Howie Mandel is America’s Got Talent’s resident prankster, and he’s even collaborated with Simon Cowell on a few practical jokes. As it turns out, the comedian has been up to no good since he was a teenager, and he was even expelled from high school after pulling off one of the most brilliant pranks ever.

The 67-year-old recalled his big prank during an interview on Jeff Dunham’s program in 2021. “I looked in the Yellow Pages…I was merely looking through the Yellow Pages in the house and came across a building company, so I called them. I had no idea where this was going, but I called [and] they said, ‘So-and-so construction,’ and I replied, ‘Yes uh, my name’s Howie Mandel – I didn’t even change my voice!’

“I discovered that authenticity works, not only in my career but also in everyday life, because if you don’t try too hard, people don’t smell you trying too hard, right?” ‘My name is Howie Mandel, and I’m calling about this school,’ he says. We’d want to make an extension to the library about 40 feet onto the western field, and I’d appreciate it if you could give me a quote on that. ‘Could you just tell me when you’ll be there?'”

“I knew that I took math class at 3:10 or 2:10 pm or whatever, and math class overlooked that field, so I said ‘If you can be there between 2:10 and 2:40 you know, that would be great,” Howie recounted.

“So now I’m sitting in math class and I see a guy in the field with a tape measure and a little tool belt doing all of this. Then I notice… that everyone is sitting in math; I didn’t even tell a friend because I didn’t have one. Then I glance up and see the vice principal come out to the field and talk to the guy, and all I see are motions, and I’m giggling in class.”

“The teacher stops me – ‘Howard, Howard, Howard,’ and I go, ‘Nothing, I’m sorry,’ and I can’t say, ‘Look on the field, and I didn’t tell anybody,’ and within five minutes, I hear, ‘Will Howard Mandel please come down to the office,'” Howie explained.

It’s not the first time Howie has discussed his renowned pranks – he was definitely born to be a comedian. “Getting in trouble was fun for me,” Howie explained in a 2015 interview with Streets of Toronto. “I didn’t have a crowd.”

Howie was previously dismissed from another school for throwing a chocolate bar in the pool, according to the publication. In an interview with Houston Matters presenter Craig Cohen in 2019, the AGT star revealed that he was “asked to leave” three separate schools. “Everything I’ve been punished for, expelled for, and hit for, that’s what I get paid for today,” he explained.

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