CBC Arts50%
Howie Mandel paved the way for comedians to host game shows 37%
By Sabina Wex0%
5/26/2026, 7:59:37 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Availability Heuristic, Post Hoc (False Cause), and Anecdotal, with Attempt to Sell a Product or Service as the most egregious example at 17.9% saturation with 103 hits. Analysis detected 737 faulty-reasoning hits from 575 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.6% and a BS Rank of 37% (10,591 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 63.00% of the article peer group.
In 2005, Howie Mandel wanted to quit show business after another one of his television projects had failed.
The Toronto-born comedian was done dealing with the Hollywood shenanigans.
Then, he was asked if he would host a new game show.
It was called Deal or No Deal, where there are 26 suitcases filled with unknown amounts of money.
“A game show would have been the nail in the coffin of my career,” Mandel tells Q’s Tom Power.
“If your currency was irony and comedy, you don't want to be a [game show host].
“So I said no, and then they called me back an hour later and they said, ‘Come on, they can't do it without you,’ and they're going to … put it in prime time, five nights in one week.
And I go, even more of a nail in the coffin of my career.”
But the game show producers?
They persisted.
One of them ended up flying out to a deli in the San Fernando Valley because Mandel happened to be there when they called him, to try and persuade him to take the job (since he refused to go to their offices).
The game show rep even brought a cardboard cutout version of Deal or No Deal and had Mandel play it right there in the restaurant.
“I go home and my wife, I tell her the story,” he recalls.
“She goes, ‘So go do it.
They're offering you money.
You think that your career is s--t anyway, so what the hell?’”
So Mandel took the gig.
In December 2005, Deal or No Deal premiered.
Mandel took a vacation to the Caribbean at that time because he was so embarrassed by the show that he didn’t want to be seen in the U.S., where he was living.
“Then I get a call from the guy who came out to the deli saying, ‘You're not going to believe it: in the first week, 100 million people watched over the five nights.’
Are you kidding me?”
Mandel says.
“And I flew back.
I hadn't seen it.
I landed in Miami.
I hadn't been in the States while it was airing.
And within 30 seconds, the first person that laid eyes on me went, ‘Deal or no deal?’”
Mandel thought the show would destroy his career.
Instead, it made it — and created a whole new career path for comedians.
After the success of Deal or No Deal, a bunch of new game shows hosted by comedians cropped up, such as Steve Harvey’s gig hosting Family Feud and Jeff Foxworthy’s role hosting Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?
“All these comics that you see now doing game shows?”
Mandel says.
“You're welcome.”
Listen to the full interview with Howie Mandel to hear him talk about his foray into the game show genre, how he continues to perform stand-up, and his advice to fellow entertainers.
You can see Howie Mandel as a judge on America’s Got Talent, which launches its 21st season on June 2.
He also will appear as a judge on Canada’s Got Talent and the host of The Price Is Right Tonight, both of which will be returning this fall.
The full interview with Howie Mandel is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power.
Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Howie Mandel produced by Catherine Stockhausen.
Analysis
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