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While we haven't been avid listeners of Howard Stern since he made the switch to Sirius a few years back (call us crazy or even cheap, but we're morally opposed to paying for radio), we still follow the show pretty closely. And as anyone who has been paying attention knows, Stern sidekick Artie Lange has been on a self-destructive streak for the better part of the last nine or so months. His weight has been ballooning, his already prolific drug habit has only gotten worse and his on-air behavior has become more erratic than ever before. However, things reached Defcon 6 levels on today's show when Artie flew into a rage, got into a physical confrontation with his personal assistant and abruptly (and from the sounds of it, tearily) resigned from the show. Audio of the incident follows after the jump.

It goes without saying that we are all very concerned for Artie's well-being at the moment. His recent appearances on Conan O'Brien and the Donny Deutsch Show were clear indications that all is not well in Artie's world, particularly on the substance abuse front. And with the show going on a scheduled weeklong hiatus, it's safe to say that the guys over at Artie Lange Deathwatch will be constantly monitoring Lange's behavior for the next 10 or so days. Here's hoping that Artie is able to hold it together and refrain from going on the kind of bender that felled the likes of Belushi and Farley. We're pulling for you Artie.

Here's the audio of this morning's meltdown Sorry, the original audio we posted here was removed. But thanks to commenter cockfightbarmitzvah, you can now listen to the audio below in the comment section.