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Howie Mandel Reveals How the Other AGT Judges Keep Him "Honest and Real"
The America's Got Talent Judge also revealed that sitting with his fellow Judges is a lot like sitting at home with his friends.
Longtime America’s Got Talent Judge Howie Mandel is a man who gets by with a little help from his friends.
In a red carpet interview, the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcaster spoke with NBC Insider as the AGT Season 18 competition continues live on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.
Howie Mandel on His Relationship with the Other AGT Judges
When asked about his friendships with his fellow AGT Judges and how they play into his experience, Mandel said working with Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, and Sofia Vergara is “incredibly comfortable" – something that adds to the experience of the show for them and the viewers.
RELATED: The Beautiful Reason Howie Mandel Keeps Doing AGT — Even Though He’s "Jaded"
“There are people that are sitting around every Tuesday and Wednesday night, or even online, sitting with their friends on a couch, just viewing this, and saying, ‘Look at this, and watch this,’” Mandel told NBC Insider.
Mandel, AGT's longest-running Judge since he joined the show in Season 5, said that sitting behind the Judges’ panel doesn't even feel like a job. His experience might not be so different from viewers.
“I don’t feel like I show up at work; I feel like I’m sitting on the couch with a bunch of my friends, just saying what I think,” he said. “And that comfort allows me just to be honest and real.”
AGT Judges Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara also have a special bond
NBC Insider also caught up with Klum on the red carpet, asking about her friendship with Vergara. Klum said she’d known Vergara before the latter joined the Judges’ panel in Season 15, but it was through AGT that they “really got to know each other.”
“We feel very Sex and the City when the four of us go out,” said Klum, referring to Cowell’s fiancée, Lauren Silverman, and Howie Mandel’s wife, Terry Mandel.
Klum said the four women enjoyed gossiping and talking about things like relationships, aging, and what programs they’d recently seen.
“Girly stuff,” Klum called it. “It’s just fun to have girls to do that with.”
Klum added that she and Vergara are close in age (just one year apart) and that it's “nice” to share such exchanges with someone in a similar position in life.
See more of Mandel and his friends' exchanges as the America’s Got Talent live shows continue Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock.
