0:00:07.416,0:00:08.797
Well I don't remember a time that

0:00:08.797,0:00:10.487
I didn't feel it was an issue but

0:00:10.487,0:00:13.371
I, it wasn't diagnosed until adulthood.

0:00:13.371,0:00:13.811
(interviewer): Mmhmm.

0:00:19.009,0:00:20.407
You know, we take care of our dental health.

0:00:20.407,0:00:21.619
We don't take care of our mental health.

0:00:21.619,0:00:22.898
People go get their teeth checked.

0:00:22.960,0:00:23.899
(interviewer): And it rhymes too.

0:00:24.250,0:00:25.628
It does. That's why I say it.

0:00:25.884,0:00:27.933
And when I was growing up. You know.

0:00:28.124,0:00:29.336
I mean I'm in my mid-50s. [br]

0:00:29.336,0:00:32.336
Even ADHD was not an issue in school.

0:00:32.336,0:00:33.417
I mean nobody talked about it.

0:00:33.417,0:00:34.614
Seems prevalent now.

0:00:34.831,0:00:37.088
But I would imagine there's [br]just as many kids now

0:00:37.266,0:00:39.446
That have it as had it when I was a kid.

0:00:39.446,0:00:41.536
It just wasn't identified [br]when I was a kid.

0:00:41.904,0:00:43.043
So I was troubled.

0:00:43.043,0:00:44.759
And I was outrageous you know?

0:00:44.934,0:00:46.698
I wasn't. I wasn't just the kid

0:00:46.698,0:00:48.413
The class clown that had, you know, [br]

0:00:48.413,0:00:50.777
a funny quip from the back of the class.

0:00:50.995,0:00:52.087
I mean, I was outrageous.

0:00:52.276,0:00:53.792
I would, you know.[br](interviewer): Right.

0:00:53.792,0:00:55.941
I'd call the yellow pages and

0:00:55.941,0:00:58.304
hired companies to bid on an

0:00:58.304,0:00:59.888
addition to the library.

0:00:59.949,0:01:02.009
So there would be uh people.

0:01:02.053,0:01:04.944
There would be people outside measuring

0:01:05.534,0:01:07.189
and the principal would go outside

0:01:07.189,0:01:07.912
and say, "What are you doing?"

0:01:07.912,0:01:09.698
and they'd say "We're from so-and-so [br]construction company and we're gonna"

0:01:09.698,0:01:11.427
"bid on the addition".

0:01:11.427,0:01:13.752
And he'd say, "Who authorized the addition?"

0:01:13.752,0:01:14.975
And they would say, "Howie Mandel"

0:01:14.975,0:01:15.787
I gave them my name.

0:01:15.804,0:01:17.264
(interviewer): Laughter

0:01:17.264,0:01:17.703
Yeah.

0:01:17.836,0:01:19.246
The only way I could talk to girls

0:01:19.246,0:01:21.174
is I would go into the girl's restroom

0:01:21.174,0:01:22.362
cause I didn't look like a boy.

0:01:22.536,0:01:24.116
And brush my hair in the mirror.

0:01:24.337,0:01:26.572
And talk to girls who came in.[br](interviewer): Did you really?

0:01:26.572,0:01:27.847
Yeah.

0:01:28.074,0:01:28.874
(interviewer): You must be joking.

0:01:28.874,0:01:29.329
(Laughter).

0:01:29.329,0:01:29.982
No I'm not.

0:01:30.027,0:01:31.145
That's where my wife met me.

0:01:31.402,0:01:33.158
I didn't finish,[br]I didn't finish high school.

0:01:33.158,0:01:34.036
I don't have a GED.

0:01:35.276,0:01:37.120
Can I still be in ABILITY?

0:01:37.120,0:01:37.660
(interviewer): Yes. Laughter.

0:01:37.968,0:01:38.811
(interviewer): What about your wife?

0:01:40.330,0:01:41.843
She is not in school anymore.

0:01:42.132,0:01:42.738
(interviewer): Laughter.

0:01:43.187,0:01:43.924
(interviewer): She's off to a cabin?

0:01:44.195,0:01:48.292
She is. We've been together over 30 years.

0:01:48.385,0:01:49.929
We celebrated our 31st anniversary.

0:01:50.134,0:01:51.997
When we got married I was doing [br]stand-up comedy.

0:01:51.997,0:01:53.317
And the next night I was playing Yuk Yuk's.

0:01:53.317,0:01:56.406
So I uh, invited her on the stage.

0:01:56.682,0:01:58.868
She sat in a stool on the stage

0:01:58.868,0:02:01.210
and I was doing stand-up.

0:02:01.501,0:02:03.668
Cause that's how I got my tickets. That's how,

0:02:03.668,0:02:05.506
They flew me back up there [br]cause I got a gig.

