If you’re going to compliment Howie Mandel, you’d do best to get it right the first time.
The America’s Got Talent host became testy on Wednesday during his appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark.
“You just celebrated 70 years,” host Mark Consuelos told Mandel as he and co-host Kelly Ripa welcomed him to the show.
Things became tense, however, after Ripa declared, “That doesn’t make any sense.” Added Consuelos, “You look great.”
Mandel snapped, “‘I look great’? That doesn’t mean anything to me.”
Ripa interjected, “It does,” prompting Mandel to put his finger up in the air and shout, “No, no, no. No,” stunning the studio audience into awkward laughter and then silence.
“I don’t like that ‘cause that’s a caveat,” he continued. “When you say… you tell somebody you’re 70, and they go, ‘You look great…’”
Ripa insisted, “We’re not saying you look great for 70.”
But Mandel was resolute, “Yes, you are! Without saying 70.”
Consuelos, on the other hand, admitted, “I’m saying that.”
Ripa doubled down, “We’re saying, you look great, and I don’t believe you’re 70.”
Concluded Mandel, “No, it’s like saying, ‘You’re smart, for a stupid person.’”
Mandel, also known for hosting Deal or No Deal, turned 70 in November. He shares three adult children with his wife of over 40 years, Terry Mandel.
And despite heckling the hosts for the way the compliment was phrased, he ultimately conceded that he’d checked a mirror backstage before coming on and noticed, “I’m gorgeous.”
After moving past the awkward exchange, Mandel shared how he maintained his physique with help from fellow TV host Jerry O’Connell. “He’s got me into the most ridiculous workout I’ve ever done in my life. I swim, but this is what I do.
Mandel continued: “He bought me these swimming cables. I have these cables which I tie on to my ankles, and then I attach them to whatever is at the side of the pool, and then he gave me these frying pan paddles, and I swim for an hour and go nowhere.”
“I got so lost in it, it’s really good.”
