Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper are known for their hilarious — and sometimes unhinged — antics during CNN’s live New Year’s Eve broadcast.
Cohen became Cooper’s cohost in 2017 when he replaced Kathy Griffin. However, the pair have known each other for decades after first crossing paths when their friends tried to set them up on a blind date in the early ‘90s.
“We had a phone call to set up the date, and I knew within 45 seconds I was never going on a date with Andy Cohen,” Cooper told Jimmy Fallon during a 2017 appearance on The Tonight Show, noting that he canceled their date. “He violated my cardinal rule, which is he asked me about my mom [Gloria Vanderbilt] within the first minute of talking to me.”
Cohen, for his part, said he was “excited” about their phone call, adding, “I wanted to date the Vanderbilt boy!”
While their romantic setup never panned out, they ended up becoming close friends after traveling together throughout the early 2000s with a group of mutual friends. They both have huge careers and have grown families of their own. Cohen is a father to son Ben and daughter Lucy while Cooper coparents his sons, Wyatt and Sebastian, with his friend and former partner Benjamin Maisani.
Cohen and Cooper’s real-life friendship translates on camera, and viewers eagerly tune in every year to watch the duo. They have made headlines over the years because of their alcohol consumption throughout the night, which has brought mixed reactions from fans.
CNN banned their correspondents from drinking while ringing in 2023, and Cohen begged the network to reverse the decision heading into 2024.
“Hopefully, I will not be sneaking it,” Cohen said at BravoCon in November 2023. “I haven’t heard anything yet, but come on, they need to let us drink. It’s New Year’s Eve. That didn’t go well last year in terms of viewer happiness about us drinking. People really cared and I hope CNN gives the people what they want.”
Keep reading to see Cohen and Cooper’s funniest NYE moments:
Cooper Recounts Saucy Story About Gloria Vanderbilt
During the 2019 broadcast, Cooper tried Jägermeister for the first time before telling a hilarious story about his late mother.
When Vanderbilt appeared on Watch What Happens Live to promote her 2017 book, The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss, there was one question she was worried host Cohen would ask.
“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?’” Cooper recalled during the broadcast.
Cohen Suggests They Drop Acid
Snoop Dogg appeared during the 2020-2021 show and Cooper couldn’t stop giggling about all the places the rapper had smoked marijuana.
“Have you ever done acid?” Cohen asked Cooper, who exclaimed that he had never tried the drug. The Bravo star said, “Well, it’s time. We’re doing it tonight.”
Cohen’s Ryan Seacrest Diss
“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 said during the 2021 broadcast about Seacrest, who hosts Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
Cohen later said on Sirius XM’s Andy Cohen Live that he “regretted” dissing Seacrest’s special, calling him a “great guy.”
Cohen’s Famous ‘Sayonara, Sucka!’
While getting ready to ring in 2022, Cohen took two shots of alcohol before taking a few shots at former mayor Bill de Blasio.
“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!” Cohen said. “2022, it’s a new year, because, 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.”
Cohen Calls Cooper a ‘Nepo Baby’
After Cooper jokingly said the Vanderbilt “fortune was lost long ago,” Cohen quipped, “Look at this little nepo baby! He’s so sweet.”
