Howie Mandel opens up about his experience doing the voice-over for Gizmo, provides exclusive never-before-heard bits of Gremlins movie information, and reveals an exclusive NECA Gizmo figure collectible that you certainly won’t want to miss!

Not too many people know this, but everybody’s favorite little Gremlin, Gizmo, was voiced by famous actor, comedian, and producer, Howie Mandel. Yes, the same Howie Mandel who hosted Deal or No Deal and who sits as a judge on America’s Got Talent! In this exciting video, Howie Mandel shares how he found his way to voicing the role of Gizmo on the Gremlins, and also shares some never-before-heard secrets from his time working on the film.

Did you know that the directors had filmed the entire Gremlins movie from start to finish before asking Howie to come in and do his voice-over for Gizmo? Or that Howie not only recorded the noises and garbles of Gizmo in ‘English’ for the original release, but also had to do a dialectical Gizmo voice-over for Japan, Germany, and a bunch more countries for the international release, as well? These details, along with many other fun tidbits of Gremlins info, are sprinkled throughout this reveal.

During the video, Howie reveals a special edition Gizmo collectible from NECA that every true Gremlins fan is going to want to get their hands on. Featuring a highly detailed brown and white Gizmo figure accompanied by multiple accessories straight from the classic film, you’re going to love having this piece in your collection. Dress up your Gizmo with a trumpet, a Santa hat, a candy cane, different Gizmo masks, and other fun accessories included with the package and you’ll have an absolute blast with your little Mogwai!

As if the Gizmo figure alone wasn’t awesome enough, each package comes complete with a collector’s card signed by Howie Mandel himself. Whether you take your Gizmo out of the box or not, Stripe won’t stand a chance when you have this magical Gizmo figure and signed collector’s card in your arsenal.

Read Full Interview Transcription Below: 

Marc: Hey everybody, Marc Summers back, right here and we’ve got a special treat for today's Haulathon episode. We’re chatting with the voice of Gizmo himself, Mr. Howie Mandel. We’re covering all the bases this time, his iconic Gremlins character, the incredible figure from NECA, and even some never before shared news about making the film. So let’s get it started, you don’t want to miss this.

