Who is Wanda Sykes?

Who is Wanda Sykes? The entertainment and acting world knows her as an American writer, stand-up comedian and actress. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award for her writing on The Chris Rock Show. In 2004 Entertainment Weekly named her as one of the 25 funniest people in America.^[2]
She is well known for her role as Barb on The New Adventures of Old Christine and for her appearances on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. In November 2009 The Wanda Sykes Show, her own late-night talkshow, premiered on Fox, airing Saturday nights.^[3][4][5] Sykes is openly lesbian, and has two children with her wife, Alex.^[1]

Early life

Sykes was born March 7, 1964  in Portsmouth, Virginia, and raised in the Washington, D.C., area. Her father served as a US Army colonel employed at the Pentagon, and her mother worked as a banker. She attended Arundel High School^[6] in Gambrills, Maryland, and went on to graduate from Hampton University^[6] where she earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing. After college, her first job was as a procurement officer with the National Security Agency (NSA),^[6][7] where she worked for five years.^[8]

Career

Not completely satisfied with her role with the NSA, Sykes began her stand-up career at a Coors Light Super Talent Showcase in Washington, DC, where she performed for the first time in front of a live audience in 1987.^[8][9] She continued to hone her talents at local venues while at the NSA until 1992, when she moved to New York City.^[8] Her first big break came when opening for Chris Rock at Caroline's Comedy Club.^[8] In 1997, she joined the writing team on The Chris Rock Show and also made many appearances on the show.^[9] The writing team was nominated for four Emmys, and in 1999, won for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Special. Since that time, she has appeared in such films as Pootie Tang and on TV shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm. In 2003, she starred in her own short-lived Fox network sitcom, Wanda at Large. The same year, Sykes appeared in an hour-long Comedy Central special, Tongue Untied. That network also ranked her #70 on its list of the 100 greatest all-time stand ups. She served as a correspondent for HBO's Inside the NFL, hosted Comedy Central's popular show Premium Blend, and voiced a recurring character named Gladys on Comedy Central's puppet show Crank Yankers. She also had a short-lived show on Comedy Central called Wanda Does It.
In addition to her film and television work, she is also an author. She wrote Yeah, I Said It, a book of humorous observations on various topics, published in September 2004.

In 2006, she landed a recurring role on the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine; she became a series regular in the second season. She also guest starred in the Will & Grace episode "Buy, Buy Baby" in 2006. She provided voices for the 2006 films Over the Hedge, Barnyard, and Brother Bear 2. She had a part in My Super Ex-Girlfriend and after playing in Evan Almighty, had a bit part in License to Wed. Sykes' first HBO Comedy Special, entitled Wanda Sykes: Sick & Tired, premiered on October 14, 2006; it was nominated for a 2007 Emmy Award.^[10] In 2008, she performed as part of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour for LGBT rights.
In October 2008, Wanda Sykes appeared in a television ad for the Think Before You Speak Campaign, an advertising campaign by GLSEN aimed at curbing homophobic slang in youth communities. In the 30-second spot, she uses humor to scold a teenager for saying "that's so gay" when he really means "that is so bad."^[11][12]
In March 2009, it was announced that Sykes would be the host of a new late-night talk show on Saturdays on Fox, The Wanda Sykes Show which was scheduled to premiere November 7, 2009.^[13][14] In April 2009, she was named in Out magazine's Annual Power 50 List, landing at number 35.^[15]

In May 2009, Sykes was the featured entertainer for the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, becoming both the first African American woman and the first openly LGBT person to get the role. Cedric the Entertainer had been the first African American to become the featured entertainer in 2005. At this event, Sykes made controversial headlines as she responded to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh's comments regarding President Barack Obama. Limbaugh, in reference to Obama's presidential agenda, had said "I hope he fails". In response, Sykes quipped: "I hope his [Limbaugh's] kidneys fail."^[16]
Sykes' third comedy special, Wanda Sykes: I'ma Be Me premiered on HBO in October 2009.^[14] November 2009 saw the premier of The Wanda Sykes Show, which starts with a monologue and continues with a panel discussion in a similar format to Bill Maher's shows Real Time with Bill Maher and Politically Incorrect.
Sykes will be appearing as Miss Hannigan in a professional theatre production of "Annie" at The Media Theatre in Media, PA, a suburb 25 minutes southwest of Philadelphia. Sykes will be appearing from November 23-December 12, 2010, and again from January 12-23, 2011. This will be Sykes' first appearance in a musical.^[14]

