On this edition of SNAPSHOTS, one of the hardest working men in showbiz is getting ready to brings the laughs to Annapolis next Saturday, May 17th at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts.
Our guest today has been making the rounds in two countries and also online! Since 2010, he’s the longest serving judge on America’s Got Talent. He’s gearing up for the show’s 20th season that premieres on May 27th on NBC. At the same time, he’s also a judge on Canada’s Got Talent! Did I mentioned that he has two podcasts currently online: Howie Mandel Does Stuff with his daughter and When a Stranger Callz with fellow comedian Harland Williams?
To me, he is the voice of Gizmo from Gremlins, the voice of Bobby in 90s cartoon Bobby’s World and Dr. Wayne Fiscus on St. Elsewhere.
Keeping both my co-host Victoria E. I laughing and smiling during our conversation, is the one & only Howie Mandel!
Howie Mandel (HM): So, for your listeners, and I don’t know how much of this you keep in, you’re actually recording this in a car. Why did you bring Victoria, so you can be in the carpool lane? Is that? Is this taking place in a carpool lane?
DR: Howie, you’re not supposed to divulge that. We were supposed to save that for end the show.
Well, don’t you think it makes it more interesting that this is in a car. This is your first ever drive-thru interview. He’s actually doing a show and you’re doing Uber at the same time because that’s amazing. And I’m giving you four stars up front for this interview. It’s going great.
You know, you said the first time you saw me was St. Elsewhere, but before St. Elsewhere, I am always first and foremost, a stand-up comic who happens to be lucky enough to get all these other jobs. So I can’t wait to be there and do what I do and what I love to do. And of all the shows that you mentioned, whether it’s Deal or No Deal, or America’s Got Talent, if you’re fans of those, come see me, but, but don’t bring the kids, because I’m not the same.
You know, on all those shows, I have to be edited. I have to hit a mark. I have to throw at a commercial. I have to be conscious of. Advertisers, anything can happen in the midst of a stand-up act, and there is no editing. And, you know, I look to make it a giant party where I’m just trying to be the center of attention, but the audience seems to get involved. It’s very improvisational, very in the moment, and things will happen that night that have never happened before and will never happen again.
VE: That’s what makes it fabulous, being able to break that fourth wall and bring everybody together right now, we need that well.
Only if you know, people show up and buy tickets, because if nobody shows up, it’s hard to break that fourth wall. I’m in a room alone with four walls, and the people outside the theater don’t enjoy the show as much as people inside the theater.
VE: Touche
DR: You’re absolutely right. Howie, this is your 15th season this June on America’s Got Talent. You’re the longest serving judge now, what has been your criteria of looking for who in our America, or Canada, for the past three years, got talent?
Well, first of all, it’s America’s Got Talent, or Canada’s Got Talent, and the that’s just where the shows take place. You know, both shows have we draw talent that people come from across the globe kind of entertain anybody just like me. I come from Canada and came down to America to try to make it and make a living there.
I don’t have a specific list of criteria, as much as you know, just reacting honestly in the moment like anybody and like I did the first four seasons I wasn’t on, like anybody sitting at home on the couch in their underpants has. If you if you enjoy it, if you’re moved by it, if you’re surprised by it, if your jaw drops, if you go, wow, then you just say that’s what it is, you know. And if you think that you would buy a ticket and go see this in a longer form, that’s what I say. But, you know, there’s four judges, and we all have very different opinions and very different tastes. There’s millions of people watching who have very different taste and very different point of view, and they don’t always agree with me. I’m just honest, and I just tell you how I’m affected by it.
VE: I think that’s really cool. And if you ever need a fifth judge, let me know. How is it working with Mel B.?
I love working with Mel B. Mel B and I are friends off camera. I continue to communicate even when we live far apart. I live in L.A. and she lives in London. But when we’re on the show, it’s like my little sister who loves to annoy me, or I think I’m the I’m like the big brother that loves to annoy my sister. So, we are like a family, and it is fun. What’s even more fun is all the stuff that you don’t see, and all the stuff that can never make it to network television, and all the things. When I talk about editing and stand-up comedy, nobody needs to be edited more than Mel B. she is a firecracker. She you don’t know what comes out of that mouth and what she does. And many times, I am her are being reprimanded for going too far.
