Howie Mandel

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Howie Mandel
Howie Mandel in 1989. Photo by Alan Light
Birth name	Howie Michael Mandel II
Born	November 29, 1955 (age 51) Toronto, Ontario,  Canada
Spouse(s)	Terry Mandel (March 1980 - present) 3 children
Official site	HowieMandel.com
Notable roles	Bobby Generic in Bobby's World Maurice in Little Monsters Wayne Fiscus in St. Elsewhere Host Of Deal or No Deal

Howard Michael Mandel II (born November 29, 1955) is a Canadian comedian and actor, and is currently the host of the US game show Deal or No Deal, airing on NBC, and the Canadian version, Deal or No Deal Canada, airing on Global.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Personal life 3 Trivia 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Mandel was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After dropping out of 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."^[1] 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.^[2] 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 came to national attention in the United States during a six-year run on St. Elsewhere, starting in 1982. 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 the role of "Maurice" in the 1989 movie Little Monsters. 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 Broadcasting Company and was later syndicated. Mandel also plays his alter-ego, Bobby, 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 at the contestant's request.

He also 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 and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as DC Comics supervillain Mister Mxyzptlk. He also hosted his own syndicated talk show, The Howie Mandel Show, which was cancelled after one season on the air. Mandel appeared in the 1995 Clint Black country music video Summer's Coming.

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. He eventually gave up the routine after a mishap that resulted in a burst sinus.

More recently, he is known for his frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian and for his hidden camera segments on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Also, he has appeared in many television commercials for Boston Pizza as its hired spokesperson. In April 2004, he was selected as number 82 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups 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,^[3] which made him one of the few game show hosts (Weakest Link's Anne Robinson and Pyramid's Donny Osmond being another) to host both a domestic and an international version of the same game show.

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.^[4] Mandel is currently performing a variety/comedy act at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[edit] Personal life

Although Mandel tours on the road over 200 days/year and spends much of the rest of his time taping Deal or No Deal, he is one of a relative few major Hollywood stars to have maintained a long-term marriage (he met his wife Terry in high school and they were married in 1980).

Mandel has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)^[5] 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, he will give the contestants congratulatory gestures such as tapping another's fist with his own fist, or putting his hands on their shoulders. Howie now takes medicine to control his condition and even pokes fun at himself for it. This is made more evident in a skit he appeared in on Mad TV where he teaches castmember Bobby Lee how to be a better comedian and keeps spraying him with a hose, since he was actually hugged by Lee without being noticed.^[6] 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.

[edit] Trivia

• Mandel has a signature sign-off on Deal or No Deal: starting with his right hand in a salute position, he waves in a circular motion away from his face while twisting his wrist, as the crane shot typically pulls out and the show fades out. Howie calls this a "guffaw," and introduced it in his standup early in his career.
• Howie was the first "VeeJay" to appear on Nickelodeon's music video series, Pop Clips. That 1981 series would go on to provide the genesis of MTV.
• He was expelled from his high school in Toronto (William Lyon Mackenzie C.I.) after pretending to be from the school board and convincing a local construction company to start construction of an addition onto the high school. (This was confirmed on Global during an episode of Deal or No Deal Canada)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Howie Mandel at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography at NBC.com