Awards

Sykes was nominated for three Primetime Emmys and in 1999 won the Emmy for "Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special." In 2001, she won the American Comedy Award for "Outstanding Female Stand Up Comic". She won three more Emmys, in 2002, 2004 and 2005 , for her work on “Inside the NFL” for “Outstanding Studio Show - Weekly- Inside The NFL" followed by a Comedy Central Commie Award for "Funniest TV Actress in 2003."^[17]

Wanda Sykes officially came out of the closet on Saturday November 15, 2008. The Comedienne revealed that she married her long-time partner Alex Sykes shortly before the passage of Proposition 8 banning gay marriage in the state of California.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1998	Tomorrow Night
2000	Nutty Professor II: The Klumps	Chantal
2001	Down to Earth	Wanda
	Pootie Tang	Biggie Shorty
2005	Monster-in-Law	Ruby
2006	The Adventures of Brer Rabbit	Sister Moon	Direct-to-video Voice
	Over the Hedge	Stella	Voice
	Clerks II	Angry Customer
	My Super Ex-Girlfriend	Carla Dunkirk
	Barnyard	Bessy the Cow	Voice
	Brother Bear 2	Innoko	Direct-to-video Voice
	CondomNation	Linda
	Hammy's Boomerang Adventure	Stella	Direct-to-video short film (from the Over the Hedge DVD)
2007	Evan Almighty	Rita
	License to Wed	Nurse Borman	uncredited
2011	The Muppets[18][19]	Herself	Cameo
	Rio	Flora

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997–2000	The Chris Rock Show	Various Characters	7 episodes
1999	Best of the Chris Rock Show		TV special
2001	The Downer Channel	Various	First 2 episodes
	The Drew Carey Show	Christine Watson	Episode: "Eat Drink Drew Woman" Episode: "Mr. Laffoon's Wild Ride" Episode: " Drew and the King"
2001–2009	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Wanda	Episode: "Thor" Episode: "The Massage" Episode: "The Benadryl Brownie" Episode: "The Terrorist Attack" Episode: "Krazee-Eyez Killa" Episode: "The Surrogate" Episode: "The Bowtie" Episode: "Funkhouser's Crazy Sister"
2002, 2003	Crank Yankers	Gladys/Wanda/Gladys Murphy	3 episodes
2003	MTV: Reloaded	The Oracle	TV film
	Wanda at Large	Wanda Mildred Hawkins	All episodes
	Chappelle's Show	Herself	Episode: "The Best of Chappelle's Show: Volume 2 Mixtape"
	MADtv		Season 9 episode 903
2006	Will & Grace	Cricket	Episode: "Buy, Buy Baby"
2006–2010	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Barbara 'Barb' Daran	42 episodes
2007–2010	Back at the Barnyard	Bessy the Cow	45 episodes
2009	Wanda Sykes: I'ma Be Me[14]	Stand-up	HBO comedy special
2009	The Wanda Sykes Show	Herself; also creator, and writer	Talk show

Writer

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997-98	The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show	Writer	11 episodes
1997-00	The Chris Rock Show	Writer	Wrote 33 episodes Co-produced 14 episodes
1998	Comedy Central Presents	Herself and writer (as Wanda Sykes-Hall)	Episode: "Wanda Sykes-Hall"
2001	Best of the Chris Rock Show: Volume 2	Writer	TV special
	The Downer Channel	Writer	Wrote the first 2 episodes
2002	The 74th Annual Academy Awards	Special material written by	Award show
2002-03	Premium Blend	Writer	4 episodes/Stand-up
2003	Wanda Sykes: Tongue Untied	Writer	Documentary
	Wanda at Large	Creator, writer and producer	19 episodes
2004	Wanda Does It	Creator, writer and executive producer	Episode: "Wanda Does Repo" Episode: "Wanda Does Vegas" Episode: "Wanda Does the Sky" Episode: "Wanda Does the Night" Episode: "Wanda Does the WNBA" Episode: "Wanda Does Photos"
2006	Wanda Sykes: Sick and Tired	Writer	Stand-up
2009	Wanda Sykes: I'ma Be Me[14]	Writer	Stand-up

Discography

Year	Title	Label
2007	Sick & Tired[20]	Image Entertainment

 

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Who is Trevor Bayne?

Trevor Bayne ^[1] is an American race car driver who drives the #16 Ford for Roush-Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He also drives part-time in the #21 Ford for Wood Brothers Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, sharing the ride with Bill Elliott.

