
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 3, 1993                   TAG: 9307030373
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: S-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SCOTT MOORE THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`BOBBY'S WORLD': HOWIE MANDEL'S HUMOR FOR KIDS

Howie Mandel is angry and frustrated and shaking his head with amazement. He's remembering all the times he has spotted young children in the audience for his adults-only standup act.

"If you see `Howie Mandel' advertised, do not bring your children. I'm amazed that people do that. I've been around long enough, and the ticket prices are expensive enough, that people should know what they're getting into."

He has a solution for parents who want to pass on their appreciation of Mandel's brand of humor to their children. First, there's the "Bobby's World" television show (Saturday morning at 8:30 on WJPR-Channel 21/27). Then there's "Bobby's World Live," a family musical production that resulted from the fact that Mandel does not allow his own kids (ages 9 months to 8 years) to attend his stand-up shows.

Thirty-something Howie Mandel may be heated, but 5-year-old Bobby Generic is hot. The squeaky-voiced character - whom Mandel created by accident, while choking on a piece of cake - begins a three-month live tour today.

Mandel acknowledges that his livelihood presents a "unique double standard" for his children, who have accompanied him on bus tours for his 200-date-a-year act. ("We're the Partridge Family of the '90s," he said.)

After inadvertently hearing parts of his stand-up act on tape, his 8-year-old daughter, Jackie, had to be told that "that language should never be used unless it pays the mortgage." Mandel, after telling the kids not to talk to strangers, has to explain why he converses with fans.

With his double life - performer and father, adult comic and kiddie cult figure - Mandel walks a fine line. "The only reason you think of an R rating (on the stand-up act) is because there's a 7-year-old present. I don't censor the act, though there are things I won't do if children are listening."

"Bobby's World Live," like the TV program, will be appropriate to children, but not exclusively targeted to them, Mandel said.

"Most of the mail I get (about `Bobby's World') is from adults, saying that Bobby is exactly like their son or daughter," said Mandel. "There's a reason for that: It's all based in reality. We never thought of that stuff, not really. It's all from somebody doing it.

by CNB