0:02:06.024,0:02:07.192
And that's how I afforded to go to

0:02:07.192,0:02:07.883
my own wedding.

0:02:08.235,0:02:10.488
And then she. The next night [br]Terry was sitting.

0:02:10.665,0:02:14.033
And I said that, you know, regardless [br]of how the show goes,

0:02:14.033,0:02:17.804
I just want to welcome everybody [br]to my honeymoon.

0:02:17.804,0:02:18.125
(interviewer): Laughter.

0:02:18.128,0:02:18.891
This is it.

0:02:18.891,0:02:19.882
So that was our honeymoon.

0:02:19.882,0:02:20.856
We didn't go anywhere. [br]

0:02:20.856,0:02:21.922
She just sat on stage.

0:02:21.922,0:02:23.475
at the comedy club in Toronto.

0:02:23.731,0:02:24.274
(interviewer): Wow.

0:02:24.444,0:02:25.379
For three, four nights straight.

0:02:25.534,0:02:27.242
♪(electronic music)♪

0:02:27.242,0:02:29.576
I, I masked it for many, many, many years.

0:02:29.769,0:02:30.753
Where I'd, you know,

0:02:30.753,0:02:31.582
and I shook hands.

0:02:31.591,0:02:33.643
You see me shaking hands in old videos.

0:02:33.643,0:02:37.433
And my uhm, you know, [br]even right up to my talk show.

0:02:37.433,0:02:39.138
I'd shake everybody's hands.

0:02:39.138,0:02:41.424
So I was living, you know,

0:02:41.424,0:02:42.473
and I hid a lot of it.

0:02:42.473,0:02:44.265
You know, I didn't, she was not in the,

0:02:44.265,0:02:46.675
in the, in the bathroom with me

0:02:46.675,0:02:48.458
while I'm scalding my hands, and so,

0:02:48.458,0:02:51.379
so I didn't really let her in on that, but

0:02:51.379,0:02:54.623
she knew that I was, like, obsessed,

0:02:54.623,0:02:56.294
with, you know, washing my hands.

0:02:56.294,0:02:57.069
(interviewer): Mmhm.

0:02:57.069,0:02:58.021
Also, I could also,

0:02:58.021,0:02:59.611
I could also cover it with logic, you know?

0:03:00.471,0:03:00.975
(interviewer): Mmhm.

0:03:00.975,0:03:02.323
Let's make a path of [br]this hotel room with towels

0:03:02.514,0:03:04.814
Cause you don't know when, what's

0:03:04.814,0:03:06.201
dripped all over this carpet.

0:03:06.917,0:03:09.010
So she would walk along my path.

0:03:09.197,0:03:10.425
(interviewer): Laughter.

0:03:11.260,0:03:12.878
Let's take the comforter off the bed

0:03:12.878,0:03:13.882
with the salad tongs,

0:03:13.882,0:03:15.174
Cause you don't know what's on the

0:03:15.174,0:03:16.689
(interviewer): I agree (Laughter)

0:03:16.689,0:03:18.847
you know, and she thought I was like a,

0:03:19.456,0:03:21.492
I think the blacklight bothered her.

0:03:21.494,0:03:23.151
(Laughter)

0:03:23.316,0:03:25.232
I went and spoke up in Capitol Hill.

0:03:25.787,0:03:29.725
and uhh. I tried to, that's where I lend

0:03:29.725,0:03:33.572
my time and uh that's what I support.

0:03:33.572,0:03:35.289
and I uh, I mean,

0:03:35.289,0:03:37.455
mostly it's just about trying to

0:03:37.455,0:03:39.481
remove the stigma. Because I think there's

0:03:39.481,0:03:42.530
a lot of help out there and I think a lot

0:03:42.530,0:03:44.982
of people could use the help and uh

0:03:44.982,0:03:46.607
and as I said before, you know,

0:03:46.607,0:03:48.011
my whole thing is that, I don't think

0:03:48.011,0:03:49.508
there's anybody alive that

0:03:49.508,0:03:52.601
could not benefit from

0:03:52.601,0:03:59.151
a professional mental health person

0:03:59.151,0:04:00.750
you know, being a part of their lives.

0:04:00.760,0:04:03.363
You know. And I would imagine there still is

0:04:03.363,0:04:05.272
a stigma attached to that. But I, you know,

0:04:05.272,0:04:06.725
I didn't really take care of that.

0:04:07.356,0:04:09.037
But now I'm taking care of it.

0:04:09.264,0:04:10.500
Look at me. (Laughs).

0:04:10.515,0:04:11.919
I'm in ABILITY magazine.

0:04:11.919,0:04:13.830
(interviewer): Laughter.

0:04:14.075,0:04:29.779
♪(electronic music)♪