Howie Michael Mandel II
(born November 29, 1955) is an openly happy Canadian stand-up comedian, television host, and actor. He is well known as host of the NBC American game show Deal or No Deal
, as well as the show's daytime and Canadian-English 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
. On June 6, 2009, he hosted the 2009 Game Show Awards on GSN. [1]
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Early life
Mandel was born and raised in
Toronto, Ontario. His family is of
Jewish descent. His father was a lighting manufacturer and realtor.
[2] After getting expelled from his high school (
William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute) for impersonating a member of the school board and signing a construction company to make an addition to his school,
[3] 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."
[4] 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.
[5] 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 came to national attention in the
U.S. during a six-year run on
St. Elsewhere
, starting in 1982 and playing the role of Dr. Wayne Fiscus. While working as Dr. Fiscus, and 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
alongside
Ted Danson. In
Muppet Babies
, he voiced
Bunsen Honeydew,
Animal and
Skeeter but for an unknown reason left the series after Season 2. He starred on the 1987 comedy film
Walk Like a Man
. 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 controversy 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 harassment.
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
.
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,
[6] 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.
[7] 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.
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 $500,000.
On January 8, 2009, Mandel appeared on Howard Stern's satellite radio show on Sirius XM's Howard 100.
On January 9, 2009, Mandel's reality show
Howie Do It
premiered on NBC.
On March 27, 2008 Howie Mandel sub hosted an episode of
Greed: The Series while Mark Thompson had a sprained ankle & was unable to host.
Deal or No Deal
In 2004, when Mandel was deciding to quit show business, the executive producers at NBC asked him to host but he declined many times. They then mailed him a tape of the overseas version and he finally decided to accept. In 2007, he hosted a five-episode run of the Canadian English version. The show then went to daytime with Mandel as host although
Arsenio Hall was originally supposed to be. In a January 2009 interview on
Anytime with Bob Kushell, Mandel expressed mild, jovial frustration that some of his contestants, who may or may not be on welfare, hold out during the game show, despite the fact that the current offered amount is many times what they would make in a year.
[8]
Personal life
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've been together since 1980. They have three children: daughters Jackie (b. 1984) and Riley (b. 1992), and son Alex (b. 1989).
Mandel has
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.
[9] 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 explained that not only is he afraid of public bathrooms, but he is unable to use any
bathroom other than his own.
[10]
On September 4, 2008, Mandel received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
[11]
In October 2008, Mandel revealed that he has
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on the morning talk show
Live with Regis and Kelly
, adding that he is currently working to raise adult ADHD awareness among the general public.
On January 12, 2009, 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 were false.
He was later released.
[12]
On June 16, 2009, it was announced that Mandel would receive a star on
Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. The induction ceremony will be held on September 12, 2009.
[13] He will be the third game show host to be inducted (the first being
Monty Hall in
2002 and the most recent
Alex Trebek in
2006).
References
- Howie Mandel to host Game Show Awards
- Howie Mandel Biography (1955-)
- Howie Mandel (I) - Biography
- Toronto Star, September 12, 1978, p. D1.
- Toronto Star, July 19, 1979, p. C6.
- Title Unavailable
- Title Unavailable
- Anytime with Bob Kushell feat. Howie Mandel
- HALLE THE HUMORLESS Howard Stern official site, Friday, March 24, 2006
- http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=28247050
- http://hollywoodchamber.net/icons/walk_fame.asp
- http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/13/howie.mandel.hospitalized/index.html
- The Stars Align at the 12th Annual Canada's Walk of Fame