TV and Film Career
Mandel came to national attention in the U.S. during a six-year run on St. Elsewhere, starting in 1982 and playing the role of Dr. Wayne Fiscus, opposite the late Ed Flanders and Norman Lloyd, with whom he remains good friends as of 2012. While working as Dr. Fiscus, and continuing to work as a comedian, he also did movies, including his role as the voice of Gizmo in the 1984 hit Gremlins and its 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. In 1985 Mandel made a cameo in the Michael J. Fox directed short "The Iceman Hummeth" which was subsequently broadcast on Late Night with David Letterman in November 1985. In 1986, he starred in A Fine Mess alongside Ted Danson. For the first two seasons of Muppet Babies, he voiced Bunsen Honeydew, Animal and Skeeter. He starred on the 1987 comedy film Walk Like a Man. He was also "Maurice" in the 1989 movie Little Monsters. In 1990, he starred in the short-lived sitcom Good Grief on Fox.
He was also the creator and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated children's animated series Bobby's World (1990–1998), to which he supplied the voices of the title character and his father (using Howie's "normal" voice for Bobby's dad). Bobby's World ran for eight seasons on Fox and was later syndicated. Mandel also plays his alter-ego, Phil Skorjanc, in most of his comedy shows and these are a fan favorite. Bobby also made a cameo appearance in a February 2007 episode of Deal or No Deal. On a special 2-hour Christmas episode, first aired on December 25, 2007, Mandel delivered one line with Bobby's voice, as per request of the contestant.
In 1994 Mandel voiced the lead character, Little Howie, of the video game Tuneland. He starred in the sketch comedy series, Howie Mandel's Sunny Skies, in 1995 on Showtime. Mandel appeared in the 1995 Clint Black country music video "Summer's Comin'". He played the lead role of the professor in the short-lived TV series The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys, and guest-starred on a 1996 episode of the ABC TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as DC Comics supervillain Mister Mxyzptlk. In 1998 he hosted his own syndicated talk show, The Howie Mandel Show, which was canceled after one season. In 1999/2000, Mandel played "Jason" in the film Apocalypse III: Tribulation, and in 2002 played the Sand Man in the movie Hansel and Gretel. In 2006, he appeared as himself as a guest host in a parody of Deal or No Deal in the show-within-a-show of the TV series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In 2007, he guest-starred as himself in an episode of NBC's Medium, making a dream cameo of himself on Deal or No Deal. In that episode, he booted off the nighttime drama's protagonist for "cheating", since in the show he is a psychic medium and appeared to "know" the contents of the cases.
Mandel's signature stunt as a stand-up comedian (besides his Bobby alter-ego) was stretching a latex glove over his head and inflating it with his nostrils, filling it until it suddenly propelled itself off his head. This trick also lent itself to the title and cover photo of his comedy album, Fits Like a Glove (1986). He eventually gave up the routine under doctor's orders after being diagnosed with a perforated sinus. However, in a cameo role as himself on My Name is Earl, he did the routine. He guest starred in two episodes of Monk ("Mr. Monk Joins a Cult" and "Mr. Monk's 100th Case").
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