Trevor was born February 19, 1991. He attended Central High School in Knoxville, Tennessee as a freshman and Gibbs High School in Knoxville as a sophomore before getting a General Educational Development degree online.

 In only his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, Trevor Bayne won a caution-flagged 2011 Daytona 500. At 20 years and 1 day, he is the youngest driver to win the race and, with the exception of Lee Petty, the winner of the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959, is the only driver to win the race in his first attempt. He is five years and 195 days younger than the previous youngest Daytona 500 winner, Jeff Gordon, who won the race in 1997.

NASCAR career

For the 2008 season Bayne drove the #1 for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated in the NASCAR Camping World East Series. He had 6 Top 5's, two poles and one win at Thompson International Speedway winning from the pole in just his 6th start. He finished second in that seasons Toyota All-Star Showdown. In the 2009 Scotts Turf Builder 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, he made his first career start for Means Racing in the #52 Taco Bell Chevrolet. Also in 2009, Bayne agreed to race in the #99 Aarons Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing for 8 races, and in his first start for the team, he qualified on the outside pole at Nashville Superspeedway, but a crash relegated him to a bad finish. He finished 12th at Kentucky Speedway and The Milwaukee Mile. He got his career best finish at O'Reilly Raceway Park when he finished 7th after getting his first career pole for that race. Bayne also qualified on the outside pole at Michigan, his first start on a track larger than 1.5 miles. In September 2010, Bayne left Diamond-Waltrip Racing and went to Roush Fenway Racing to drive for Jack Roush. He made his Cup Series debut at the 2010 November Texas race with the Wood Brothers team, finishing 17th on the lead lap. Bayne is the first driver to compete in one of the top three NASCAR series to be born in 1991.
He will drive the #21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in 17 Sprint Cup races in 2011. Bayne is ineligible for Rookie of the Year consideration because he will also run full-time in the Nationwide Series. In his second Sprint Cup race, one day after his 20th birthday, Bayne won the 2011 Daytona 500, making him the second youngest driver to ever win a Sprint Cup series race, and the youngest ever Daytona 500 winner^[2]. This win ties the record set by Jamie McMurray for fewest starts by a driver to win their first Sprint Cup race (2).

The 20-year-old becomes the youngest winner in the 53-year history of NASCAR's premier event, he won the Daytona 500 giving the Wood Brothers their first Sprint Cup Series victory since 2001.

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Who is Elie Tahari?

Who is Elie Tahari?  The design world knows Eli Tahari as an American luxury fashion designer of men and women's clothing. He has evolved a $500 million business, with a presence on five continents, in more than 6,000 US stores and in five free-standing boutiques.

Early life

Tahari was born in 1952 in Jerusalem, the eldest son of a Persian Jewish couple. The family immigrated to Israel from Iran and lived then in the transition camp of Al-Qastal, now Mevasseret Zion. In 1953 - 1957 the family returned to Iran, then came again to Israel. As his parents divorced and his father remarried, Elie was sent by the Israeli social services into an orphanage ("Sde Hemed") in Rishon Lezion, later moving to Tel Aviv ("Maon Hayeled"). The following years of his youth were spent in Kvutzat Schiller and in an Israeli Air Force boarding school in Haifa.

Moving to the US

Tahari immigrated to the United States in 1971 as an electrician. Moving to New York he sought work in Manhattan's Garment District, sleeping many nights at a YMCA hotel, or on the benches of Central Park. In Manhattan he learned about the fashion retail business. His position selling clothing from a boutique in Greenwich Village introduced him to women's fashion. He began designing women's fashion inspired by the New York City nightclub scene.

Throughout the 1970s, Tahari remained focused on women's fashions, and his designs were well received. He was one of the first fashion designers to open a boutique on Madison Avenue, in 1974.

In the 1980s, Tahari turned his focus to the tailored suit.

 Agyness Deyn

Eugenia Volodina

After his 46th birthday, he met his future wife. In a collaborative effort, this husband-wife team has tripled the size of the company in the last five years, and launched the Elie Tahari Collection. Tahari has retained the likes of Agyness Deyn, Daria Werbowy and Eugenia Volodina to model his clothing.

Dariya Verbova

In the United States, Tahari has boutiques in New York, Boston, East Hampton, Atlanta, Bal Harbour, Boca Raton, and Las Vegas. In the 2007 movie Enchanted, two characters are shown shopping at Tahari's New York City store.

