Improvisation is one of those skills that have made Howie Mandel so famous.  He gets to improvise on Deal or No Deal from time to time.  But contrary to what most people think, life on the set of the game show isn't always fun and games.  Fortunately, his new series, Howie Do It, allows him to have all the fun he wants while playing tricks on unassuming targets.

Premiering tonight at 8pm ET/PT on NBC, Howie Do It is a side-splitting one-hour reality show that follows Mandel as he hits the streets and delivers a refreshing and unpredictable new take on the classic TV prank.  In the season opener, Howie and his team pull several outrageous antics on unsuspecting victims, including a singing telegram at a funeral, a dating show gone horribly wrong, and an infuriatingly inept waiter.

From the great outdoors to a night club, Howie and his crew will play out a hoax each week by taking on the persona of a variety of characters, including a TV director and an eccentric choreographer.

"[Howie Do It] is exactly what I wanted to do.  It's what I love to do, it's what I do in my spare time. It's not really a job for me,'' Mandel said.  "The seed of it was planted from my childhood - doing something more funny than a joke.  Real reactions are like a real joke, which has always been my real sensibility and personality.''

And while Mandel certainly enjoys working on Howie Do It, his favorite part is the show's sense of realism of not knowing what's going to happen.

"People don't know what's really going to happen and so you're getting their real reactions,'' Mandel added.  "You have to make an unreal situation as real as possible.  And that ultimately is my goal, with anything, and that's the hardest part.  The worst case scenario is for someone to go 'This is a joke, right? This isn't serious?'''

Howie Do It airs every Friday on NBC.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: NBC, Canada.com
(Image courtesy of NBC)