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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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cA game show would have been the nail in the coffin of my career,\u201d Mandel tells Q\u2019s Tom Power. \u201cIf your currency was irony and comedy, you don’t want to be a [game show host].<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I said no, and then they called me back an hour later and they said, \u2018Come on, they can’t do it without you,\u2019 and they’re going to \u2026 put it in prime time, five nights in one week. And I go, even more of a nail in the coffin of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI go home and my wife, I tell her the story,\u201d he recalls. \u201cShe goes, \u2018So go do it. They’re offering you money. You think that your career is s–t anyway, so what the hell?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
WATCH | Full interview with Howie Mandel:<\/p>\n
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\u2019t want to be seen in the U.S., where he was living.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I get a call from the guy who came out to the deli saying, \u2018You’re not going to believe it: in the first week, 100 million people watched over the five nights.\u2019 Are you kidding me?\u201d Mandel says. \u201cAnd 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, \u2018Deal or no deal?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Mandel thought the show would destroy his career. Instead, it made it \u2014 and created a whole new career path for comedians.<\/p>\n
After the success of Deal or No Deal, a bunch of new game shows hosted by comedians cropped up, such as Steve Harvey\u2019s gig hosting Family Feud and Jeff Foxworthy\u2019s role hosting Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these comics that you see now doing game shows?\u201d Mandel says. \u201cYou’re welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n