| An Interview with Howie Mandel of Deal or No Deal |
Toronto Star Wheels - 2/17/07 | |
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Howie Mandel is a busy man.
Popular too, judging by the fact that 2.7 million people across Canada tuned in to watch the recent premiere of Deal or No Deal Canada. But there’s more to Howie than just his current role as the knuckle-bumping game show host who shares the stage with 26 beautiful briefcase-toting models. |
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The Toronto-born father of three, who currently lives in California, seems to be constantly on the road, continuing to make over 200 stand-up comedy appearances a year while juggling his game show duties and guest television appearances, as well as filming hidden-camera antics for his Hidden Howie episodes which often appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
I managed to catch the busy comedian via phone while he was en route to New York recently and quizzed him about his driving history and his current habits behind the wheel. Q. What’s parked in your driveway right now? A. A Mini Cooper Q. What was your first car? A. A 1970-something Chevy Bel Air. Q. Did you pass your licence on the first try? A. Yes, I took a crash course, Ontario Motor League’s crash course during my spring break. I’d never been behind the wheel of a car and I was sixteen-years old and during the spring break in our school, actually I went Lawrence Park Collegiate - I didn’t go there as a student I went there for my driving crash course. I started on a Monday and by the following Monday I had my driver’s licence. And can I just say, it lived up to its name. It was a “crash” course. I had many accidents in the following weeks. I wasn’t a good driver. It’s experience, and it [the driving course] was only a week. I was always crashing; it was like bumper cars for me. Q. And what type of driver are you now? A. Horrible. I don’t like driving, I don’t drive, any time somebody else can drive, my wife can drive or somebody else can, I allow that. I have no attention span. I get bored with what’s out the window. I’m a horrible driver, I’m totally distracted. Q. Who taught your children to drive? A. Professionals, I sent them off to a driving school. Q. And you didn’t take them out to practice? A. The odd time, but not really and nowhere near any traffic. Q. Gearhead or no clue? A. I haven’t got a clue. I know how to open a hood, I just don’t know what’s going on once it’s open. Q. Are your vehicles coddled or cluttered, flawless or filthy? A. Flawless and coddled, but that’s because I have somebody clean them all the time. I don’t know why, I change cars just about every three year. I’ve garnered, I think it’s close to three thousand miles in three years. [My cars are] Always under 10,000 miles. You have to realize I’m not home. You saw me in Toronto and now I’m on my way to New York as we speak. I can’t drive, I go to the airport and a car just takes me to the airport. I’ve got air miles. Q. You’re quite candid, commendably so, about having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and a fear of germs, does this affect your driving at all? A. It only affects valet parking. I just don’t want anybody else touching my steering wheel, so I don’t valet park. Q. When you’re at the wheel are the tunes blaring or is it blissful silent? A. Blaring. Q. What’s blaring? A. The radio. Q. Any particular group? A. Right now, Nickelback. Q. There have been several special vehicular prizes on Deal or No Deal (USA), everything from a Hummer and tractor to a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a lime- green Escalade, all of which were rejected by the contestants except the Escalade. Given the opportunity to slip behind the wheel of any vehicle you desire what would it be? A. Well now that I’m doing Deal or No Deal Canada it would have to be a GM product. They’re sponsoring us. Q. Sponsor aside, do you have any particular desire to own say, an antique car, maybe a sports car or something else? A. No ... I got the Mini Cooper after I saw [the movie] The Italian Job. I thought that might be fun. But I’m not much of a car aficionado. I’ve had every car, but I’m kind of over cars at this moment. Yeah, my favourite kind of vehicle is the tricycle on Bobby’s World (his soon-to-return animated children’s series, currently in syndication, for which he does several voices.) It’s safe. It’s fun. That’s where I feel safest -in a cartoon. Q. Did you buy yourself a new set of wheels when you felt you made it in the business? A. When I felt I made it? When I feel that. You know, I don’t know if I’ve felt it yet. I’ve had some nice toys in the past. You know, now I don’t use them and also when I had the really, really nice toys, my OCD also kind of hovers over into my cars. And you know, God forbid anybody should touch it or there should be a nick on it. It kind of defeats the purpose for me of driving some place because I would park so far from where I had to go I did a lot of walking. The nicer the car, the more walking I do. Q. NASCAR or no? (There was a NASCAR-themed Deal or No Deal (USA) episode, with black and white checkered design cases with coloured numbers, for a contestant who was a NASCAR fan.) A. Just watching it, not racing. Q. Pet peeve of other drivers? A. I’m just fascinated by the fact that people don’t realize, at the red lights, that windows and windshields are actually see-thru and feel they’re in a very solitary cone where you can just pick your nose really in public. Q. You’ve done some Hidden Howie episodes that had drivers doing some rather unusual things, what’s the strangest thing you made motorists do? (While manning a state road toll booth a disguised Howie informed motorists about a new state “nose check” law, handed out rubber gloves and asked drivers to perform digital inspection of their nostrils.) A. I would imagine the nose check, you can see that on YouTube. (and at www.howiemandel.com) That’s my favourite kind of comedy by the way. That stuff, I do that daily. I carry cameras with me and some of it ends up on the Tonight Show and Regis (Live with Regis and Kelly) and YouTube, most of it just ends up in my own little library. Me and my friends, when I have a moment, that’s my entertainment. Q. I heard you were also in a car dealership honking horns until you got thrown out. A. I acted as a customer and a salesman. As a salesman I would see how far I could get perspective clients to look at things that were just nonsense, something, - a little nut I found way under the car. So I’d have the entire family crawl on the showroom floor and look at some little nut with a washer attached that should be the reason for their purchase. As a customer, just trying out the horn in the showroom, just hanging on the horn incessantly. You know, if they think you’re going to spend the money, people have more tolerance than you can imagine. Q. On a roadtrip whom would you most like to invite along to ride shotgun? A. I would take my wife. Q. Aside from your wife. A. I have to say my wife because she reads this paper, the Toronto Star. Q. Where would you head off to if you could go on a roadtrip anywhere? A. Just my cul-de-sac. I don’t ever want to be too far from home. I live on the road and my favourite place is home so if I had to get in a car and drive some place, it would be around my cul-de-sac. Q. Best roadtrip? A. When I was a kid we used to drive down from Toronto to Florida every year, the whole family. My parents used to put a suitcase between me and my brother so we couldn’t swipe at each other. It was always a 24-hour trip, it took three days, and those were always fun. Q. Who is absolutely the worst driver you’ve ever been with? A. Me. If anyone sees me getting into a car, get home quickly and get off the road. |