Howard Stern's former sidekick Artie Lange claims shock jock 'abandoned' fans because he envies Jimmy Kimmel and wants mainstream success

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Artie Lange has taken the gloves off with Howard Stern.

The New Jersey comedian tore into the King of All Media like never before, revealing for the first time how he believes how Stern confidante Jimmy Kimmel has heavily influenced the direction Stern's taken his career in, while calling the radio legend an ‘a**hole’ who ’abandoned his fans' and longtime staffers in his bid to replicate the mainstream success Kimmel's had.

The 49-year-old funnyman was Stern’s right-hand man of nearly 10 years, taking the seat vacated in 2001 by former head writer Jackie ‘The Jokeman’ Martling, who was his guest on the Artie Quitter podcast Friday.

Influential: Howard Stern's rash changes in recent years might have been triggered by the King of All Media's desire to achieve the level of success enjoyed by his protege Jimmy Kimmel, his former co-host Artie Lange said. Here, Stern and Kimmel were pictured at the shock jock's 2014 birthday bash in NYC

Martling, 68, told Lange he was going to be the subject of an upcoming documentary, and invited the Beer League star to participate in it.

Lange agreed, then bluntly told ‘The Jokeman’ that Stern, whose 180 degree turns personally and professionally are frequently dissected - and reviled - on forums such as Radio Gunk, Dawgshed and Reddit, wouldn’t likely participate in it.

Lange suggested the radio icon wouldn't lift a finger to help a key contributor to his program’s success 'because he's an a**hole,' turning his back on nearly two decades of key contributions from his longtime joke writer.

'Seventeen years he helped create the f***ing show, he gets rid of him when he asks for more money, he wouldn't sit down for 20 minutes and talk - whatever,' said Lange.

Man with a mic: Lange held little back while discussing Stern on his Artie Quitter podcast

The new king? Kimmel's career continues to reach new heights, as he's been tabbed to host the Oscars in February, coming off a strong outing hosting the Emmys in September, as seen in this shot

Lange said that a major cause behind the aforementioned changes trace back to Marci Turk, the show's chief operating officer who the Private Parts star minted in 2013 after they worked together on a time-management system called Getting Things Done.

Turk, who rocketed to the top of the show’s totem pole in short order, was subsequently hailed by The New York Post as ‘The woman responsible for Howard Stern’s “PC” behavior’ in an August 2015 piece.

‘I don't care anymore, [Stern] did a lot of good things but he's undoing it' with the recent changes, Lange said.

Funny fellas: Lange (left) criticized Stern's treatment of former writer Jackie Martling, who was his guest on the scintillating podcast

The Dirty Work star said that in appointing Turk, Stern made an 'emasculating' statement toward Stern's longtime producer Gary 'Baba Booey' Dell'Abate, sharing an anecdote of how Stern brushed Dell'Abate's three-plus decades of loyalty by the wayside.

‘A bunch of people told me this, so this one's true: Gary gets up at a meeting and asks, “Is Marci my boss?” And Howard said, “Yes.”’

Lange said that he felt Stern appointed Turk to bring order to a perpetually-disorganized back office - and help clean up his and the show’s image - to be more in the mainstream vein of his show biz confidante, Kimmel.

Bringing the laughs: Stern appointed Marci Turk (left) to bring order to a perennially-disorganized back office and help streamline the show for mainstream purposes, according to Lange. Here, Turk shared a few laughs with Stern exec Jeremy Coleman and producer Jason Kaplan at a 2014 Comic-Con event in San Diego

‘I really think Jimmy Kimmel had a lot to do with it. I think he looked at Jimmy and saw guy who, deep down, he doesn't think Jimmy is as funny as him - he thinks Jimmy rips him off, as a matter of fact - but he loves Jimmy cause he's a good guy.’

Lange said that Stern might have made adjustments after growing envious of Kimmel’s mainstream success, with high-profile gigs like hosting the upcoming Oscars, coming off a successful stint in September hosting the Emmys.

Lange said that Stern's physical appearance is the chief reason he isn't seriously considered for such high-profile gigs in Hollywood, where ‘optics’ play a huge role in who gets the job.

'Emasculating': Lange criticized Stern's handling of producer Gary 'Baba Booey' Dell'Abate, a Stern soldier of more than 30 years, who's humiliated himself for the good of the radio show countless times

‘The people that he’s sucking d*** for right now kept him away from the Emmys because he's a six-foot-five guy who looks like a pelican,' Lange said.

