Media multi-hyphenate Howie Mandel appears as the guest on an episode of standup comics Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer's podcast "2 Bears, 1 Cave" released on March 6, 2023. At about the episode's 40:35 mark, Kreischer asks Mandel precisely when he decided to shave his head bald.
"I got a part in a movie where I was gonna be a bad guy," Mandel says. "I was shaving and I was trying to even my sideburns." He then describes gradually shortening the length of his hair on either side of his head while attempting to match their lengths, before each side became so short that he ended up with a mohawk. Eventually he shaved his head outright. While he first intended on growing his hair back out, he liked what was initially an unintentional change so much that he decided to run with it.
Mandel then attempts to recall the name of the film he references in this story and has to ask a colleague of his, who helps him remember that it's called "Spin Cycle." In fact, Mandel is unsure if it was ever even released, and finds out live on the podcast that it did indeed premiere in the year 2000. "Spin Cycle," it turns out, was the feature film debut of director Scott Marshall, whose father is "Happy Days" creator Garry Marshall. This sitcom legend's son, then, is at least partially responsible for Mandel's signature bald head.
