HOT TIKTOK FOLLOW HOWIE MANDEL

How the veteran comedian is winning over teenagers with memes and dad jokes

LAST SUMMER, Howie Mandel’s son gave him some instructions: Turn around and clap. Film it. Put it on TikTok. It was a viral meme that came and went as quickly as any other viral memes on TikTok, but for Mandel, it was enough to get millions of hits in a few hours. “That was the Pandora’s box for me,” Mandel says. He had questions he still doesn’t have the answers to: “Who are these 12 million people? What did I just do that made them watch?”

At 64, the veteran actor is keeping up with content creators a quarter of his age, reeling in younger viewers with his goofy dad takes on the popular “Renegade” and “Say So” dance challenges (“I didn’t even dance at my wedding!”) and dueting with stars like Rebel Wilson. Mandel, who gained popularity as a stand-up before appearing on hit shows like

St. Elsewhere, Bobby’s World, and Deal or No Deal, has long been an early adopter of new platforms (he claims to have been the first person to tweet live on television). “A lot of people my age have a tendency to lose our curiosity,” he says. “You hear old people say, ‘That’s not music. You should hear the music we had.’ But I’m always fascinated about not only what [young people] are listening to and what they are watching, but how are they watching it.”

Mandatory stay-at-home orders have forced the comedy world to catch up more quickly with technology. Mandel hosts a show on Twitch every weekday evening, and as a partner for the popular comedy festival

Just for Laughs, he’s been having daily conversations about how to use technology to grow the festival.

He sees TikTok as the successor of the comedy clubs where he cut his teeth. “I entered into the business where long-form was all that existed,” he says. “Our attention span slowly diminished. You have to catch someone with clickbait, for lack of a better term. You have to be fast and furious.”

While being home means that he has more time to keep up with TikTok trends, it has also made him hungry to go back to where it all began. “I just want to hit the stage,” he says. “I like being onstage.” BRITTANY SPANOS