He and his former business partner Andrew Rosen co-founded the Theory fashion brand in 1997. Tahari designed the clothes and Rosen was in charge of marketing and sales. Elie Tahari sold his share of the business in 2003 and is no longer involved in the company.

Personal life

In March 2010 Tahari and his wife Rory placed much of their U.S. real estate on the market and were reported to be attempting to get out of their commercial leases.^[1]


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Who is Vinita Vinita V. Nair?

Who is Vinita Nair? The entertainment and Journalist world knows her as an American television journalist who was co-anchor of World News Now and America This Morning on ABC, from September 17, 2008
until February 18, 2011.^[1] She was partnered with Jeremy Hubbard and later Rob Nelson on
both shows

Nair joined ABC News as an anchor/correspondent for ABC News Now in
December 2007. In that role, she anchored live

coverage and news briefs for ABC's digital network.^[2]
Nair was born June 9, 1981and grew up in Colleyville, Texas, and
graduated with a degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, of Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois). She wrote for Today's Chicago Woman magazine, and was a reporter for Talk Radio News in Washington D.C. prior to pursuing television journalism.
Nair began her career in television news at WGEM-TV, the NBC affiliate in Quincy, Illinois, as a general assignment reporter. She also worked for WYCC-TV, Chicago's Public Access Network and the Illinois' Evanston Community Cable Channel. Then she became an anchor and reporter for KOLN/KGIN-TV in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she anchored daily morning and afternoon newscasts.
Prior to joining ABC News, Nair was lead evening reporter and anchor at KWGN-TV, the CW affiliate in Denver. She started at the station in July 2004 and reported on a wide range of topics, including the Jon Benet Ramsey murder investigation and the school shootings at Bailey, Colorado.
Vinita announced on Thursday 2-17-11 that Friday 2-18-11 would be her last night on air at World News Now. Former KDVR Denver anchor Peggy Bunker has been named interim successor.
The 2-18-11 edition of World News Now paid tribute to Nair in each of its three segments, including appearances from current and former colleagues including Jeremy Hubbard. Her legacy was to treat the crew to a hot breakfast on her last day. Also, a brief send-off by Nelson to Nair was given at the conclusion of America This Morning.

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Who is Howard Michael Mandel?

Who is Howard Michael "Howie" Mandel? The entertainment and comedy world knows him as Howie Mandel,.is a Canadian stand-up comedian, television host, and actor. He is well known as host of the NBC game show Deal or No Deal, as well as the show's daytime and Canadian-English counterparts. Before his career as a game show host, Mandel was best known for his role on the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere. He is also well-known for being the creator and star of the children's cartoon Bobby's World. On June 6, 2009, he hosted the 2009 Game Show Awards on GSN. Mandel became a judge on NBC's America's Got Talent, replacing David Hasselhoff, in the fifth season of the reality talent contest. He was a supporting character in the 2000 film Tribulation, from Cloud Ten Pictures.

 Early life

Mandel was born November 29, 1955 and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His family is of Jewish ancestry and he is a distant cousin to Itzhak Perlman. His father was a Stripper. After getting expelled from his high school (Northview Secondary School) for impersonating a member of the school board and signing a construction company to make an addition to his school, Mandel became a carpet salesman who would later open a carpet sales business of his own. He was a stand-up comedian at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto and by September 1978 had a week-long booking as featured act, billed as "a wild and crazy borderline psychotic." His repertoire included placing a latex glove over his head and inflating it by blowing through his nose, the fingers of the glove extending above his head like a cockscomb. When the audience reacted uproariously to that and similar antics, his trademark response was to extend his arms palms up, look incredulous, and ask, "What? What?" On a trip to Los Angeles, Mandel performed a set at The Comedy Store, which resulted in him becoming a regular performer there. A producer for the comedic game show Make Me Laugh saw him and booked Mandel for several appearances during the show's run in 1979. He was booked to open for David Letterman at shows in the summer of 1979. CBC-TV's head of variety programming saw a Mandel performance in October 1979 and immediately signed him for a TV special. In 1980, he won the lead role in the Canadian movie Gas, co-starring Susan Anspach and Donald Sutherland.
Mandel was one of the first "VeeJays" to appear on Nickelodeon's music video series, Pop Clips.

