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The last time Howie Mandel did a show in Hawaii, someone in the crowd, apparently well under the influence of alcohol, constantly yelled out unintelligible "contributions" to Mandel's material. Another individual walked up to the stage and tried to engage him in one-on-one conversation while the show was in progress.
Howie Mandel loves the
unscripted give-and-take
of stand-up comedyBy John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.comMandel headlines the Monarch Room tomorrow night, and he welcomes anyone with plans to "add" to the show to buy a ticket and take a number.
"Quiet is not as good at a comedy show as it is in a library -- I love it when they're a part of it," Mandel said. "I'm not looking for an audience to come, sit back and just listen to me. I love it when people walk up to the stage, people talk to me, and it's more like a party we're all invited to, and I just fight to be the center of attention. It's fun and loose, and you feel like you're just sitting with your family and hopefully listening to crazy Uncle Howie."
The past year has been another busy one for the versatile comedian. Mandel has been touring, "doing a lot of those hidden-camera things" for Jay Leno and Regis Philbin and other shows, and working on some upcoming projects he doesn't want to jinx by talking about before they're done deals. Stand-up comedy remains his first love.
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"It's the purest form of entertainment. I don't know what people are going to say or what is going to happen. It's live and it's not edited and it's not cut. There's no marks to hit (and) there's no lines to read. Every show is somewhat different because the audience is very interactive. Every night proves to be fun and like no other night I've had. I always look forward to that kind of exchange."The show may include some of Mandel's hidden-camera clips, a modern version of "Candid Camera" in which Mandel goes out wearing special camera glasses.
"I annoy the hell out of people for no other reason than everybody else's entertainment," he said of the popular bit. Mandel is bringing his camera glasses to Hawaii and will be shooting while he's here. No one is seen on television without their consent.
"I've never shown anybody who wasn't aware -- at least after -- that they were on camera, and if you really watch the pieces, I'm not catching anybody doing anything that would be incredibly humiliating. In fact, in most of the pieces, I come off like the idiot, and it's just how do they deal with it."
Coming off "like the idiot" is all in a day's work for Mandel, and he couldn't enjoy it more.
"As a child I craved being the center of attention, and my job is to show up someplace and be the center of attention at this party that most people paid to go to. Everything I've ever been punished for, expelled for, hit for as a kid, is what I seem to get paid for today."
Mandel cautions youthful cut-ups that the lesson to be learned is that if you're lucky you'll be able to make a living doing something you're passionate about.
"It just so happens that the way I was acting, and my personality and whatever I am, lent itself to the entertainment industry. You may be a certain way that has nothing to do with entertainment but do something in life that you have a passion for doing -- as long as it doesn't affect somebody else adversely. Hopefully, as a sidebar, maybe you can make a buck at it or gain some notoriety for it, but money isn't the reason to do anything in life. So few people get up each day and do something they look forward to, and that's why everybody can't wait for the weekend so they don't have to do whatever it is they have to do each day.
"I feel lucky, and it's not about the money."
Mandel's joy off stage is in being a parent. One of the things he enjoys most about working here is being able to bring his family with him. However, he cautions, his show isn't family entertainment.
"That's only because I don't censor myself. If a four-letter word should come out, then it just comes out. It should be part of the natural flow, but I don't try to get a laugh on the blueness of it. ... I don't try to get the laugh on a four-letter word."
Mandel sees the content of contemporary comedy as reflecting the changes in American values and the impact of cable television in making all forms of entertainment more accessible.
"I don't think comedy shifts as much as society. I think with the advent of cable television and all these other things, we are somewhat desensitized to violence, nudity and language, and you can see on network prime-time TV that language and nudity is acceptable fare. If you look at the way women are dressed on the cover of mainstream magazines today as opposed to any mainstream magazine back in the '30s, today's standards would be considered pornography then."
Britney Spears' latest cheesecake cover for Rolling Stone, for example.
Speaking from the dual perspectives of contemporary entertainer and father of three children, Mandel says the solution is not in blanket censorship, but to take responsibility for what you choose to experience.
"Society and the temperament of people is much different today than it was 10 years ago, but this is a free country, and you should monitor what's on, where you go, what you listen to, and not watch it if it's affecting you negatively -- or not let your children watch it if you feel it's going to affect them negatively. We have the choice of going to a show or not. That's why I can make a living and Pat Boone can make a living."
Where: Monarch Room, Royal Hawaiian Hotel "Happy Howie Days"
with Howie Mandel
When: 7 p.m. tomorrow
Tickets: $35, available at Tickets Plus outlets including Foodland/Sack 'n Save and the Blaisdell box office
Call: 526-4400
On the neighbor isles: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. today in the Westin Maui Valley Isle Ballroom, and 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Kauai Marriott Kauai Ballroom. Tickets for each show are $27.
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