DR: I bet you are. Especially one of the videos I got to see recently was the accent challenge of how the words in British English is different from America. And that was a fun video to watch
On TikTok, me and her did it. We did a few. She’s always forcing me to do TikToks with her, so she’s like a 10-year-old. When she came on my podcast. I do a podcast with my daughter called Howie Mandel Does Stuff, and she was wild on that and that’s been a joy. I’m looking forward to this season.
VE: And you can see the chemistry in that video, which is really cool to see, and it honestly just makes me want to go in and, join you guys. It’s just fun. You can see the chemistry. You could see that you guys are very playful. I love that you guys can be yourselves, both on camera and off camera, because the ability to have that the familial or friendship connection shows.
Well, I’m never more myself than when I am live on stage. So, come see me in Annapolis, because that is the real, true, raw me. Everything I’ve ever been punished for, expelled for, gotten in trouble for, is what I’m getting paid for.
DR: You host your podcast with your daughter, which has been on for 244 episodes. And as a few weeks ago just turned four years, what is it like to work with your daughter on a podcast? And since you do another podcast with Harlan Williams, who’s been your favorite guest on either podcast.
Well, on with the one with Harlan Williams, it’s called When a Stranger Callz. So it’s just strangers. We don’t have guests, you know, it’s just people. People Zoom in. We don’t know who they are. They’re listeners, and we just have a good time with them and just working with my daughter is the joy. But any that we’ve had everybody and anybody, and we don’t have a specific favorite. There’s been everything from hysterical things to serious things to people getting mad and walking off.
Dana White walked off. Bill Burr is mad at me now because we put them together with Billy Corrigan and kind of intimated that they might be brothers, which wasn’t my idea. Billy Corrigan told me the story. Ted Danson is a good friend who came on this week. Everybody from Jay Leno to some of the Golden Buzzers from AGT. Every great comedian has come on. It’s just, it’s a today, as soon as I hang up here, I have a Logic here. Logic’s coming on. You know, he’s releasing new music and a new movie. So anybody, who’s anybody? Comes on, nice,
VE: If you ever need a scout leader or a scout influencer, I can come on.
You’re a scout influencer? My granddaughter is a scout. She has set a record in cookies sold. The first year she started doing it, she posted it on Ellen’s show.
VE: I saw that, and I was going to ask about that, because that was really, really adorable. It was during the pandemic, if I’m correct. She came in while your daughter was chatting with you in her cute little Daisy uniform. And you know, was like, I swear it’s not a scam. And you ended up buying boxes of cookies for the entire audience. So as a scouting influencer, All About Scouts, that’s the page that I do. But also, as a Girl Scout leader myself, I gotta say that, what is your favorite Girl Scout Cookie, because you’ve bought a lot of Girl Scout cookies.
Anything I buy from my granddaughter, I don’t eat Girl Scout cookies. I just try not to eat cookies. I just try not to I’m trying to at my age. I’m trying to stay healthy. I’m an old guy. You know, I’m this year is my 70th year. I’m just trying to I’m trying to eat healthy, and not that girl scout cookies are healthy, and I think you should support the scouts. My daughters both love the being in the Girl Scouts, and my granddaughter loves being Girl Scout. And I have another baby granddaughter who will be a Girl Scout. So I’m supporting, I don’t have a favorite cookie.
VE: Yeah, it’s okay. I actually like having admission to make. I have not eaten a Girl Scout Cookie this year, which is actually very telling. Thank you for supporting your granddaughters, but also supporting scouting. You know that’s really cool.
Well, I want to thank you for your time. I’m going into my podcast right now so, but I want to tell everybody that there are a few tickets left. Come on down and enjoy the show!
Check out Howie in Howie Mandel Live! next Saturday, May 17th at 8:00pm at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis, MD. Tickets are available! Go to marylandhall.org for more details!
And click over to howiemandel.com for all thins Howie and to see if Howie Mandel Live! comes to a town near you!
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