Howie Mandel on comedy, coping and the courage to be different
BY LA Stories Staff Los Angeles
PUBLISHED 5:00 AM PT May 19, 2025
Though he’s known for being a funny guy on TV, Howie Mandel says he felt like an outcast growing up in Toronto.
Bonding with his parents over “Candid Camera,” he often tried to mimic the pranks he saw on TV at school — something that got him expelled more than once.
It would be years later before he learned that his behavior and feelings resulted from anxiety, OCD and ADHD.
When Mandel found himself on stage at a comedy show, he managed his anxiety with what would become an iconic skit: putting a latex glove, which he carried around because of his fear of germs, on his head and blowing it up.
“That was the first time I regained that feeling I had from Alan Funt, where everybody in that room, without knowing me, kind of enjoyed me,” he said in referencing “Candid Camera.”
On the latest episode of “LA Stories with Giselle Fernandez,” Mandel shares how that first comedy show experience shaped the rest of his career.
From his early days in stand-up to iconic roles such as Dr. Wayne Fiscus on “St. Elsewhere” to hosting “Deal or No Deal” and becoming the longest-serving judge on “America’s Got Talent,” Mandel’s career is a testament to his versatility and enduring appeal.
While he spent years hiding his diagnosis, he opened up to Fernandez about the fear he felt after revealing his mental health struggles on “The Howard Stern Show” — only to realize that by sharing his experience, he was helping others just like him.
“I started to get letters, and it opened up a floodgate,” he said. “So to find this connection, this little life rope, was so wonderful.”
Beyond entertainment, Mandel is also an innovative entrepreneur, with ventures in holographic technology through his work with the company Proto, as well as projects in podcasting and gaming.
Despite continued challenges, he remains an outspoken advocate for mental wellness, encouraging society to treat mental health with the same seriousness as physical health and urging individuals to develop the tools to cope with life’s inevitable hardships.
For Mandel, the key to life is recognizing that each person is special and unique — and that should be celebrated.
“No two people are alike,” he said. “I think we strive to be like everything we see, everything we hear, and everything we look like — and I think that’s the biggest mistake anybody can make.”