Artie Lange
Crashing | Season 1 | Episode 1

Artie Lange

TV-MA | 33 MIN

Written by Pete Holmes
Directed by Judd Apatow

In a suburban kitchen, Pete prepares dinner with his wife, Jess, who suggests they spontaneously "f**k on the floor." Pete is thrown off guard when Jess tries to shake things up during their romp. After, they watch comedy videos on Pete's laptop until Pete leaves to do a stand-up show in New York City's West Village -- a show for which he needs to buy two drinks in order to participate.

Pete delivers his set to a mildly amused audience. After the show, he asks the club's manager about participating in the monthly comedy show. The manager, preoccupied with his chicken wings, barely feigns interest in Pete's request.

Back upstate, Pete bikes home after writing jokes at the library and finds his wife naked in bed. She claims she was masturbating but a naked man, Leif, walks out of the bathroom and welcomes Pete into his own home.

Jess airs her frustrations about financially supporting Pete, but he equates it to a wife supporting a husband in medical school. After a brief argument, Pete storms out and drives to New York.

With nowhere else to go, Pete heads to a comedy club. He talks to other comedians at the bar, and when the stage manager mentions the next comedian is a no-show, Pete decides to perform, using his pain in his comedy. It does not go well. He gets advice from Greer, the comedian he bumped, after the show: Quit while you're ahead.

Pete runs into Artie Lange outside the club and is told his set was awful. Sympathetic, Artie tells him about the less glamorous side of being a comic. As they leave the pizza shop where they were chatting, Pete finds his car being towed. Artie takes Pete's keys and attempts to drive off -- instead, he crashes the car and runs away.

Pete rides the subway all night and tells a group of children about his relationship woes. Returning home with flowers and determined to save his marriage, Pete finds Jess and Leif in bed. Pete leaves and Leif follows, letting him know he and Jess are moving to Tampa.

Artie calls Pete to see how his romantic gesture was received, and when Pete tells him it did not go well, they meet back in the city. A man wielding a knife holds them up in the subway; Artie runs but Pete is slashed in the leg when he refuses to give up his joke book. After taking Pete to the hospital, Artie offers him his couch and tucks him in for the night.

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