-It's wonderful to have you back.
-It's good to be back. I love you.
I love this show. I love your stories.
-Thank you. And you are loved, as well.
You are also -- You've been doing this a long time.
You're very recognizable.
When you're back in New York,
are you recognized on the street?
-You talk about love.
You know, I am in New York, and I'm here -- Well, obviously.
-Yeah. -I'm here promoting, you know,
"Deal or No Deal" on CNBC.
But when I'm in New York, as opposed to where I live
in Los Angeles, you are much more exposed...
-Yes. -...to people.
You know, you show up at a backdoor in L.A.,
and you go in, and you don't see people.
But here, you know, walking across the street
from "The Today Show" or here or in the lobby,
there's people around.
And I've learned a 10-second rule.
And the 10-second rule that I have learned is,
once somebody approaches you, and they're very nice to you
and they give you a compliment,
you better leave within 10 seconds,
because it turns ugly.
Somebody will come up to me and say,
"I saw you promoting 'Deal or No Deal' on CNBC.
I love that show!" And I go, "Thank you."
"It's so much better than 'AGT.' You are not good on that show."
[ Laughter ]
You know? Or, "I saw you last night on television.
You were so funny." "Thank you."
"And in person, you are fatter." You know?
[ Laughter ]
I just never -- And people in New York
are so, like --
This happened the last time I was here,
and I ended up talking about it in my act, but it's real,
and it happened when I was doing your show.
I met somebody downstairs, and they go, "Howie Mandel!"
And I go, "Yes." And they go, "I love you.
From the time I was a kid, I watched 'Bobby's World,'
I watched 'St. Elsewhere,' we watch 'AGT.'
We watch everything you do. I just love you."
And I said, "Well, what are you doing now?"
They go, "We're tourists.
We're just hanging around, but we're from New York."
And I go, "Well, I'm going upstairs.
I'm doing 'Seth Meyers.'
You could probably come with me. You want to come up?"
And they just said, "Nah."
[ Laughter ]
"Nah."
-Howie, I feel liking that story reflects badly on me.
[ Laughter ]
Like, they love everything you've been in,
and the first time they said no
was when you tried to get them to see me.
-Think about this --
You have been talking to me for more than 10 seconds.
-That's true. [ Laughter ]
I made the mistake. I made the mistake.
I want to ask you about this. You've been very open about --
You were a germophobe. -Were? I am.
-You am. You are. Yes.
-It's very hard for me. I'm always around people.
-Yeah. -I fly.
-Well, that's the thing. I feel, you know, obviously,
I know now we're not gonna shake hands.
We're gonna bump fists.
But you get on a plane -- a plane is a plane.
It doesn't care. -You're right.
Things happen to me that don't happen to other people.
I think when you have that -- You bring it upon yourself.
I'm so -- I'll tell you, this is not a touching or a germ thing.
But I was on a plane recently,
and the guy next to me took off his shoes.
[ Audience groans ]
Were you in there? Did you smell it?
[ Laughter ]
There was an odor, the worst odor I have ever --
And you can't say to the guy, you know --
So I went up front, and I spoke to the flight attendant.
And I said, "The guy beside me took off his shoes,
and I can't breathe, and it's just horrible.
Is there any way -- you as --"
She says, "I'll take care of it."
So she went. I stayed you up there.
She went. And I saw her talking,
and then I see the guy roll his eyes,
and he takes his shoes, and he puts them back on.
And I go back to the seat.
This is the weirdest thing in the world.
It turns out it wasn't his feet.
His ankles stink. -Oh!
So even when the shoes went back on, the smell was still there.
[ Both laugh ]
-How does that happen?
[ Laughter ]
And how do you know it's his ankles?
This guy had stinky ankles.
His feet were like flowers, but his ankles were, like, rotting.
He had rotten ankles. -Yeah.
-You've got to the take care of that,
and you've got to know that.
-When you first started doing "Deal or No Deal" --
2005 I guess it was, yes? -Yes.
-You had some hesitation, because, obviously,
you've been a comedian for a long time,
and you thought it might affect your comedy cred,
which, I would imagine, I think all comedians
have those moments where they --
-You know, in 2005, if you think back,
no comedian had been hosting a game show
since Groucho Marx or, you know, maybe Johnny Carson --
for decades.
And when your currency is irony and you're dealing in comedy,
I think the host of a game show was the punch line.
So when I got -- And I wasn't doing good at that time.
In 2005, I wasn't being booked in a lot of places.
I wasn't that out there.
My career was waning. I was thinking of quitting.
And then I get the call from NBC at the time,
"Can you come do 'Deal or No Deal'?"
and I said no.
And then they explained the game to me,
and I said, "Even more reason, no."
There's no game, right? There's no skill.
We're just gonna open cases.
What am I gonna do for an hour?
And then, I went home, and I told my wife.
She goes, "Are you gonna do it?"
and I said no, and she goes, "Why?"
I said, "because it'll put the nail in the coffin
of what's left of my career."
And she said, "Where are you standing right now?"
And I said, "We're in the kitchen."
And she said, "Howie, this is your career."
[ Laughter ]
She said, "You're an idiot. Take the deal."
And I did, and I was so embarrassed.
I did the show.
And I had plans to be funny and witty.
But when I got onstage and -- this is serious --
and I saw the first contestant,
and they told me they'd never owned a home,
they don't have insurance, it became --
I didn't want to kind of distract them with being funny.
-Of course. -I became empathetic, you know?
-Yeah. -Even changed my cadence.
That's why I wanted to say to somebody,
who wasn't on television, I would go,
"The offer is... fifty...thousand...dollars."
And the reason -- Just like, "Listen to me.
That's real, and this is a chance."
So I did nothing.
And then, I flew off to the Caribbean
where they didn't have TV -- where I didn't have
American television, 'cause I didn't want to see it,
and I thought it was gonna be a disaster.
And lo and behold, I got a call, and they said, "This is a hit."
And I go, "What is a hit?"
And then it aired the next night,
and they said it was bigger, and the next night, it's bigger.
And it became a phenomenon, and then I flew back to Miami,
and I landed, and within seconds,
the first person came up to me and went, "Deal or no deal?"
And for 10 years,
I've been clawing and scraping my way back,
and the lovely people at CNBC have given me an opportunity.
And now, Wednesday nights on CNBC,
it is bigger and more exciting than it has ever been.
It's still $1 million, 26 models, a banker,
who's now a female banker. -Good.
-It is good. -Yeah.
-Thank you. -It's about time.