Howie Mandel is miffed that Howard Stern is sucking up all the attention on “America’s Got Talent” since replacing Piers Morgan on the NBC show, sources tell Page Six.
Judges Mandel, Stern and Sharon Osbourne have been crisscrossing the nation in recent weeks, searching for talent with stops in Austin, St. Louis, San Francisco and Los Angeles, where Stern’s been greeted “like The Beatles” by his legions of rabid fans.
All the adoration has Mandel, who joined the show in 2010, grousing. “Howie is getting jealous because Howard is getting the loudest applause and all the attention on ‘America’s Got Talent,’ ” said a source.
The insider added that staffers at the San Francisco taping overhead Mandel complaining about Stern stealing the spotlight.
“Howie is the new Randy Jackson,” one source close to the show said — comparing the roles on “AGT” to the original “American Idol” lineup — whereas Stern is Simon Cowell.
A fan who went to the Austin taping to see Stern wrote online, “The Howard fans were a blessing and a curse for the taping . . . There were so many people carrying signs with Howard’s catchphrases. When Howard came in, I can’t even tell you how long the cheering and chanting went on. ‘Howard! Howard!’ They couldn’t get the crowd to stop.”
She added, “It was like The Beatles when he got out of the car.”
The live show will relocate to New York this season to accommodate the SiriusXM shock jock, though Mandel lives in LA.
Mandel, who also hosts Fox’s “Mobbed,” recently tweeted, “Amazing,” when a fan asked what it was like to be working with Stern.
An NBC rep said, “There’s no truth to this story. The judges are all good friends and are very supportive of each other.”
Mandel said through a rep: “I love Howard, and his fans are phenomenal. The only real negative about working with him is that my wife now yells ‘baba booey’ in bed during sex.”