Rams Head Presents Howie Mandel At Maryland Hall This May

Howie Mandel has a deal for you.

The comedian, game show host and “America’s Got Talent” judge is coming to Maryland Hall in Annapolis on May 17 at 8:00pm. He is promising a night of “entertainingly dangerous” standup comedy in return for the price of admission, which starts at $70.

Audiences might know Mandel from his roles in TV, film or onstage. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program for “Deal or No Deal.” Before that, he portrayed Dr. Wayne Fiscus on the medical drama “St. Elsewhere” and created the animated series “Bobby’s World.”

Mandel spoke with Severna Park Voice editor Zach Sparks in April.

Z: Hey, Howie. How are you?

H: I seem to be OK. How are you doing?

Z: I’m pretty well. Seem to be OK? Is that a daily assessment?

H: Well, I’m not an expert, you know. Somebody else would have to judge how I’m doing. How do you think I’m doing, Zach?

Z: It sounds like you have a lot of energy and you’re doing great.

H: Thank you. I have a lot of energy and I’m doing great.

Z: Thank you for doing this. It seems like you have a lot of shows coming up on the East Coast. You’re still doing 100-200 shows a year?

H: Yeah, standup comedy is my thing. Everything else is a little bit of a result of whatever standup comedy is. I never stopped doing standup. Standup is my favorite thing to do. But I should say that I do a lot of television, I’m on “America’s Got Talent” and “Deal or No Deal” and Saturday morning cartoons, but don’t bring the kids to my live shows. And the beauty of it is not that I purposely do anything that isn’t family friendly, but if it goes into that area, it does. It is very improvisational.

I look at it like a giant party and I’m just trying to be the center of attention. Anything can happen, and I want anything to happen. I want it loose and fun and free; that’s my primal scream. I don’t have to edit. I don’t have to throw to commercials. I don’t have to recite a line that somebody gave me. It’s just loose, fun, free and funny, and for me, laughter is the best medicine. And apparently, I’m hooked on the medicine.

Z: You’ve been doing this for over 30 years. Have you developed a sense of jokes that are universal versus jokes that go better with a certain crowd?

H: No. I think that humor is continuously a moving animal that is directly attached to our culture, so what was funny 20 years ago, 30 years ago, might not be funny or has no point of reference today. I like improvisational humor where it’s in the moment, so it’s about now.

We change. The things that we respond to are different than the things that we used to respond to and the things that we will be responding to in the future. If you’re going to be an entertainer and you want to continue entertaining, I think you have to be pliable. You have to adopt and adapt.

Z: While we are talking about your career, you were working at a carpet store when you started this in the 1970s and by chance you performed at The Comedy Store?

H: Well, no. I always do everything in alphabetical order and that was the next thing in the Cs. Carpet to comedy (laughs). There was a method to my madness. No, I was in the carpet business, but it was in the mid ‘70s. I just went to a comedy club in Toronto as an audience member and then somebody dared me. They said, ‘On Monday nights up until midnight, they let amateurs up if you think you can do what you’ve just seen,’ and one thing led to another and now I’m talking to you. And yes, based on a dare.

And then, he asked me to come back the next night and I hung out at the comedy club in Toronto, called the Yuk Yuk’s, and then when I was on a vacation in Los Angeles, I dropped in on The Comedy Store. My buddy Mike Binder got me onstage and I got seen by a producer of a comedy game show called “Make Me Laugh,” and he hired me right there to go do “Make Me Laugh.” I did that and flew home. It aired in America, not Canada. I got called by “The Mike Douglas Show” and “The Merv Griffin Show,” and I just started getting work. I just happened into it, just like I’ve happened into almost everything I do.

Standup has always been something that I was doing, not even pursuing as a career, just doing, and I got a young comedian special and off of that, I went to a meeting and was on “St. Elsewhere.” I wasn’t pursuing being a dramatic actor, I wasn’t pursuing doing Saturday morning cartoons, I wasn’t pursuing being a game show host or a talent judge, but I always pursue a laugh.

Z: You’ve talked about being a misfit and now you’re giving hope to misfits everywhere.

