How the glove on Howie Mandel’s head ended up on his hands

White-knuckled fists will be bumping at the Indigo store in the Toronto Eaton Centre on December 4 when Howie Mandel comes home to sign copies of his new memoir, Here’s the Deal: Don’t Touch Me. Germophobia and adult ADHD give some heft to the story of his OCD-driven career, starting in 1978 as carpet salesman by day, and Yuk Yuk’s comedian by night. “I looked like I was drug-addled — I wasn’t drug-addled,” he recalls in the promo video, “I was messed-up.” Then his job on St. Elsewhere confused fans of his stand-up: “I got all these letters saying, ‘I have a bet with my husband that you’re not the goofball who puts a glove on his head.’ But I was!” This week, Mandel returned to his old NBC 10 p.m. time slot to bring Jay Leno a desk to sit behind — more like a cheap fold-up table, really — a schtick that was enough to qualify for online buzz. With his gig on Deal Or No Deal, Mandel has seen the future of television, and it’s him — even getting the Canwest-produced hidden camera show Howie Do It on American prime-time for a few months. But when he taped a series of CBC specials at the Winter Garden Theatre in May 1995, Mandel’s idea of a gag backfired. Police investigated a vocal complaint that an apparently unsuspecting female audience member was pulled onstage to be vigorously kissed against her will, while Frankie Avalon crooned his old make-out song “Venus.” No charges were laid after detectives determined the conduct was completely consensual.