Crash and Burn (book)

Crash and Burn is a 2013 memoir by the American comedian Artie Lange, written with journalist Anthony Bozza. Published by Touchstone Books on October 29, 2013, the book is a follow-up to Lange's 2008 memoir Too Fat to Fish and focuses on the years surrounding his addiction, depression, suicide attempt, rehabilitation, and recovery.^[1][2] The book appeared on The New York Times Bestseller List.^[3][4] It was followed by Lange's third memoir, Wanna Bet?: A Degenerate Gambler's Guide to Living on the Edge (2018).

In a September 2013 interview with The Tampa Tribune, Lange spoke about the book, saying: "The new book is the most honest thing I've ever done in my life. I just had to look at it again with my lawyer and I barely could get through it. It's about the last four years, when I was in mental institutions, rehabs, hurting myself, being in the hospital. It just starts to show how a successful guy and self-made man has everything go down the toilet because of a drug habit. It's the only thing standing between him being multi-multimillionaire. But I'm off the drugs now. Now it's just eating."^[5]

Publisher Simon & Schuster described the memoir as documenting Lange's "perilous descent into drug addiction, life-threatening depression, and ultimately, his recovery", and as a follow-up to his "hilariously raw debut", Too Fat to Fish.^[6] In October 2013, Rolling Stone published an exclusive excerpt and described the book as chronicling Lange's descent into depression and heroin addiction and his slow return from "rock bottom".^[7]

Crash and Burn was published in hardcover on October 29, 2013.^[8] The memoir entered The New York Times best-seller lists in November 2013, reaching number 8 on the combined print and e-book nonfiction list and number 12 on the hardcover nonfiction list.^[9][10]

A trade paperback edition was published on June 3, 2014.^[11] An unabridged audiobook, narrated by Sean Runnette, was also released.^[12]

Coverage of the book's release frequently emphasized its darker subject matter. The Philadelphia Inquirer described the memoir as Lange "get[ting] dark in his new tome" while focusing on his attempted comeback after his public collapse.^[13]

Kirkus Reviews gave the book a mixed-to-negative review, calling it "a tedious tale of substance abuse told by a self-admitted opiate-addicted, self-loathing slob". The review argued that Lange did not blame others for his addiction, but that the memoir's repeated accounts of blackouts, emergency-room visits, and abandoned treatment programs eventually became tiresome.^[14]

More broadly, press coverage around the memoir emphasized the combination of confessional detail and black comedy. Rolling Stone framed the book as a candid account of Lange's collapse and recovery,^[15] while The Philadelphia Inquirer presented it as a darker, more redemptive companion to the persona Lange had built in radio and stand-up.^[16]

• Crash and Burn at Simon & Schuster