Howie: Hello Haulathoners, Howie Mandel here. I don't know if you know this, but I was the voice of Gizmo in Gremlins. *Gizmo noise* Real talent, huh? I know that you see me now and you think, “How could that be Gizmo?” That was years ago, I've lost my fur, I've grown a little, and I'm not as cute as I was. Look what I got. Look what I got. I got, wow. Look at this. I almost don’t want to open it because I think that this is a collectible this way. But I'm going to open it. Look at me. Look how gorgeous I was as a young - *Gizmo noise* - So this is Gizmo and there he is, he’s got a trumpet, he has a candy cane. Remember, this is a Christmas movie. His torch. And look, these are different masks, I guess for different expressions. And hats. See these are the shots from the movie. You have this outfit in the box. This is me playing the trumpet with my Santa Claus hat. This is, I say “me” because I feel like there's no difference between me and Gizmo. Here he is with his like lance thing. And all these movie pieces are depicted in this collectible, you lucky haulers you. You look there's the Santa Claus hat. There's everything here. And inside each of them is this. And this is what I’ve spent all day actually signing. That's my signature, it says “Howie.” And look it's like it's a collectible card: “Gizmo the Mogwai.” See it says there: “Gremlins 2 The New Batch. Howie Mandel, voice of Gizmo from Gremlins 2.” I’m also the voice of Gizmo from Gremlins 1. I’m also the voice of Gizmo in the Mountain Dew ads. I’m the voice of Gizmo. You know I’ve done a lot of voices throughout the years, you know I did Bobby, and I did Skeeter on the Muppet Babies. But Gizmo is probably the most successful international character I ever did. And I had no idea what I was getting into. I remember my friend Frank Welker who is the king of, he was the voice of Stripe. And he was the king of voiceovers for movies. I was doing Muppet Babies with him and he said “you’d be perfect for Gizmo, I’ll get you an audition.” And I remember the day that I went to audition I was in Burbank, California and the auditions for the voiceovers were, and for all the gremlins, were in a building. I guess you know, a casting person just rents part-time a little office. And it was in the same office building as an OBGYN, like a gynecologist. And I remember going up the stairs to the, what I thought was the office, and you’d hear *screams* Oh my god, I don't want my wife to ever go to this gynecologist. But it was actually the next door, it was the readings for all the Gremlins. And I went in, and they showed me, they showed me the picture. I had the picture. You know they had already shot the movie, totally shot the movie. And all the puppeteers, and they showed me one of the, one of the puppets. They held one of the little pieces that they used in the movie. I guess they had, they probably had hundreds of them. You know, in different positions, and different looks, and messed up. But they had made a lot of them and they show me this and they go, “What do you think this would sound like?” And I just, it looked adorable and it looked cute and it should be *Gizmo noises* and they went “perfect, you have the job.” You know what’s amazing? I went there and I did the job. It took weeks. You know, they would show, I’d sit there with the director. And I would, you know he’d go, in this scene, you know he’s really scared, or he’s really cute, or he got the water on his *Gizmo noise* he got the water on his back. Or whatever. And he’d give me direction and I’d do it. And we went through like weeks and weeks and weeks. We laid down all the sound. And then I thought, like I was finished. And then because this was a huge movie, that was going to be opened internationally. This is a weird unknown fact. They would have me, they would have somebody come in from each and every country, and like Germany. And they’d make me do it again. But they would make me like, in America, in North America, and all the English-speaking countries, he would go, when the lights turned on, he would go *Gizmo noise* you know basically I was saying “Light Bright” but I wasn’t really *Gizmo noise* you know it sounded like that. Or *Gizmo noise* when somebody was bad, it was caca Mogwai. Like a Mogwai that was *Gizmo noise* But then the person from Germany would show up and go well, you know that you’re not speaking English but the English-speaking audience understands what Gizmo is getting on, so we have to do the same for every different language. So like for Germany, instead of saying *Gizmo noise* I would go *Gizmo noise* you know *German words* or whatever. It had to sound like. Or the people from Japan would come in, and whatever words they had, that were close to “Light Bright.” He never said the words, but he was always mumbling or garbling something really close to that. So people don’t know that, but I did, I did the movie over and over and over again about 10 times, for all these different territories. Joe Dante was a dream to work with, you know. He was the one who cast me. And the audition, he was there listening to the sounds. And he was in the recording studio every minute, and sometimes when we had to do like a lot of noise and folly along with it, he would even get on mic and help us make noise. He was the most amazing and engaged director that I had ever worked with. It was Joe Dante’s direction that kind of, created every level from the audible, visual, and every palpable feeling you get from that movie. Every time I see PG-13 on a movie I go, you know I have a little responsibility for that. There was no such thing as PG-13. There was PG, and there was R. You know, restricted. And because this was a horror and because and I think also Indiana Jones had the same thing, but we came out the same year. And they’re both Spielberg-produced movies. We, it was created, PG-13 was created for Gremlins and Indiana Jones. And that was, you know, they wanted parental guidance for if you're under 13. Because it was you know, for the most part, it was funny but it was also scary, and they didn’t think it was something that you know, children, small kids should go in you know, and watch alone. So, I feel excited not only did am I a small part of a great film and what I believe is a classic, but even a small part of how films are rated today. And even when I explain to people, I go did you see Gremlins? And they go, “I love Gremlins.” And I go, “I’m Gizmo.” And they just look at me, like people don’t know how to react. Until I go *Gizmo noise*

Marc: A big thanks to Howie Mandel for joining us today. The new NECA Gizmo is available right now in the US at Target and Target.com, and internationally at Haulathon.com. So we’re gonna see you next time collectors, and we hope you enjoyed today's interview. This is Marc Summers signing off, saying see you real soon.