Is Howie Mandel Jewish? Thu 22 June 2023 16:28 Updated Thu 29 June 2023 11:59 Celine Byford
Aria Murphy
Published Apr 06, 2026
Howie Mandel has fans asking if he is Jewish after he hosted Roast of Antisemitism with Rachel Bloom. Reality Titbit looked at his religion and ethnicity to find out all about the AGT judge’s roots.
America’s Got Talent judge Howie Mandel is no stranger to pressing a Golden Buzzer and critiquing an act on stage, but he’s also not afraid to get up and say his own opinion on stage. It all comes from his job as a comedian.
Howie recently headlined Roast of Antisemitism with Rachel Bloom, which has fans asking if he is Jewish. So, what is the comedian’s religion and ethnicity? Reality Titbit has all the details on Howie’s roots.
Is Howie Mandel Jewish?
Yes, Howie is Jewish and his ancestors emigrated from Romania and Poland. The NBC star considers himself an unorthodox Jew, having parents that also follow the Judaism religion.
Raised in a Toronto Jewish family, Mandel was expelled from high school after one practical joke too many. Several fans of the AGT judge have no idea that Howie is Jewish but he has continued to uphold his faith and is often very open about his religion.
I learned today that Howie Mandel is Jewish.
— irrelevant inner monologue (@EllieTalbot10) March 24, 2023
Howie’s family and roots
Howie’s parents Evy and Al Mandel are of Polish descent, while he is a distant cousin of world-famous Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman. He now has his own family and has been married to Terry Mandel since 1980.
Together, they have three children, Alex, Riley, and Jackie. Howie, who is of Canadian nationality, also has two grandsons. Growing up, he went to Beth David B’nai Israel Beth Am’s Hebrew School located in Toronto.
He also attended three other Toronto high schools. Mandel went to William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, where he was expelled for impersonating a school official and hiring a construction company to build onto the school.
He headlined Roast of Antisemitism
Howie headlined Los Angeles show Roast of Antisemitism with co-host, Rachel Bloom. He often includes his Jewish ancestry in his jokes, and done so at his recent performance at the Saban Theater.
The idea of the performance was to rally solidarity against antisemitism in a humorous way. He closed out the show by encouraging the crowd to be proud of their Judaism after he made fun of a woman in the front row for falling asleep.
“We’ve been persecuted for 6,000 years,” he said, as per Jewish Exponent, “but you can’t sit for an f–ing hour?”
Michael Rapaport was also present, as the celebrities hosted the show making fun of those who hate Jews. The evening was full of Yiddishisms, circumcision jokes and even included jokes about the likes of Kanye West and Donald Trump.
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