TV and film career

Mandel at the 39th Emmy Awards in 1987

Mandel came to national attention in the U.S. during a six-year run on St. Elsewhere, starting in 1982 and playing the role of Dr. Wayne Fiscus. While working as Dr. Fiscus, and continuing to work as a comedian, he also did movies, including his role as the voice of Gizmo in the 1984 hit Gremlins and its 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. In 1985 Mandel made a cameo in the Michael J. Fox directed short "The Iceman Hummeth" which was subsequently broadcast on Late Night with David Letterman in November, 1985. In 1986, he starred in A Fine Mess alongside Ted Danson. In Muppet Babies , he voiced Bunsen Honeydew, Animal and Skeeter but left the series after Season 2. He starred on the 1987 comedy film Walk Like a Man. He was also "Maurice" in the 1989 movie Little Monsters. In 1990, he starred in the short-lived sitcom Good Grief on Fox. He was also the creator and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated children's animated series Bobby's World, to which he supplied the voices of the title character and his father (using Howie's "normal" voice for Bobby's dad). Bobby's World ran for eight seasons on Fox and was later syndicated. Mandel also plays his alter-ego, Phil Skorjanc, in most of his comedy shows and these are a fan favorite. Bobby also made a cameo appearance in a February 2007 episode of Deal or No Deal. On a special 2-hour Christmas episode, first aired on December 25, 2007, Mandel delivered one line with Bobby's voice, as per request of the contestant. In 2002 Howie Mandel played the Sand Man in the movie Hansel and Gretel.
Mandel spawned controversy in 1993 during a performance at the United States Naval Academy, where some of his off-color humor did not sit well with the school's administration. This incident came shortly after the Tailhook scandal, and the Navy at the time was very sensitive to any additional charges of gender insensitivity or sexual harassment.
Mandel had a long run on Showtime with a series titled Howie Mandel's Sunny Skies in 1995. Mandel appeared in the 1995 Clint Black country music video "Summer's Comin'". He played the lead role of the professor in the short-lived TV series The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys, and guest-starred on a 1996 episode of the ABC TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as DC Comics supervillain Mister Mxyzptlk. In 1998 he hosted his own syndicated talk show, The Howie Mandel Show, which was canceled after one season. In 1999/2000, Mandel played "Jason" in the film Apocalypse III: Tribulation. In 2006, he appeared as himself as a guest host in a parody of Deal or No Deal in the show-within-a-show of the TV series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In 2007, he guest-starred as himself in an episode of NBC's Medium, making a dream cameo of himself on Deal or No Deal. In that episode, he booted off the nighttime drama's protagonist for "cheating", since in the show he is a psychic medium and appeared to "know" the contents of the cases. In 1994 Mandel voiced the lead character, Little Howie, of the video game Tuneland.
Mandel's signature stunt as a stand-up comedian (besides his Bobby alter-ego) was stretching a latex glove over his head and inflating it with his nostrils, filling it until it suddenly propelled itself off his head. This trick also lent itself to the title and cover photo of his comedy album, Fits Like a Glove (1986). He eventually gave up the routine under doctor's orders after being diagnosed with a perforated sinus. However, in a cameo role as himself on My Name is Earl, he did the routine. He guest starred in two episodes of Monk (Mr. Monk Joins a Cult and Mr. Monk's 100th Case).

 Later work

Mandel is known for his frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian and for his hidden camera segments on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He has appeared in many television commercials for Boston Pizza as their hired spokesperson. In April 2004, he was selected as number 82 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand up comedians of all time. In October 2005, he was named to be the host of the U.S. version of Deal or No Deal, which debuted on December 19, 2005, on NBC and became a popular program in early 2006. Mandel also hosts Deal or No Deal Canada; originating from Toronto, Deal or No Deal Canada debuted in January 2007 on Global, which made him one of the few game show hosts (Weakest Link's Anne Robinson, Pyramid's Donny Osmond, and The Singing Bee's Joey Fatone being others) to host both a domestic and an international version of the same game show. Mandel joins Alex Trebek, Jim Perry and Geoff Edwards on the list of game show hosts who emceed one game show simultaneously on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border.
In 2007, Mandel made an appearance in an episode of Sesame Street’s 38th season. That same year, he was parodied on the show as Howie Eatswell, the Muppet host of Sesame’s game show segment "Meal or No Meal." Mandel has hosted the DVD game version of Deal or No Deal, "Fact Or Crap Beat da Bomb" and "Would You Rather" for Imagination Games.

