in the business
does not actually like to watch baseball/doesn't prepare for games
the randy moss thing
the commercials

edit:
I suppose you can add his feigned indignation to this Artie Lange thing which seems right up his alley to me.

Apparently Lange was on Stern this morning saying that Buck told him he did a fantastic job.

Which could mean he's completely cracked out...

I just finished Langes book "Too Fat To Fish" and it wouldn't shock me. The guy was very sincere at parts in the book, but he at one point or another has been addicted to booze, cocaine and heroin. The simple fact there was a website called Artie Lange Death Watch that at first was a joke, but then stopped because they thought he was really going to die should say enough.

Now I do like Artie a lot, and he was great in Dirty Work, a movie I absolutely love, but this is who he is.

Artie is like Jim Norton on Opie & Anthony, just not as funny. His role in life is to be relentlessly mean. He did that to Joe Buck, and I thought it was funny, but I am also not going to be surprised if Buck didn't know ahead of time this was going to happen.

What better way for a new show to get some pub then this?

The problem with this kind of publicity is I believe they were positioning this show show to be a high brow sports show. The next Costas Now and another show along the same lines as that Bryant Gumbel show I forgot the name of.

This may be publicity, but I think its the wrong kind. Would not surprise me if this show only lasts the one year.

Haven't listened to the Stern show in awhile but I believe Artie has admitted he's fully back on the horse (at least alcohol and coke).

He was now he's been seeing a shrink and such. Claims to be off the stuff but acts like last night (and the way he was acting this morning) makes people wonder if he had a relapse.

I think he's the most overbearingly obnoxious self-important asshole I've ever heard within 50 feet of a microphone and has the worst talent-to-ego ratio in the history of sports broadcasting. He makes Costas seem like the world's most humble guy by comparison. His actual announcing is no better than low-minors quality & if he had a different last name he'd be lucky to have a job with a class A team in Idaho.

He's beyond annoying, he's literally a don't-watch-if-he's-working guy for me and not even Joe Morgan falls into that category 100% of the time (only 99.9%)

Classic.

People shouldn't ask questions if they don't want an answer ;)

As usual Jon just has a fantastic way with words.

You could've been talking about my father and I still would have appreciated that response.

I don't like Buck but he had a few decent replies to Lange, who I had never heard of before. It all smells like a marketing stunt anyway.

My wife told me she was listening to Stern this morning and Lange said HBO told him to act over the top and if the show was getting boring to liven things up. I guess they got what they wanted.

I for one have no issue with Buck and I like Lange.

This overshadows the best line of the show by Rudd calling himself a Lucky Pierre.

Whoa!!! While I agree with your prognosis, your presentation could use some touching up. ;)

OMG I agree with JiMG on something!

You don't watch the World Series or the NFL playoffs? I find that hard to believe that your stance on Joe Buck prevents you from watching those two events.

I'm watching the encore presentation right now. 4 minutes in, and the only reason I haven't changed the channel already is because I want to see the Artie Lange trainwreck. I guess that means it was a success?

What JiMGA said.

If Buck were just a bland PBP guy that would be one thing. Buck goes further than that. I remember listening to Tim Brando on his radio show a few years back. He made it clear that he was going to have strong opinions on his radio show and it was going to surprise some people since he did not and would not express those opinions when he was doing PBP. When I listen to Buck, it seems that he wants to do more in the "radio show host" role, when all I want from his is a description of what is happening on the field. The Randy Moss incident is the most know but he gives you at least one or two or those a game IMO.

This also can't be bad news for Buck. I had no idea the show was even on the air and this is the only reason I now know it exists.

I've literally watched those with the sound down at times in the past couple of years and I'd almost be interested myself to see how many innings of the past several World Series have even found me with the TV on at all. I know I watched some of '04, very little in '05 or '06, maybe 15 innings worth in '07 and I honestly don't remember in '08 but IIRC bits & pieces actually watched. I haven't watched a Saturday game on Fox in several years

I'll also watch the Colts playoff games, the Falcons playoff games last were interesting enough to me to watch from a "wonder what'll happen" standpoint. Otherwise, it's mostly bits & pieces. I was engaged for the Giants late heroics against the Patriots and for the Colts win but otherwise I mostly only bother with the Super Bowl for the commercials in recent years, which actually makes it pretty easy to tune Buck out pretty much entirely as I'm not really interested in what he's saying.

I'd say 90% of the pro sports events I follow are done with one of the online gametrackers, the amount of time I spend with the TV on live pro sports overall is pretty minimal compared to my other demographic indicators.

Is bad announcing the biggest reason that your pro sports TV viewing habits are what they are?

I yell at him during those telecasts cause he's such a pompous ass.

Me or Joe Buck? ;)

The biggest? No.

It is a secondary factor in my declining viewing though.

Saw it earlier. Funny that the repeat bleeped out all the curses.

"""""". I'd much much rather listen to Joe Morgan do a game than Joe Buck. The self-righteous blowhard quotient is through the roof (the Randy Moss bit); kinda surprised Jon-didn't mention that. :D

I think someone else reference already & to be honest I consider it just part of his lifetime achievement award for people-you'd-rather-die-than-be-trapped-in-
an-elevator-with.

He's one of those people that, if we're ever trapped in an elevator together, they'll need at least a coroner afterwards because there's no chance in hell we're both coming out of it alive. How that end is reached is a coin toss since I'm not sure listening to him even longer while I strangle him is worth the difference, it might be easier just to find a way to kill myself.

If I did a poll of people who watch sports regularly, I'd garner that well over 50% of people can't stand Joe Buck. Now my question is why does he have a job and why does he continue to get more work?

Because the casual fan can apparently tolerate him - who knows?

I guess it must be my dislike of Buck, because I found some pretty funny stuff in the video I just saw of it. If Artie cut half of his 'ranting to nowhere' out then I wouldn't have had a problem with it, but he hijacked the show too much and it was annoying. At the same time, I found the beginning of the segment to just be horrible with almost no point or direction from Buck. It would have been offensive either way, because of Lange or because of how bad Buck is/was.

Also, in the Packer world the Favre interview got a lot of attention. Mainly things like Favre referring to the Vikings as "we" once. It is clear he will play with them if healthy. I read a lot of Buck getting ripped though because of how softball the interview was. Never once asked about Ted Thompson and how this is all about getting back at him and the Packer front office.

LOL. Maybe I'm just drunk, but I found this funny.

Joe Buck is not welcome in my house. His dad yes, little Joey, no.

He must have missed the Favre interview. No probing there.

Another dopey comment from an ESPN drone. I have never paid much attention to Rick Reilly, and now I know why.

"Rick Reilly" is a friend of a friend who has a "fake" twitter account in which he parodies the real Reilly.

If Jack Buck knocks on your door, you better run for the hills, because it's happening.

Haha!! They call him 'ol Bag of Bones Buck now.

This felt like the appropriate thread to ask if anyone saw Bill Simmons new HBO show?

I'm a fan of some of Simmons stuff... Love the NFL podcasts especially the cousin Sal, like his takes on sports stuff on Twitter, ignore NBA and Boston rants. All that said what a heap of shit that first show was. It's like he has wanted to cuss for so many years that he just let it all loose like a freshman girl at her first frat party. The bits were terrible, the cussing was out of place, the set was just odd, and I stopped the Afflack thing about twenty seconds in. Anyone enjoy this?