Howie Mandel

Howie Mandel
Mandel in Las Vegas in May 2007
Born	Howard Michael Mandel II
Spouse	Terry Soil Mandel
Website	http://www.howiemandel.com/

Howard Michael Mandel II (born November 29, 1955) is a Canadian-American stand-up comedian, television host, and actor. He is best known as host of the NBC game show Deal or No Deal, as well as the show's syndicated and Canadian counterparts. Before his career as a game show host, Mandel was best known for his role on the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere. He is also well-known as creator and star of the children's cartoon Bobby's World.

Early life

Mandel was born and raised in Toronto. His family is of Jewish descent. His father was a lighting manufacturer and realtor. After getting expelled from his high school (Northview Heights Secondary School) for impersonating a member of the school board and signing a construction company to make an addition to his school, Mandel became a carpet salesman who would later open a carpet sales business of his own. He became a stand-up comedian at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto and by September 1978 had a week-long booking as the featured act, billed as "a wild and crazy borderline psychotic." His repertoire including placing a latex glove over his head and inflating it by blowing through his nose, the fingers of the glove extending above his head like a cockscomb. When the audience reacted uproariously to that and similar antics, his trademark response was to extend his arms palms up, look incredulous, and ask, "What? What?" On a trip to Los Angeles, Mandel performed a set at The Comedy Store, which led to him becoming a regular performer there. A producer for the comedic game show Make Me Laugh saw him and booked Mandel for several appearances during the show's run in 1979. He was booked to open for David Letterman at shows in the summer of 1979. CBC-TV's head of variety programming saw a Mandel performance in October 1979 and immediately signed him for a TV special. In 1980, he won the lead role in the Canadian movie Gas, co-starring Susan Anspach and Donald Sutherland.

Mandel was one of the first "VeeJays" to appear on Nickelodeon's music video series, Pop Clips. That 1981 series would go on to provide the genesis of MTV.

TV and film career

Mandel at the 39th Emmy Awards in 1987

Mandel came to national attention in the US during a six-year run on St. Elsewhere, starting in 1982 and playing the role of Dr. Wayne Fiscus. While continuing to work as a comedian, he also did movies, including his role as the voice of Gizmo in the 1984 hit Gremlins and its 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. In 1985 Mandel made a cameo in the Michael J. Fox directed short "The Iceman Hummeth" which was subsequently broadcast on Late Night with David Letterman in November, 1985. In 1986, he starred in It's A Fine Mess along side Ted Danson. In Muppet Babies, he voiced Bunsen Honeydew, Animal and Skeeter but for an unknown reason left the series after Season 2. He was also "Maurice" in the 1989 movie Little Monsters. In 1990, he starred in the short-lived sitcom Good Grief on Fox. He was also the creator and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated children's animated series Bobby's World, to which he supplied the voices of the title character and his father (using Howie's "normal" voice for Bobby's dad). Bobby's World ran for eight seasons on Fox and was later syndicated. Mandel also plays his alter-ego, Phil Skorjanc, in most of his comedy shows and these are a fan favorite. Bobby also made a cameo appearance in a February 2007 episode of Deal or No Deal. On a special 2-hour Christmas episode, first aired on December 25, 2007, Mandel delivered one line with Bobby's voice, as per request of the contestant.

Mandel spawned controversey in 1993 during a performance at the United States Naval Academy, where some of his off-color humor did not sit well with the school's administration. This incident came shortly after the Tailhook scandal, and the Navy at the time was very sensitive to any additional charges of gender insensitivity or sexual harrassment.

Mandel had a long run on Showtime with a series titled Howie Mandel's Sunny Skies in 1995. Mandel appeared in the 1995 Clint Black country music video "Summer's Comin'". He played the lead role of the professor in the short-lived TV series The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys, and guest-starred on a 1996 episode of the ABC TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as DC Comics supervillain Mister Mxyzptlk. In 1998 he hosted his own syndicated talk show, The Howie Mandel Show, which was canceled after one season. In 2006, he appeared as himself as a guest host in a parody of Deal or No Deal in the show-within-a-show of the TV series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In 2007, he guest-starred as himself in an episode of NBC's Medium, making a dream cameo of himself on Deal or No Deal. In that episode, he booted off the nighttime drama's protagonist for "cheating", since in the show she is a psychic medium and appeared to "know" the contents of the cases. In 1994 Mandel voiced the lead character, Little Howie, of the video game Tuneland.

Mandel's signature stunt as a stand-up comedian (besides his Bobby alter-ego) was stretching a latex glove over his head and inflating it with his nostrils, filling it until it suddenly propelled itself off of his head. This trick also lent itself to the title and cover photo of his comedy album, Fits Like a Glove (1986). He eventually gave up the routine under doctor's order after being diagnosed with a perforated sinus. However, in a cameo role as himself on My Name is Earl, he did the routine. He guest starred in two episodes of Monk, whose title character also has a fear of germs and OCD, albeit a more extreme form.

