Last night Artie and I went to see comedian and game show host Howie Mandel. We have loved Howie since the days of the medical show "St. Elsewhere" right on up to his current gig as the host of "Deal or No Deal". Howie is just plain silly and he makes me laugh. Last night at the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin, Howie made a lot of people, including Artie and me, laugh till our sides hurt. The laughter started before we even sat down because the ushers were passing out packs of hand sanitizer promoting Howie's book called "Here's the Deal. Don't Touch Me". If you ever watch "Deal or No Deal" you probably know that Howie will not shake hands with anyone, rather they do fist bumps with one another. This is because Howie Mandel suffers from many mental issues, including OCD and ADHD, as well as being claustrophobic and germphobic. There is irony in the fact that someone who suffers from so many issues makes people laugh. Howie has confronted his demons and chooses to use them to make people forget about any problems THEY may have for a little while. Howie is constant energy from the time he enters the stage until he leaves at the end of his show. He is a master of improvisation too. People who chose to heckle him were taken apart with such cleverness that even they had to laugh at themselves. If any of you reading this have watched "Bobby's World", which is now available on On Demand (Comcast), you would know how much fun it is to hear Howie do Bobby's voice. He was also the voice of Skooter (early Sesame Street character and sister of Skeeter) and Gizmo, the furry alien from "Gremlins". Howie Mandel is one talented guy. We thank him for an evening of side-splitting laughter and tears running down our faces - good tears.
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