there's nobody better to talk to than our next guest.

Please welcome self-admitted germaphobe,

my friend, Howie Mandel.

[APPLAUSE]

You look great.

Why are you so dressed up?

What-- you can't go anywhere.

Well, what are you talking about?

I'm doing Ellen.

I'm doing Ellen.

[LAUGHTER]

I went upstairs.

I got dressed up.

I love you more than anybody, Ellen.

Ellen, I don't know if you realize this.

Are we on now?

Yeah, we're on.

We're actually on.

We're on the television.

I don't if I realized that.

I can't see you for some reason.

But you-- you are one person that

prepared me more than any other person in the world

for this whole crisis.

And I can't thank you enough.

I don't know if you remember, but throughout the years,

because--

as you just said in my introduction--

because I'm a germaphobe, years ago,

I think maybe even 10 years ago, you

gave me a lifetime supply of soap, which ran out yesterday.

And then you also gave me like, a ball, like a bubble

to live in as a germaphobe.

Yeah.

Yes.

And I'll show you--

and even the way I eat dinner with my family

now during this at-home.

Can I show you it?

You gave me this.

I don't know if you remember this.

Let me show you-- let me show you this, OK?

This over here is--

[LAUGHTER]

What?

Do you remember this?

[LAUGHS]

Do you-- do you remember this?

Yeah.

Look at this.

Yeah.

This is how I sit at the dinner table now because I can-- well,

I put my hands through this.

And this is like sneeze guard.

Is it the thing with the gloves?

Yes, the gloves through the sneeze shield.

Pardon me.

Yes.

Honey, pass the potatoes.

Honey--

Yeah.

So this is what-- let me put it back.

Let me put it back.

I don't want to leave a mess in the room.

All right.

But--

Howie?

You're not-- you're not wearing pants.

Can you see?

I don't know where the Zoom--

where the Zoom ends.

You could see that?

[LAUGHTER]

Yeah.

Oh.

Yeah, you can see that you're not wearing pants.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Can I just say that you-- the house looks gorgeous,

your house.

And your garden.

And your garden gnome is just--

people don't appreciate that.

But that's rich, when you couldn't

plant your own wandering jew.

Yeah.

Which, for those people that are watching, you could--

look it up.

It's a plant.

It's not a derogatory remark.

Yeah.

[LAUGHTER]

Wandering jew is a plant, yes.

That's right.

That's my new nickname.

Yeah.

That is rich that I have my own live gnome.

So you had-- happy anniversary.

You had a 40th wedding anniversary during quarantine.

Thank you.

Wow, 40.

Congratulations.

Yeah, I know.

Congratulations.

What was that like?

Wait, I'm holding for the applause

to die down behind you.

OK.

So--

OK.

[CLAPPING]

No, let me speak.

It's 40 years of marriage to my lovely wife--

there she is-- she is stunning--

Terry.

And we had-- we were in quarantine.

March 16 was my 40th year.

And last week, she informed me, 41 doesn't look good.

It doesn't-- living with me.

Living with me is--

You know, I think that-- you know,

you may enjoy me for a couple of minutes on your show.

You don't live with me, Ellen.

And people used to always ask my wife and I, what is the secret?

What makes it work?

And she would tell you that distance

makes the heart grow fonder.

And I've always been on the road.

I've always been taping shows.

And now, I'm with her.

I'm with her all the time.

And that's--

[LAUGHTER]

Well, you do have another house.

Because I know that when your children were born,

you moved into another house to not be near the children,

right?

Well, not to not be-- well, you're

making it seem like I was afraid of children.

No.

When the children were ill--

[PHONE RINGS]

You know, if they had a cold or they

had something like that-- look, the calls are coming in.

I'm running a telethon apparently.

I'm just-- I'm still taking donations.

I don't know what it is.

But anyway, when the kids got sick, then I would go into--

I built, like, a guest--

I built, like, a germ room, like, a panic room,

but it was a whole other house where I would

go so that I wouldn't get sick.

Well, at least your kids-- at least

you don't have to homeschool because your kids are all

grown up.

And that's what everyone's really complaining about

is homeschool.

We wanted.

Way before this-- my kids are amazing.

You know, one daughter, Jacqueline Schultz,

you know, she has a master's degree in urban education.

The other one is a PhD in physical therapy.

My son Alex wasn't as good.

We wanted him to be homeschooled,

having nothing to do with this, years ago.

But I think I've mentioned this before.

He uh-- he wasn't accepted.

And I was in his room when he got the letter,

and he knew our handwriting and everything.

So it was a very tragic time.

But now, I have grandchildren, now, I'm a grandparent.

And that is raising a whole new set of issues for me.

Yeah.

Because my daughter is a germaphobe like--

I raised a good germaphobe--

I'm not allowed to really have contact with the kids.

And my whole life is my grandkids.

So I don't know.

If you go on my Instagram, you could see it.

But there's-- I go to visit them.

And in order to visit them, I'm not allowed in the house,

and I'm not allowed near them.

I have to climb a tree.

I climb a tree, and I look in--

There I am.

Well, you had it.

You guys are, like, professionals.

Yeah.

You guys are professionals.

Yeah.

So I climb the tree, and I look in the window,

which is nice for me.

I don't know if that's quality time with your grandchild.

But I hope that I'm not instilling, you know,

a negative-- like, when they grow up,

do you want the image--

I remember waking up early in the morning

and looking out the window.

And there was Papa in the tree.

I don't know if that's good.

[LAUGHS]

But kind of like him--

I think it is good.

I would love--

You got-- you also have an old Jew in the garden.

So I guess it's OK.

Yes.

It's a wonderful thing to have I love having him in the garden.

Let's take a break.

All right, we're going to take a break.

More with Howie after this.

That's what he does.

He tells me what to do.

I'm busy out here, Howie.

Yeah, he's working.

All right, we'll be back.

Honey, I'm on Ellen.

We're on now.

Come on in.

Come on in.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Hi, I'm Andy.

Ellen asked me to remind you to subscribe to her channel

so you can see more awesome videos,

like videos of me getting scared or saying

embarrassing things like ball-peen hammer,

and also some videos of Ellen and other celebrities,

if you're into that sort of thing.

Ah!

Ah!

[BLEEP] God [BLEEP]!