Later work

Mandel is known for his frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian and for his hidden camera segments on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He has appeared in many television commercials for Boston Pizza as their hired spokesperson. In April 2004, he was selected as number 82 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand up comedians of all time. In October 2005, he was named to be the host of the U.S. version of Deal or No Deal, which debuted on December 19, 2005, on NBC and became a popular program in early 2006. Mandel also hosts Deal or No Deal Canada, a version of Deal or No Deal for Canadian viewers; originating from Toronto, Deal or No Deal Canada debuted in January 2007 on Global, which made him one of the few game show hosts (Weakest Link's Anne Robinson, Pyramid's Donny Osmond, and The Singing Bee's Joey Fatone being others) to host both a domestic and an international version of the same game show. Mandel joins Alex Trebek, Jim Perry and Geoff Edwards on the list of game show hosts who emceed one game show simultaneously on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border.

In 2007, Mandel made an appearance in an episode of Sesame Street’s 38th season. That same year, he was parodied on the show as Howie Eatswell, the Muppet host of Sesame’s game show segment "Meal or No Meal." Mandel has hosted the DVD game version of Deal or No Deal, "Fact Or Crap Beat da Bomb" and "Would You Rather" for Imagination Games.

Mandel had a cameo appearance as himself on the NBC show My Name is Earl, in the episode Earl's roommates robbed an Indian Casino at which Howie Mandel was performing. While stealing money, they also kidnapped Howie Mandel. In the episode, Mandel performed his old routine of inflating a rubber glove over his head with his nostrils.

Mandel is a notable alumnus of Beth David B'nai Israel Beth Am's Hebrew School located in Toronto, as well as three other Toronto high schools. Mandel is currently performing a variety/comedy act at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Starting in 2007, Howie Mandel became a spokesperson for Internet retailer buy.com. Buy.com frequently has him on the front page with the deals of the day or week. The deals are in a section called "What's Shakin?" with Howie Mandel. This is possibly in reference (by poking fun of himself) to his OCD condition of not wanting to shake people's hands.

On May 13 2008 he was the guest host for the Tradition May Fund Raiser for the Owen Hart Foundation.

On September 8, 2008, Mandel began hosting a five-day-a-week syndicated daytime version of Deal or No Deal, with a top prize of $1,000,000.

On January 8, 2009, Mandel appeared on Howard Stern's satellite radio show on Sirius XM's Howard 100.

On January 9, 2009, NBC aired the pilot, Howie Do It, starring Howie Mandel.

Personal life

The handprints of Howie Mandel in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Mandel tours on the road over 200 days a year, taping Deal or No Deal. He met his wife Terry in high school, and they were married in 1980. He has three children: Daughters Jackie (b. 1984) and Riley (b. 1992) and son Alex (b. 1989).

Mandel has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and mysophobia (fear of germs) to the point that he does not shake hands with anyone, including enthusiastic contestants on Deal or No Deal, unless he is wearing latex gloves. Instead of shaking contestants' hands when they offer them, Mandel often opts to exchange fist pounds, put his hands on contestants' shoulders, or give an occasional hug. He once kissed a female contestant on the show for good luck despite his mysophobia. He now takes medicine to control his condition and even pokes fun at himself for it. He revealed on The Howard Stern Show on March 24, 2006 that his shaved head is not related to natural hair loss, but to his mysophobia. He stated that the lack of hair makes him feel cleaner. During his appearance on Mad TV, Mandel and cast member Bobby Lee made fun of the former's OCD. In September 2007, former NFL running back Marshall Faulk was interviewing with Howie on NFL Network asking him to shake his hands, but Howie wouldn't allow it; he'd rather have the fist tap, as he does with Deal or No Deal contestants. Seconds later, Faulk gave Howie a "sneak attack" shaking his right hand and Howie screamed in fear and walked away from Faulk. Howie washed his hands several times. On a guest appearance on Free Radio, Mandel pointed out that he wouldn't use any bathroom but his own, and sometimes brings bags with him. He warned people not to approach him on the street if he is seen with a brown paper bag.

On September 4 2008, Mandel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In October 2008, Mandel revealed that he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on the morning talk show Live with Regis and Kelly.

On January 12 2009, Howie Mandel was reportedly sent to St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto suffering from chest pains and what was reported as minor heart attack. According to various news reports, he was experiencing an irregular heartbeat and reports of a heart attack are false. He was later released.

External links

• Mandel's official website
• Howie Mandel at IMDb
• Biography at NBC.com
• http://www.comediansusa.com/php/featuredartist.php?id=248
• USA Today Q&A