No one enjoys getting comments about their age and looks, and Howie Mandel made that clear in a recent interview on Monday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark.
When the host commented on his looks and age after he recently celebrated his 70th birthday, Howie Mandel snapped at Kelly Ripa, causing an awkward on-air moment.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Ripa, 55, added after congratulating the America’s Got Talent judge on his recent milestone.
“What do you mean, it doesn’t make any sense?” Mandel asked. Mark Consuelos, 54, went to clarify his wife’s comment, saying that he looks “great.”
“That I look great?” Mandel repeated. “That doesn’t mean anything to me.” While Mandel seemed to be playing it up as a joke, it came off tense, causing an awkward interaction between him and the hosts.
When the hosts tried to clarify further, Mandel continued, saying, “No, no, no. I don’t like that because that’s a caveat, ’cause you tell someone you’re 70, and they go, ‘you look great-‘”
Ripa interjected, assuring Mandel that they’re “not saying you look great for 70.” But rather, “you look great, and I don’t believe you’re 70.”
The interaction went further, causing an awkward and tense moment as Mandel doubled down on his point, saying that the couple was saying exactly that “without saying 70.”
While Ripa tried to brush it off to make it sound better, Mark Consuelos agreed, saying that it was what he was trying to say.
“No, no. It’s like saying you’re smart for a stupid person,” he explained. “‘Oh, you seem smart, you seem smart,’ you see, no, I don’t look good.”
Consuelos kept pushing, though, making one more attempt to salvage the situation by telling Mandel he “looks good”. The comedian diffused the situation, finally agreeing he’s “gorgeous” and revealed his “ridiculous” workout routine that helped deliver the results.
The interaction has recently branded him as “insufferable” on X, with commenters pointing out that Mandel was probably insecure and didn’t recognize that the hosts were trying to be polite.
Other commenters acknowledged that he was doing a bit and trying to be funny, but it was still a bit confrontational, creating an awkward scene on live television.