Mandel had a cameo appearance as himself on the NBC show My Name is Earl, in the episode Earl's roommates robbed an Indian casino at which Howie Mandel was performing. While stealing money, they also kidnapped Howie Mandel. In the episode, Mandel performed his old routine of inflating a rubber glove over his head with his nostrils.
Mandel is a notable alumnus of Beth David B'nai Israel Beth Am's Hebrew School located in Toronto, as well as three other Toronto high schools. Mandel is currently performing a variety/comedy act at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Starting in 2007, Howie Mandel became a spokesperson for Internet retailer buy.com. Buy.com frequently has him on the front page with the deals of the day or week. The deals are in a section called "What's Shakin'?" with Howie Mandel.
On May 13, 2008 he was the guest host for the Tradition May Fund Raiser for the Owen Hart Foundation.
On September 8, 2008, Mandel began hosting a five-day-a-week syndicated daytime version of Deal or No Deal, with a top prize of $500,000.
On January 8, 2009, Mandel appeared on Howard Stern's satellite radio show on Sirius XM's Howard 100.
On January 9, 2009, Mandel's reality show Howie Do It premiered on NBC.
In January 2010, it was announced that Mandel would replace David Hasselhoff as one of the judges on NBC's America's Got Talent, after Hasselhoff announced that he was leaving to work on a new television series.
On May 13, 2010, Mandel appeared on an episode of The Marriage Ref.

 Deal or No Deal

In 2004, when Mandel was deciding to quit show business, the executive producers at NBC asked him to host but he declined many times. They then mailed him a tape of the overseas version and he finally decided to accept. In 2007, he hosted a five-episode run of the Canadian English version. The show then went to daytime with Mandel as host although Arsenio Hall was originally supposed to be. In a January 2009 interview on Anytime with Bob Kushell, Mandel expressed mild, jovial frustration about how some of his contestants hold out during the game show, despite the fact that the current offered amount is many times what they would make in a year.

 Personal life

The handprints of Howie Mandel in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Mandel tours on the road over 200 days a year, taping Deal or No Deal. He met his wife Terry in high school, and married her in 1980. They have three children: daughters Jackie (b. 1984) and Riley (b. 1992), and son Alex (b. 1989).
Mandel has mysophobia (an irrational fear of germs) to the point that he does not shake hands with anyone, including enthusiastic contestants on Deal or No Deal, unless he is wearing latex gloves. Instead of shaking contestants' hands when they offer them, Mandel often opts to exchange fist pounds, put his hands on contestants' shoulders, or give an occasional hug. He once kissed a female contestant on the show for good luck despite his mysophobia. He now takes medicine to control his condition and even pokes fun at himself for it. He revealed on The Howard Stern Show on March 24, 2006 that his shaved head is not related to natural hair loss, but to his mysophobia. He stated that the lack of hair makes him feel cleaner. During his appearance on Mad TV, Mandel and cast member Bobby Lee made fun of the former's condition. In September 2007, Mandel interviewed former NFL running back Marshall Faulk on NFL Network. Faulk asked him to shake hands, but Mandel wouldn't allow it; instead, he noted he'd rather have the fist tap, as he does with Deal or No Deal contestants. Seconds later, Faulk subjected Mandel to a "sneak attack", and shook his right hand. Mandel screamed and walked away from Faulk. Mandel then washed his hands several times. On a guest appearance on Free Radio, Mandel explained that not only is he afraid of public bathrooms, but he is unable to use any bathroom other than his own. Coincidentally, he guest starred on Monk, a television series centering on a severe mysophobe. During the season 5 episode of America's Got Talent in Chicago, Zach Carty attempted an act involving sneezing. Mandel ran off to the far end of the theater until the act was over. (Carty was unable to perform the act.) In a backstage interview, he expressed to the television audience that he receives therapy to help him cope.
On September 4, 2008, Mandel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In October 2008, Mandel revealed that he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on the morning talk show Live with Regis and Kelly, adding that he is currently working to raise adult ADHD awareness among the general public.
On January 12, 2009, Mandel was reportedly sent to St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto suffering from chest pains and what was reported as a minor heart attack. According to various news reports, he was experiencing an irregular heartbeat and reports of a heart attack were false. He was later released.
On June 16, 2009, it was announced that Mandel would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. The induction ceremony was held on September 12, 2009.  He is the third game show host to be inducted (the first being Monty Hall in 2002 and the second being Alex Trebek in 2006).

Mandel has written and published an in-depth autobiography which details his life with OCD, ADHD, and comedy, called Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me.

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