![]() He started performing at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles after a trip to California, which led to appearances on the game show Make Me Laugh and other TV shows. Humor-and the ability to poke fun at his idiosyncrasies-is one of his tools to stay emotionally healthy.īy the late 1970s, Mandel was entertaining audiences at the Yuk Yuk’s in Toronto with his brand of antic humor. Mandel says performing helps calm him and creates a “comfort zone” where irrational thoughts are muted. He discovered his passion when he got up on stage during amateur night at a club. And he met the love of his life, Terry, whom he married in 1980.Īfter an over-the-top prank got him expelled-the story is that he solicited bids on a building addition while impersonating a school board member-Mandel found work as a carpet salesman.Īfter hours, he pursued stand-up comedy. ![]() In high school, Mandel gained a reputation as the class clown and a prankster. and I’d say, ‘Well, me,’” Mandel recalls in his 2009 memoir Here’s the Deal: Don’t Touch Me. I would just do things that tickled my fancy in the moment, and she would ask me who I was entertaining. “My mother got my sense of humor, even when I was a kid. He also discovered at an early age that he enjoyed being the center of attention by making people laugh. Mandel has said his parents accepted his differences and helped him to manage his depression. Luckily for the young Mandel, he found compensating strengths and family support. (Mandel’s trademark fist bump and his bald pate both grew out of his germ phobia: He avoids having to shake anyone’s hand, and he’s said he feels “cleaner” with his head shaved.) Success story He knows his dread of contamination is mysophobia, an anxiety disorder that’s related to his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). ![]() Now he knows his inability to sit still and pay attention is the result of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In those days before labels and evaluations, the best anyone could say was that he was “suffering from ‘Howie,’” as he puts it. ![]()
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