Lange said that while the former America's Got Talent star gave his fans years of great radio, he did betray them, and all of his longtime associates, in appointing Turk to put the show on a celeb-friendly trajectory that stands in stark contrast to the raunch-fest that was advertised with his move to uncensored satellite radio in 2006.

Martling said that the anti-celebrity revelry Stern engaged in during his radio rise of the 1990s was, in hindsight, a facade.

In recent years, Stern has fawned over the Ellen DeGeneres dancing bit he formerly maligned; attended the wedding of Jennifer Aniston, who he once called an ‘annoying c***‘; and asked longtime target Kathie Lee Gifford, ‘Can you forgive me?’

Envy? Kimmel's enduring mainstream appeal caused Stern to evaluate his own career, Lange said on his podcast. Here, the two were pictured on Kimmel's show when it stopped in Brooklyn in October of 2015 

While Stern presented the image of a 'ballbuster' and an 'outsider,' Martling said, ‘the truth of it is he wanted to be in the room with the Jennifer Anistons. He had his nose up against the window pane the whole time and ... he realized, "Wait - I can get in that room!"’

Lange said that he and Stern’s fans ‘all thought that he wanted to get in that f***ing room to say, “F*** you Aniston."

'Only he wants to be there, and I think the Jimmy and other people in his life had a lot to do with that,’ Lange said, adding, ‘I’ve never said any of that out loud.’

Martling - who was not invited to Stern’s celeb-packed 2014 Birthday Party despite his longtime affiliation with the show - said that Stern ‘put a certain amount of people on the table and pushed other people off the table.’

Stumbling block? Stern will not pass the eye test with Hollywood producers as a 'six-foot-five guy who looks like a pelican,' Lange said on his podcast. Here, the radio icon was seen with wife Beth at a North Shore Animal League benefit in November 2015 

Lange agreed, adding he thought that both of them were pushed to the side, along with longtime writers Fred Norris and Benjy Bronk, 'and all of [Stern's] fans,' as the one-time bad boy of radio stopped fighting the establishment and became a part of it.

'Everyone else, he left behind, the people that helped him get in that room,' said Lange, who’s written two New York Times bestsellers with 2008’s Too Fat to Fish and 2013’s Crash and Burn.

Lange - who credited Stern for launching him into fame and success that saw him go 'from playing Yuk Yuk's to G--damn Carnegie Hall' - said that he was fairly paid for his time on the show, taking his lucrative slate of comedy shows into account.

Revelation: Martling, a native of Bayville, New York, said in hindsight, it's clear Stern 'wanted to be in the room with the Jennifer Anistons' of the world despite his celeb-bashing ways of the 90s. He was seen at a film festival in his native Long Island in July

He said that Stern - whose massive wealth is estimated to be in the billion dollar range following a string of lucrative contracts with SiriusXM - should dig into his own pocket for Martling, Norris and Dell'Abate, to make up the difference between what they had been compensated and their actual worth to the show.

‘I’m not kidding, he's a billionaire and you guys created that show with him,' Lange said. 'He's amazing, alone it would've been a hit, but I'm not kidding you. I would give Jackie and Fred $50 million in an envelope and say, “Thanks, guys” ... you think I’m kidding - that’s the figure.’

Lange and Martling ruminated on the fact they receive no royalties from their oft-replayed highlight clips on the show.

‘I don't even tell people anymore I don't get paid for any of that,’ Martling said, ‘because they don't believe that.’

Underpaid? Lange said that Martling and Stern writer/sound effects ace Fred Norris, seen here with wife Alison at a 2008 event in NYC, should get envelopes with $50 million a piece for the value they brought to the show in relation to how they were actually compensated

Lange said anyone characterizing him as obsessed with Stern for repeatedly talking about him has it wrong, as he said that Stern’s the one who’s shown bizarre behavior in his admitted uneasiness with discussing Lange on the air.

’He's obsessed with me,' said Lange, who's snared a role on Judd Apatow's upcoming HBO series, Crashing. 'He doesn't bring up my name and I was there for 10 years, that's calculated.'

Lange acknowledged that his recent rants aren’t likely to garner him an invite to Stern’s Hamptons mansion anytime soon.

‘He’ll never talk to me again,' Lange said. 'Talking like this is too honest.’

Daily Mail has reached out to Stern's reps for comment.  

Keepers of the chair: Both Lange (left) and Martling left their fingerprints on the iconic radio show, and remain heard regularly in replays on SiriusXM