Update!

Get Some Help, Artie Lange!

Troubled Howard Stern Show sidekick arrested on suspicion of DUI after a fender bender in New Jersey

By Natalie Finn Jul 14, 2009 9:15 PMTags
Artie LangeJeffrey Ufberg/Getty Images

UPDATE: Lange, who said on the air yesterday that he was neither drunk nor had he taken anything other than a prescribed antidepressant when he was arrested, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to DUI. He's due back in municipal court on Aug. 26.
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This is getting too serious for our taste. 

Funnyman Artie Lange, whose heaviness, history of drug abuse and overall mental health are constant fodder for some unfortunately hilarious banter on The Howard Stern Show, was busted Friday on suspicion of DUI after being involved in a fender bender in New Jersey.

Police found no indication that Lange was "under the influence of illicit drugs" when his rented 2009 Nissan rear-ended another vehicle, Toms River Police Capt. Steve Henry told the Asbury Park Press.

But the officer who responded to the report of a minor traffic collision at around 1:30 p.m. determined that Lange was under the influence of something. After he was taken into custody, a sample of one fluid or another was taken at the police station and sent off to the lab for analysis.

Meanwhile, Lange has been charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant and careless driving. He was issued a court summons for July 16 and sent on his way.

Lange was "100 percent cooperative," Henry said.

That's all well and good, but maybe this will finally be the misstep that gets Lange into the more intensive rehab he seems to really, really need.

And what will Howard and Robin say about this on Monday? 

(Originally published July 10, 2009, at 3:30 p.m. PT)