The morning after the two were live on CNN, they talked about tequila shots, Diplo and Cohen’s dancing skills.
For the past eight New Year’s Eves, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen have been television mainstays — reporting live from Times Square on CNN and often going viral on social media for their antics, whether for Cooper’s giggles or Cohen’s political rants.
This New Year’s Eve was no different. On a rainy, unseasonably warm night waiting for the ball to drop, they played games, judged a costume contest involving their doppelgängers and asked prodding questions with the help of their guests, who included Ralph Fiennes, Diplo and Amy Sedaris.
CNN had gone back and forth in previous years on whether to allow Cooper and Cohen to drink on air, sometimes replacing alcohol shots with pickle juice. But this year the hosts got the go ahead, and Cohen provided the tequila and gold shot glasses.
After less than three hours of sleep — of course they had to stop by Patti LuPone’s party following the broadcast, despite Cooper’s on-air reluctance — they spoke in a video call on Wednesday about how the night went, their favorite moments and how they were spending New Year’s Day. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
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First things first, how are you both feeling this morning?
ANDERSON COOPER I feel good. You know, there’s nothing better than spending the night with your friend and having fun, then waking up and having your kids around and, you know, making eggs and toast.
ANDY COHEN I feel great, weirdly. Frankly, I’m just on a high from how much fun we had. This morning I got up at like 7 a.m., and my kids were watching “Bluey.” Anderson, we managed to have so much fun while it was dumping rain for two and a half or three hours, significant rain.
If you had to pick one, what was your favorite moment of the broadcast?
COOPER I knew Ralph Fiennes was going to be on, but I had no idea he was going to do the “demure” thing [a monologue based on a beauty influencer’s viral video]. I just lost it; I thought it was so funny.
COHEN I loved Ralph; I obviously enjoyed my parents. I have to say, the big thing that is so fun for me is just the interplay with Anderson. I mean, I love making him laugh. I love him making me laugh. I love us giving each other crap. And that started with him ripping on my dancing and then us making fun of my wax figure [at Madame Tussauds].
COOPER And that whole ridiculous costume contest. I love that Andy got his trainer to represent him, and for me it was like seeing the ghost of Christmas future.
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COHEN Anderson, it was so funny planning that. I was so excited to make Anderson laugh. I knew that whole sight gag was just going to make him laugh. And I mean, I really wanted to get a very frail, old thin man. I kept saying to [my producers]: “Have you found a very old man? And the older the better.”
I thought Diplo — first of all, he was late because of his helicopter. And this is why I love live television. I just kind of very randomly was like, “Where is the most conventional place that you’ve been on L.S.D.?” And he said it was there [live on air]. I mean, it was just a perfect “New Year’s Eve, you can’t plan this” crazy moment.
COOPER I really enjoyed the fact that we could start off the entire broadcast by making fun of Andy’s dancing at the [Dead & Company] concert because it so scarred me when I saw that. I’ve been thinking about it ever since and never mentioned it to him.
@cnn A concert goer captured video of Andy Cohen dancing at a Dead and Company gig in Las Vegas earlier this year. Anderson was not impressed. #cnn #news ♬ original sound - CNN
What I found funny was the amount of times they played the clip, like five times.
COOPER Yeah, they kept calling for it.
Anderson, did you go home and Google any of the pop culture references you heard and didn’t understand last night?
COOPER No, I have not. I feel like, you know what? The things I need to know I learned last night, and with the others, it’s fine that I’m oblivious.
What was the worst part of the rainy portion? Andy, it seemed as if Anderson was letting his umbrella drip on you a lot.
COOPER He’s been very upset about my umbrella placements. There were lots of microaggressions occurring during interviews, and Andy was swatting at me, trying to reposition my elbow.
COHEN I am glad that we have the relationship that we have that I can just be real and get mad at him while we’re standing there in an interview.
You asked 50 Cent if he gets nervous before performing. Do you both get nervous before the live broadcast starts?
COHEN I was a little edgy before the show, and I have to say the tequila shot at the beginning of the show really evened me out.
Andy, I saw on “Watch What Happens Live” that you said you provide the tequila — do you have a brand of choice of tequila?
COHEN It’s De Nada tequila. I literally went to Manley’s [Wine & Spirits] and bought tequila, then I realized how many guests we had on the riser — which, we never have that many guests. Usually I bring enough tequila to give shots out to our crew at midnight, but this time I was like, “Oh my God, we have so many guests; I need to bring a lot of tequila.” And so I brought kind of this duffel full of tequila.
Might I add, I dragged Anderson to Patti LuPone’s after the show, and I went up to the bar and ordered tequila, and they ran out. I said, “You’re in luck,” and I went to a duffel bag. And I not only brought my two remaining bottles of tequila, but I have Fresca as well. I don’t want to say I saved the party …
Back to Diplo — Anderson, you told him you really like going out to the club and dancing, and people were very excited about that. What is your hype-up song? What is a song that will get you on the dance floor?
COOPER First of all, I probably haven’t done this in quite a while. So my days of going out to the club are sadly long gone. I feel like I’ve probably aged out of that. You know, back in my 20s and probably 30s ——
COHEN He doesn’t have a song. Keep blabbing your lips, but you’re not answering her question.
COOPER I mean any song I do have would be from, like, the 2000s.
COHEN No, Anderson, you played me a Dua Lipa song you liked.
COOPER Well my two favorites right now when I go to the gym, which is now what I like to do, and run, is Dua Lipa’s “Be the One” and “IDGAF.”
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So now we know that if you are ever at the club and someone wants to get you on the dance floor …
COOPER Yes, please someone play “Be the One.”
When you started doing CNN New Year’s Eve in 2017, neither of you had kids. How does the end of the night look now vs. before you had kids?
COHEN Well, we went for it last night. It’s not how the end of the night looks, it’s how the morning after looks. I mean, I don’t know that we would be doing this interview at 10:30 a.m. [in previous years].
What is on the agenda for the rest of today?
COHEN I’m going to take my kids out for lunch.
COOPER Everything is shut down — I just tried to take them out to breakfast, so I made them eggs and toast. For me, I’m going to hang out with the kids, and we’ll probably go to the playground.
What are your New Year’s resolutions?
COHEN Mine is the same as it always is, which is to spend less time on my phone.
COOPER That would be good. That’s my resolution for Andy as well.
COHEN Well, sweetie, you were on your phone last night while Shania Twain was killing it performing “Man, I Feel Like a Woman.”
