When Self-importance Truthful gathered 10 male late-night TV hosts for a photograph shoot for its September 2015 subject, it left somebody out.
Stephen Colbert, James Corden, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien, John Oliver, Invoice Maher, Trevor Noah — who had but to host The Every day Present — Seth Meyers and Larry Wilmore have been all in the photograph.
Nevertheless, Andy Cohen, whose Watch What Happens Live already had been airing on Bravo for six years, wasn’t. And he hasn’t forgotten that.
“I used to be very aware that I needed to be a part of the late-night dialog,” Cohen tells Deadline. He admits that when he discovered he wasn’t invited, he thought “this type of sucks” and he was “salty” in regards to the omission. “I do know what we’re doing; I do know what it means to folks and I do know what it means to me.”
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He believes one of many causes that the present is “discounted” from the late-night dialog is that he’s a number and an interviewer slightly than a comic.
Cohen is used to this by now, however he nonetheless desires to be within the late-night membership, and deservedly so. He has hosted the identical present for longer than any of the present crop of late-night discuss present stars other than Kimmel and Maher. He has hosted nicely over 2,000 exhibits, his present is celebrating its 15th anniversary this month, and he has had a litany of A-list company together with Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Girl Gaga, Ryan Reynolds, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Will Ferrell and Jennifer Lawrence.
He additionally persuaded the likes of Hillary Clinton and Dan Somewhat to drink a shot out of a ski.
This isn’t to besmirch the standard litany of company from the Bravo universe, nearly all of whom commonly make the pilgrimage to Soho in New York to gossip and dish on their co-stars.
This consists of moments reminiscent of Vanderpump Guidelines stars Lala Kent and James Kennedy getting instructed off for cursing an excessive amount of, The Actual Housewives of Atlanta star Dwight Eubanks displaying off his penile implant and an incident the place The Actual Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville accused Actual Housewives of Miami star Joanna Krupa of getting a selected odor that became a defamation lawsuit.
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“Watch What Occurs Dwell may be very trendy late-night discuss present,” Cohen says. “We reside in an age the place everyone seems to be a star due to actuality TV.”
He highlights the truth that Actual Housewives of New York stars Dorinda Medley and Jenna Lyons and Actual Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice now are being requested on The Tonight Present.
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“When Scandoval exploded, [WWHL] was getting one million viewers reside on Tuesday nights, and it was unbelievable,” he added.
However Cohen is totally different to the Colberts, Fallons, Kimmels and Meyers of the world. Clearly, the present is half-hour slightly than an hour, but it surely ditched the standard format from the beginning. Cohen was placing two folks on the present collectively lengthy earlier than The Late Late Present with James Corden was (one thing Cohen admits he borrowed from The Graham Norton Present within the UK). There’s no opening monologue and no pre-show interviews with company. And there’s booze.
It’s additionally reside. In a current New Yorker profile, the journal mentioned the present had a “risky looseness.” Cohen tells Deadline that the “hazard is baked in” as a result of it’s reside.
The present additionally creates headlines and rarely due to a sure former president. Living proof, an episode earlier this yr with Sofia Vergara generated a number of press for the truth that the Fashionable Household star revealed that she wouldn’t date males greater than two years youthful than her.
“Generally issues change into clickbait that simply sort of cross me by [on the show],” he provides. “I didn’t actually take into consideration [Sofia saying that] and that grew to become the massive clickbait of the day from the present. I actually welcome it.”
The very best episodes of Watch What Occurs Dwell are when two folks from totally different worlds are paired collectively reminiscent of SNL’s Cheri Oteri with former NFL participant Rob Gronkowski or Maggie Gyllenhaal with 50 Cent.
Cohen says they try this on goal, for enjoyable. He factors to a current episode with Troye Sivan and Reba McEntire the place they talked about poppers or Clay Aiken approaching alongside porn star Jenna Jameson.
“We attempt to push it, and annually I despatched the entire workforce an e-mail, which is a yearly reminder that we are able to do issues that no one else can do,” he provides. “Exhibits like that offers us vitality.”
Cohen loves the chaotic exhibits, and he additionally loves having on somebody who’s extremely well-known, be it a Hillary Clinton or Julia Roberts, who’s keen to play a sport like Plead the Fifth.
“Once they come down, it tickles me a lot,” he says. “As a result of not solely are they coming into my little world, however they must schlep all the best way right down to Soho.”
One other uncommon side of Watch What Occurs Dwell is the truth that its showrunner, Deirdre Connolly, who beforehand labored at MTV on TRL, has been with the present since its launch. Cohen says that Connolly by no means sweats, even when some exhibits begin with out the visitor being within the constructing (cough, Mariah Carey, cough). “She runs the ship, flawlessly, so all I ever see is that the ship is powerful and going,” Cohen says. Its director, Rocco Flammia, has been with WWHL for greater than ten years. “They only make me really feel completely calm and comfy, and we simply do it.”
Deirdre Connolly & Andy Cohen (Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo)
The show is produced by Sony Pictures Television’s Embassy Row, which was founded by Michael Davies, who now is showrunner of Jeopardy! Cohen says that Davies was “essential” within the early years and spent the primary 5 years “guiding us.” “Now he’s within the Jeopardy! management room on daily basis, however he’s like our godfather. He’s very pleased with us, and he can’t consider what we’re doing.”
Cohen himself has some expertise. He was an govt at Bravo for 0years, together with as EVP Growth and Expertise from 2011-14. However he additionally was a information producer at CBS for 10 years earlier than that, together with on 48 Hours and CBS This Morning. “I needed to assume when it comes to how a lot can we match into 4½ minutes,” he says. “That’s actually come into helpful as a number and producer of Watch What Occurs Dwell. I name the present ‘Quick Consideration Span Theater,’ and it’s superb what we are able to cram into half an hour. My aim is to cease you from selecting up the distant management. If we’re speaking about one thing that’s boring you now, I promise it’s going to be over throughout the subsequent 45 seconds.”
However Cohen, who nonetheless exec produces the Actual Housewives exhibits along with working two channels on SiriusXM, has flirted with leaving. “I feel it was in 12 months 6, I began to hit the wall somewhat bit,” he says. “Craig Ferguson mentioned that’s quite common. I began to really feel like I used to be sort of ticking a field. However I got here to and I used to be like, ‘Oh my God, dude, you’ve your absolute dream job. It is a present of your creativeness and every thing about you,’ and I simply sort of snapped out of it. I haven’t seemed again since.”
The present, which airs Sundays via Thursdays, has been picked up through the end of 2025. Its 15th anniversary show airs at 9 p.m. Sunday, June 30. It’s additionally hoping for its first Emmy nomination within the Outstanding Talk Series category.
“Late-night is a really intimate factor for folks as a result of they’re going to mattress and typically you’re the final individual that they see,” Cohen says. “They’re additionally selecting you, they usually’re comfy sufficient to be with you. The connection that you’ve along with your viewer is actually particular. I’ve an incredible quantity of gratitude. I do know it sounds very hokey, however I actually do.”
