Howie Do It (2008–2009) User Reviews

Usual Howie Garbage!

[gatsby601 · 1/10 · 23 July 2011]

I had the displeasure of being in the audience for this show, basically, a ripoff of Candid Camera where real life people would be set up by Howie and, in this case, other family members.

I won't bore you with the details but of the 4 separate families we had to sit through 3 misfired, in other words the victim, instead of getting upset and crazy which seemed to be the point, kept their composure and decided as a family they would work through it. Big credit to the victims, no credit for idiot Howie.

The final target was so upset she started crying and became so hysterical she had to be seen to by the set medic. Big laughs there.

Mandel has never been much of a talent and this pathetic, badly written outing shows how only 'Canadian content' rules set down by the CRTC keeps losers like this on the air.

Avoid at all costs!!

Contrived, awkward, unfunny. Apparently, this is Howie Do It.

[cminor9 · 1/10 · 1 February 2009]

First of all, I liked Howie Mandel's hidden camera bits he was doing on the Tonight Show for a while. He always managed to play a character that was so incredibly annoying and obtuse and yet believable that people just became exasperated. There's an art to annoying people and yet compelling them to keep speaking to you, and Howie Mandel excels at it.

Hidden camera shows are a bit of a guilty pleasure. We all know that they are corny and have been done to death. That said, watching people react to crazy situations is always good for a cheap laugh. Well, usually.

For starters, this show just seems over-produced. From the "21st century" studio audience to the musical clip "this is how we do it!" it all just comes off as contrived. You can just tell that some NBC execs sat around a table and decided that yet another hidden camera show was needed. With no real concept or original ideas, they just rely on Howie Mandel's charm and some very run-of-the-mill gags. Watching this show is a bit like watching a parody of a hidden camera show. Parody is good. Unintentional self-parody is not.

The gags aren't even funny. For example, a guy (the mark) and his wife were filming a "commercial", of course fake for the purpose of the show. Anyhow, it involved the man and his wife making out in bed (don't ask.) The producer wasn't liking the guy's making out with his wife. So the producer climbs in bed with the wife and starts making out with her to show the mark how it's done, even removing his clothes in the process. The mark watches in revulsion and horror. It was more awkward than funny.

Another gag involved an audition for some prospective TV weather reporters, though they looked like they walked in off the street and were not really showing up for a job interview. Howie, the interviewer, dons his wig and sprays water in their faces while they try to read a script. Ha ha. I get it. And no, it's not funny.

The most telling detail was this: in the episode I watched (the first episode) when the marks learned that the whole thing was a setup, many times they did not laugh or find it funny. It makes the show very awkward to watch.

I watched the whole first episode and mildly chuckled once. I think Howie Mandel is a funny guy. I always enjoyed watching his stand up bits and such. Howie, dude, watch your own show. It stinks!

Is this entire Show a Joke?

[fembot1002 · 1/10 · 23 November 2009]

Howie Do It is such a horrible show that I can only think that maybe, just maybe, the entire thing was just a really bad joke. Who on earth would put a show this bad on TV and actually expect people to watch it? I can't begin to say how awful this show was. Howie was a terrible host, and what was with him always wearing a stupid disguise (just a bad wig usually) and always calling himself Larry? The pranks were all really bad, what is the point of copying a successful old formula like Candid Camera and not even updating it to be better, or funny in today's world? This was a really bad show with really bad performances, bad hosting, and bad writing. Bad idea from the get go, all around terrible show.

Worst show ever?

[monsieurguillaume5 · 1/10 · 25 May 2013]

I am convinced that Howie Do It may in fact be the worst show ever made. I guess there would probably be worse shows like Turkish Batman or some other stuff, worse Canadian shows are out there, but considering the money this show obviously had and the production values being so high this has to be the worst show in this price range. The pranks were all ridiculously unfunny the talent was awful the host Howie Mandell was cringe inducing he was so awful and unfunny, I hated everything about this show. How do shows this bad even get put on TV can I apply and get my own show instead? Scare Tactics wasn't very good and it still looks like genius art next to this awful show.

Terrible

[greenfieldpark01 · 1/10 · 10 February 2014]

Howie Do It was a terrible show and easily the worst of the hidden camera or prank type shows that I have ever seen... and I have seen a lot of these shows in my life. Candid Camera I guess started it and old reruns of that show aren't that great but Howie Do It is just terrible, like the worst.

Howie is a horrible host and the costumes they would put him in are stupid. Plus him revealing himself is just dumb because like we're supposed to know who he is and be excited? I mean I have heard of him but probably wouldn't recognize him on the street. He's not a big celebrity or anything even just in Canada.

