Career
Howie started performing at The Comedy Store, a comedy club, in Los Angeles after he wasdared by his friends to give it a shot. Luckily, his performance was noticed by a producer who booked him for an appearance in the comical game show, ‘Make Me Laugh’ in 1979.
In the same year, he opened shows for David Letterman. In 1980, he was cast in an important role in the movie ‘Gas’, alongside actors Susan Anspach and Donald Sutherland.
In 1982, the comedian became a household name when he was cast as Dr. Wayne Fiscus in the American medicaldark comedy drama, ‘St. Elsewhere’. The show ran from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988 and won 13 Emmy Awards in the process.
From 1983 to 1984, the comedic actor appeared in a number of movies. He was first cast as Larry Pound in the movie ‘The Funny Farm’. He then lent his voice for the character Gizmo in the horror comedy movie ‘Gremlins’, and played the role of Wienerhead Waldo in the TV movie, ‘The Princess Who Had Never Laughed’.
He also lent his voice for three different characters namely, Bunsen Honeydew, Skeeter and Animal in 26 episodes of the TV series ‘Muppet Babies’. Hewas also the narrator of the TV animated short, ‘Where Did I Come From?’
In 1986, he played the lead role in the action-comedy movie, ‘A Fine Mess’. The next year saw him portray the lead character of Bobo Shand in ‘Walk Like a Man’.
Mandel never stopped performing in stand-up comedy shows. While working on a number of TV movies and shows, he alsoorganized many tours, displaying his comical skills. In 1990, he was seen as Steve in the ‘Myra and the Messenger’ episode of ‘Carol & Company’, a comedy series.He also reprised his voice acting in ‘Gremlins 2: The New Batch’.
He then had a recurring role in the 1990-1991 TV series, ‘Good Grief’. He portrayed the character of Ernie Lapidus and made his first appearance in the episode, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen... Ernie Lapidus!’ His final appearance in the serieswas on February 3, 1991.
Howie Mandel focused more on stand-up comedy between 1992 and 1994, but was still playing a number of TV roles. Some of the roles that he played during this period includes;The Professor in ‘The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys’, Mealy in ‘David Copperfield’,Danny Klay in the TV film ‘Shake, Rattle and Rock!’ and Sam I Am in the 1994 movie ‘In Search of Dr. Seuss’.
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In 1995, he lent his voice for the character Lil' Howie in the video game, ‘Great Word Adventure’.He also played the role of Charlie in the TV movie, ‘Harrison Bergeron’.
He once again lent his voice for the video games, ‘Great Reading Adventure’ and ‘Great Math Adventure’. Mandel was also seen in TV shows like ‘Bless This House’ and was seen as Mr. Mxyzptlk in one of the episodes of the series, ‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’.
Mandel lent his voice for the character Bobby Generic in the American animated series, ‘Bobby’s World’. Apart from flaunting his voice acting skills, he also contributedas an executive producer for the show. ‘Bobby’s World’ ran from 1991 to 1998 and earned multiple Emmy nominations.
The comedian also produced ‘The Howie Mandel Show’ from 1998 to 1999.He then played himself in the TV mockumentary, ‘Jackie’s Back’. In the year 2000, he firstlent his voice for the character Jack in ‘The Tangerine Bear: Home in Time for Christmas!’ and then for the character Comet in ‘Timothy Tweedle the First Christmas Elf’.
In 2008, he was seen playing the character of Ralph Roberts in the TV series ‘Monk’.He alsoguest starred in the sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’,playing himself in an episode titled ‘The Re-Entry Minimization’.
Howie Mandel’s career as a host began with the NBC’s game show‘Deal or No Deal’. He hosted the show for four seasons from December 19, 2005 to May 18, 2009. A declinein the ratings led to the cancellation of the show, but Mandel went on to host five episodes of ‘Deal or No Deal Canada’ in 2007. In the 2009 NBC comedy series ‘Howie Do it’, Howie doubled up as a star and as an executive producer.
Mandel also hosted the Fox show ‘Mobbed’, and in 2013 he produced the TBS show, ‘Deal with It’. He has also hosted the NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards Ceremony and the game show, ‘Take It All’.
The comedian-actor was seen hosting the 100th episode of ‘Impractical Jokers’ on September 3, 2015. He also attended WWE's ‘Tribute to The Troops’ on December 23.
After having replaced David Hasselhoff in 2010, he is currently the longest serving judge in NBC’s ‘America’s Got Talent’.
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In 2017, he worked as an executive producer for the shows, ‘On My Way Out: The Secret Life of Nani and Popi’ and ‘Caraoke Showdown’. He also appearedas himself in TV series ‘Superstore’ and in the movie ‘Killing Hasselhoff’.
Awards & Achievements
In 2008, Howie Mandel was nominated under the category,Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program at the Primetime Emmy Awards for hosting ‘Deal or No Deal’.
In 1991, he was nominated, along with the cast of his show ‘Bobby’s World’, for Outstanding Animated Program at the Daytime Emmy Awards. The same cast was once againnominated for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program in 1994.
In 1998, he won the award for Male Discovery of the Year at the Golden Apple Awards.
Howie Mandel has worked with almost all the genres of the entertainment industry, and is hugely popular as a judge in ‘America’s Got Talent’. He has been a part of the show for seven seasons. It was one of the highest rated shows of 2017, registering 15.64 million viewers for the Finale.
