Howie Mandel hails Simon Cowell for 'changing lives'
Howie Mandel has heaped praise on Simon Cowell, the creator of 'America's Got Talent'.
Howie Mandel believes Simon Cowell is responsible for "changing more lives than any one idea on television".
The 69-year-old actor has served as a judge on 'America's Got Talent' since 2010, and Howie is full of admiration for Simon, the show's creator.
Howie told People: "Every time somebody gets a golden buzzer or somebody wins something or somebody gets an opportunity and you see them fall to their knees and cry and their family joins them on stage and you know their life is never going to be the same, I run over to his seat behind him.
"And I go, 'You did this, buddy. You came up with an idea. A lot of us come up with ideas and we want to do TV shows and we want to entertain and we want to get a laugh, but your idea is changing more lives than any one idea on television.'"
'America's Got Talent' launched almost 20 years ago, and Howie is looking forward to celebrating the milestone.
He said: "I think that each season kind of raises the bar just by people being inspired by what they saw the season before.
"But, then again, being a 20th anniversary, people are very celebratory. They know it's a special year and they're doing special things."
Last year, Simon admitted to being surprised by the longevity of 'America's Got Talent'.
The 65-year-old music mogul launched the hit TV show back in 2006, and he's been amazed by the enduring popularity of the format.
Speaking to 'Extra' about the first season of the show, Simon shared: "Thank god it did well.
"Now we are here, 20 years later and now … you get people ... flying in from all over the world.
"They only get two minutes, remember that, you're gonna fly 16 hours and you've got two minutes and you don't know what's going to happen. But we are seeing things that we've genuinely never seen before."
Simon has enjoyed huge success with various TV talent shows in the US and the UK, and he remains as ambitious as ever.
Asked if he plans to create another reality competition show, Simon replied: "Am I? Yes."
