Great minds drink alike!
No one knows how to ring in a new year like besties Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper — and CNN has let them do it since 2017. (Cohen replaced Kathy Griffin as Cooper’s co-host.)
After years — and countless juicy moments — of alcohol-enhanced airtime, former CNN CEO Chris Licht explained in 2022 that on-camera drinking corroded the network’s and their employees’ credibility in the eyes of the public.
“New Year’s Eve Live” viewers, however, seemed to care about the lack of liquor: 2023’s programming averaged 2.1 million viewers compared to 3.7 million the year prior.
Ahead of 2024, fellow late-night host Stephen Colbert tried to pry the news out of the co-hosts: Will they or won’t they be drinking this year?
Cooper replied, “I think you’re going to have to tune in to see.” He later joked that sober Cohen wasn’t “any less embarrassing.”
As folks at home await the results of Cohen’s plea to reverse the alcohol ban, take a look back at his and Anderson’s funniest moments on NYE so far.
2018: Andy storms against the Times Square Alliance
After it began raining on the co-hosts and Cohen properly protected himself, the Times Square Alliance — who provides security and is one of the coordinators of the event — told him to get rid of his umbrella. He didn’t take that news well, telling viewers, “I said I won’t do it.”
“I said, ‘Get the paddy wagon, cause that’s what it’s going to take.’ But now they are threatening to pull CNN’s spot from the credentials from Times Square for next year!” The only time the umbrella made a reappearance is when Cohen and Cooper interviewed Faye Dunaway, an icon surely deserving of coverage.
2019: Anderson gets sauced — and saucy
Cooper took advantage of his prime-time position to try Jägermeister for the first time alongside Cohen. After downing a shot, he said, “What is that? Who would drink that?” Cohen answered, “College students and Jimmy [Fallon],” one of Cohen’s rival late-night hosts who gifted him the bottle.
Later on in the program, Cooper recounted a story about his mother, heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, backstage at Cohen’s “Watch What Happens Live.” She was worried whether Cohen would ask her whose manhood was the biggest when they were promoting their 2017 book, “The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss.” Her son relayed on-air: “She turns to me out of the blue and goes, ‘He’s not going to ask me who has the biggest c–k in Hollywood, is he?’”
2020: Anderson can’t keep cool around Snoop Dogg
Before leaving behind the first part of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cohen took the chance to play a game with Snoop Dogg, appropriately named “Have You Gotten High There?” Like Dr. Seuss, he asked the rapper if he’d ever gotten high on a yacht, at the White House, at Martha Stewart’s house, at a bar mitzvah and so on. Unsurprisingly, the answer was “yes” to each one. Cooper acted like a narc during the game, giggling so loud that Cohen couldn’t hear Snoop’s answers in his headset.
Before the clock struck midnight, Cohen also asked Cooper, “Have you ever done acid?” His friend said, “No!” Cohen expressed his disbelief, ending the exchange by telling Cooper, “Well, it’s time. We’re doing it tonight.”
2021: Andy slams Ryan Seacrest
Cohen, in a show of unsportsmanlike conduct, decided it was time to take a jab at NYE hosting competitor Ryan Seacrest. During the broadcast, he said, “If you look behind me, you’ll see Ryan Seacrest’s group of losers performing. I’m sorry, but if you’re watching ABC, you’re watching nothing.”
Cohen later blamed the faux pas on being intoxicated — and ahead of the 2022 show, Seacrest even applauded CNN’s booze ban. The hosts’ beef is officially squashed as they head into 2023’s hosting activities.
2021: Andy airs his grievances against then-Mayor Bill de Blasio
As he rang in 2022, Cohen took a shot of alcohol — and another one at then-Mayor, Bill de Blasio. While Cooper awkwardly stood next to him, Cohen said, “Watching Mayor de Blasio do his ‘victory lap dance’ after four years of the crappiest term as the mayor of New York, the only thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on is what a horrible mayor he has been. So, sayonara sucka! 2022, it’s a new year, cause, guess what? I have a feeling I’m gonna be standing right here next year and you know what I’m not gonna be looking at? Dancing as the city comes apart.”
2022: Andy calls Anderson a ‘nepo baby’
For the pair’s first dry broadcast, Cohen had his fun by calling his friend of 20 years a “nepo baby” while playing a game with Jean Smart. After the co-hosts revealed they were both thrilled they’d never gotten into cryptocurrency, Cohen said, “Anderson lost the Vanderbilt fortune in crypto. I know, nepo baby!”
Cooper responded: “That fortune was lost long ago!”
Cohen interjected, saying in a baby voice: “Look at this little nepo baby — he’s so sweet.”
CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live With Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen” airs Sunday, Dec. 31, at 8 p.m. ET and will stream live on CNN Max.