Funnyman Howie Mandel proves he's 'Got Talent'

By Carley Thornell, Boston Herald - Comedian, actor, game show host and best-selling author Howie Mandel has a new job: reality show judge.

He’ll take the place of David Hasselhoff when “America’s Got Talent” returns to the air this summer. But right now he’s on the road simultaneously scouting acts for the top-rated NBC series and performing his stand-up act.

What to expect at his Boston show at the Wilbur Theatre tonight?

“Everything I was ever hit or expelled or punished for is what I get paid for now,” Mandel said. “It’s just me trying to be the center of attention.”

No wonder the 54-year-old found it easy to channel a precocious child on his hit cartoon “Bobby’s World.” Mandel said he doesn’t edit, so Bobby and his squeaky-clean “Deal or No Deal” shtick are likely to be conspicuously absent. cw0Instead Mandel dishes the dirt about battling obsessive-compulsive disorder and his fear of germs, topics explored in his latest book, “Here’s the Deal: Don’t Touch Me.”

“If you follow me into a public restroom, it’s like a scene from Cirque duSoleil,” said Mandel, who famously refuses to shake contestants’ hands on TV. “I’m able to manipulate without the use of my hands, and (do) contortions. I hold it in. That’s the real talent on my tour. I haven’t peed since I left (home).”