After CNN barred its anchors from drinking during the live New Year’s Eve broadcast, Andy Cohen had a back-up plan on Saturday, December 31, 2022.
“So we should talk about the elephant in the room,” Cohen quipped on Saturday. “We can’t drink, alright! We can’t drink. But it’s fine. It’s totally cool.”
Anderson Cooper, for his part, didn’t find the sober rules to be a “big deal,” since he normally does not drink. “Are you going to be able to make it?” the Anderson Cooper 360 journalist, 55, asked his pal, 54.
Cohen jokingly replied: “That’s the question. We will see! Do I have a pocket full of edibles? I do. Will I take them? I don’t think so. I don’t know, it’s a long night. This is a telethon with no disease, do you understand? We’re here all night passing time.”
While the Watch What Happens Live host did not reveal if he took the edibles mid-broadcast, he devised a fun game for the twosome. Cohen and Cooper took turns downing shots of various mystery liquids — including pickle juice, buttermilk and vinegar — before guessing what it was while their vision was impaired by the Bravolebrity’s signature “Ramona [Singer] glasses.”
“Honestly, this is no different to me because alcohol, to me, all tastes disgusting,” Cooper said during the game on Saturday.
News broke in November 2022 that the broadcast network wanted to sober up the televised special after Cohen — who has helmed the live broadcast with Cooper since 2017 — drunkenly shaded former Mayor Bill DeBlasio the previous year.
“What [CNN chairman Chris Licht] said was that he didn’t want the correspondents out there drinking, but that he wanted Anderson and I to do our thing,” the Missouri native told The Hollywood Reporter last year, claiming he was going to “party harder” despite the new rules. “So I’m happy to do our thing. My only directive for years on CNN has been to have fun on New Year’s Eve, and that is absolutely what I plan to do.”
Cohen later clarified to Page Six that he would not be drinking during the show, which surprised Kevin Hart.
“I can’t believe they pulled this s—t on you guys!” the Central Intelligence actor, 43, jokingly said during a virtual appearance on the Saturday show, before taking a shot himself. “That’s right, CNN, I said s—t! … I’m pissed you got these two guys sober up here today.”
Despite a sober way to ring in 2023, the longtime friends enjoyed their cohosting duties.
“That was a lot of fun,” Cohen said in a Sunday, January 1, Instagram video with Cooper while taking their respective children to a local playground. “Happy New Year, you guys! … I did finally get my tequila, in case you’re wondering, at the end of the night. Anderson didn’t, I did [and] I drank for both of us — and I earned it.”
He added: “By the way, I would like to say, I don’t think the two of us acted really discernibly different much different than we would have if we had been drinking.”