H: I believe everybody is a misfit. Nobody fits. We’re all part of this puzzle called humanity. If you’re exactly like somebody else, you’re not living to your potential. I learned that now in my old age.

Z: You have talked about having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). I find it fascinating that you willingly enter a setting that would make most people uncomfortable. You harness that fear or how would you describe that feeling?

H: Yeah, I am very uncomfortable. I am now at the point in my life, very comfortable with discomfort and not comfortable with comfort. I love that fear. It makes me feel alive. It keeps me in the moment. With my mental health, which I’ve been very open about, the key is, regardless of who you are or what issues you have in life, I think living in the moment is always the best. Some people are better at it than others.

I still like thrill rides, so it’s like a thrill ride, right? If you go on a roller coaster and you’re shot way up in the air and you’re flipped upside down and you’re being dived at, you think you’re coming that close to death, your adrenaline is going, and you’re just in the moment and it’s just pure joy and terror all at the same time, and if it does that to you and you like that feeling, you want to go on again. If it was just a little breeze blowing through your hair and you’re going 25 miles per hour, and it might be really comfortable, that would bore you.

That thrill of getting up on a stage live, and obviously after 40 years, I do have a repertoire to call on and I’m constantly writing, but the fact that I don’t know where it’s going to go and it becomes improvisational, it’s kind of scary. And I don’t mean that in a negative sense. That’s what’s fun. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know what’s happening in that moment in that room. You just know that it’s going to be entertainingly dangerous, you know? You could be totally humiliated or rise to the sound of a ha. Hopefully two of those — ha ha.

Z: Do you have a warmup routine or something that helps you enter that setting?

H: Absolutely nothing. The less prepared I am, the better it is. If I could just walk out of the plane, into the theater, and I hear somebody go, “Ladies and gentlemen, Howie Mandel,” and walk out without any idea of where I am, what is happening, what is happening before me, that is the best. I don’t want to percolate in what might happen, how it’s going to go, or plan.

Z: People are going to see you everywhere. You’re going to be in Annapolis and have the other shows on the East Coast, “America’s Got Talent” is coming back and “Canada’s Got Talent” is airing. I saw the video with the contestant Tape Face. You seem to be a big fan of his.

H: He’s very funny. He’s very good. He turned the page for me as far as mimes go. I hate mime, but I love Tape Face.

Z: You even got to be part of the act.

H: Lucky me.

Z: The next season premiers May 27.

H: Yeah, come see me live and then watch me on TV and listen to my podcast, “Howie Mandel Does Stuff,” with a new one every Tuesday. Me and my daughter do that show. And then I do one every Thursday called “When A Stranger Callz.” I do that one with Harland Williams. Strangers just call in and we talk to them.

Z: You started “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” to bond with Jackelyn?

H: Yes, with my daughter during COVID. And then it’s turned into something. It’s four years and going strong and growing and growing and growing. It’s the highlight of my week. Sitting with my kid, having fun. It’s amazing.

Z: Does that make you proud you have been able to pass the love of comedy to one or all three of your kids?

H: I don’t know if they all love comedy. They all have their own interests. The girl I do the podcast with is a teacher, so she has a love of education. She has a really good sense of humor. They enjoy comedy.

My son who produces the show and produces many of the shows you see on the internet, he produces and built my studio, so he is a behind-the-scenes guy, Alex, who I’m proud of. And then I have another daughter who is a brilliant Ph.D. who has no interest in being anywhere in public. I had to talk her into being in her own wedding photos.

Z: I’m sure you had plenty of good advice for her.

H: She has good advice for me. My kids help me. They lead me.

Z: On “America’s Got Talent” last year, you had Richard Goodall, a 55-year-old school janitor, and that exemplifies that idea that you can find talent in all shapes and forms. I’m sure that surprises you every year.

H: That’s the beauty of it: just when I think I’ve seen everything, this show proves you ain’t seen nothing yet. And this year is going to be bigger and better than any other year. This is our 20th anniversary.

Howie Mandel’s Maryland Hall show is presented in partnership with Rams Head. For tickets, visit www.marylandhall.org/events.