Artie calls out again ??

GEORGE IS IN, ARTIE IS OUT Howard started off the show welcoming George Takei to the studio and noting that Artie was out today, as he's been – oddly enough – 4 of the 10 weeks George has sat in as the show's announcer: "We were out Friday and Monday. It's fine, but...I've tried to figure out whether Artie's on drugs or not because I'm always wrong." Howard later asked the crew if they thought Artie was sick or back on drugs. George gave Artie the benefit of the doubt: "I think health-wise he's very fragile." Fred disagreed, but only in the hopes he was proved wrong as he has in the past: "He's on the sauce again." Robin was also skeptical: "I want him to be sick but I don't think he is." Benjy speculated: "But that might mean he was using before and got off again." Jon Hein was generous: "I think he's exhausted and therefore sick." Howard said he was sick himself – of betting in favor of Artie's sobriety and being repeatedly proved wrong. STAFF TRAVELS George said he'd only be in today and tomorrow, as he would be speaking at Drexel University in Philadelphia on Wednesday about his childhood. George added that Brad was traveling with him, as he usually does, unless George is headed somewhere freaky, like Romania. Howard thought Brad wouldn't like Vegas, as posters advertising Scott the Engineer's upcoming DJ gig at Club Pure were plastered all over Caesar's Palace. Scott came in to laugh: "I'm surprised I didn't scare people away." BETH O IS BACK HOME Howard reported that Beth O was back home after being away taping her role as a judge on ABC's “True Beauty,” explaining that the show took 8 men and 8 women and told them they were competing in a beauty pageant to be the face of Las Vegas. The twist was that they're judged on their inner beauty. Beth O got in Saturday afternoon: "You would've thought the two of us never saw each other...we had this whole big reunion. It was sexual, of course." Howard said the sex was bizarrely passionate: "We hadn't seen each other in a while so it was filled with massive neediness." ERIC THE MIDGET STALKS BETH Eric the Midget called in to say he saw Beth O at a Criss Angel show in Las Vegas over the weekend. Howard confirmed Beth's presence at the show and asked what Eric had done besides stalk his wife. Eric said he'd also "checked out the different hotels and played the slot machines a little bit." Eric did say that he wanted to go say hi to Beth but his parents didn’t want him to because they were afraid she’d be mean to him. howardstern.com