The pranks were all stupid and I don't think I laughed even one time watching this. Really just a terrible show.

He cannot do it.

[OllieSuave-007 · 1/10 · 13 November 2016]

This is quite the unremarkable show that is similar to Candid Camera, where host Howie Mandel makes practical jokes to other people while the camera is on. Unfortunately, this show does not match the humor and surprises as Candid Camera due to its mediocre jokes and boring concept.

Howie Mandel doesn't come across as the funny host he was supposed to be, instead, pulling off unfunny gags and lackluster execution that makes him come across as annoying sometimes.

That overzealous Ravidrums guy banging on the drums while Mandel is hosting, like an over-excited and drugged up kid, added to the annoyance and talent-less aspect of the show. He makes you want to grab his drumsticks and throw him off the stage.

It's just as well that this TV show didn't last long on the air. Howie doesn't do it as far as talent and entertainment in this show.

Grade F

Pathetic TV!

[robertboylex · 1/10 · 14 October 2009]

This show is awful, I don't know if it has been cancelled but I have not seen it on television for a while (thank goodness!) so I hope that it has had the plug mercifully pulled and we will never have to expose our eyes to this pathetic excuse for a TV show ever, ever again. If this is "Howie Does It" I can't see why he can even leave his house without hired bodyguards because Howie whats his name is so unfunny and terrible it makes me want to vomit all over my TV. The hacky pranks they pull on people are even less funny than in Candid Camera reruns from the 1960s or whatever if you are going to rip off Candid Camera ideas at least make them funnier than they used to be! This show is just awful, the worst U.S. made comedy I have seen in years and I would say maybe the worst comedy show ever if it wasn't for almost every show produced on that constant waste of time network The Comedy Network in Canada.

Head Shaking Bad

[markgorys · 1/10 · 6 August 2018]

Just #smh at how bad this show is. Howie Mandell is a comic I like but he's got to be the worst and most awkward host of a show of all time. The pranks are really awful and unfunny and none of the reactions of the prank victims are funny either. And what's up with the stupid costumes for no reason? This show is just the worst.

The Worst Hidden Camera Show

[worthwood · 1/10 · 29 July 2018]

This show was awful on every level you can think of. Howie Mandell is uncomfortable to watch, smiling through all the awful hidden camera pranks he presents on this show. The actors he uses are terrible, the pranks are lame and unfunny, and they people they prank don't give great reactions either. The only laughs I had were unintentional ones when Howie would wear really bad costumes to surprise people with who he really was and the people would be like "oh OK I guess I kind of recognize you from the eighties or whatever"......

It Stinks!

[juanita_canuck · 1/10 · 24 August 2009]

Howie Do It is an awful, awful show. To put it quite simply, Howie Do It just stinks. I can't think of a worse hidden camera "Candid Camera" type show I've ever seen. Howie Do It is so bad it is easily worse than Punk'd, which I also hate.

Howie Mandel is a comedian who I don't think has been doing much for years. By that I mean he probably has been working as a stand up comic and making tons of money and is successful, I just mean I don't remember seeing him on TV for years, since I was a kid even. So all of a sudden to see him on Deal or No Deal and that he has this TV show I was surprised, he is much older now and shaves his head, maybe because he was older and going bald anyway or maybe going gray? Just a guess but based on how old he must be now that can't be too far off.

Nothing on this show is funny, it is just either unfunny and bad or trying to gross us out for no reason and again still not at all funny. Just a stinker.

Sorry, I'm just not that mindless

[tiffanie_says_stay_in_your_lane · 1/10 · 6 April 2023]

I was a teenager when Howie Do It was on TV. I didn't laugh then. I re-watched it now fifteen years later, and I still didn't laugh. I feel like by the mid 2000s, people's standards for humor had started declining. I'd be curious to know the demographic of the population who thought it was funny. I mean seriously, what kind of person laughs at this crap??? The pranks were immature, stupid, and offensive. A guy bringing his parents on a fake news segment called "mystery reunions" to reveal that he made a woman pregnant; Howie disguised as a waiter and putting his fingers in customers' drinks; a woman who was told she would be doing an instructional DVD for yoga, and she's placed in the middle of two men who pass gas the whole time. Howie said it was real - no sound effects. Yeah, okay. Well, if that was the case, she was crazy for staying, because if I was her, I would've left the room. Why would you subject yourself to being around people who are intentionally trying to be disgusting? I know pranks are supposed to be dumb, but I don't see anything humorous about embarrassing or making people feel uncomfortable. Plus it seemed like they were all actors, not just the ones who were being pranked. Their reactions came off as staged. This was a show for children, or childish adults. I'm glad it didn't stay on long. It was a waste of money and time to make in the first place.