Andy Cohen Spills: The Most Frustrating Aspect of Co-Hosting CNN's New Year's Eve with Anderson Cooper - lulu

Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper. Photo: 

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Andy Cohen is spilling the tea on what it's like working with longtime friend and colleague Anderson Cooper.

Before SiriusXM's 10th Annual Radio Andy Holiday Hangout (which he co-hosts with Amy Sedaris) in N.Y.C. on Dec. 19, Cohen, 56, spoke with PEOPLE exclusively about his love of radio, his upcoming holiday plans and the most “annoying” part of hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live with Cooper, 57.

“Well, [it’s] that I have to be the straight guy,” the Bravo host revealed. “Literally, he's in a puddle of giggles for the last 90 minutes of the broadcast, and I'm the one that's hitting all the commercial breaks.”

“I kind of turn into Mr. CNN for the last 90 minutes, and he turns into Mr. Bravo,” he added. “It's a very funny role reversal.”

Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper hosting their New Year's Eve show in N.Y.C. on Dec. 31, 2023. 

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The comment came on the heels of Cooper recently revealing his own biggest pet peeve about hosting the NYE show during an appearance on Cohen’s Bravo series Watch What Happens Live.

“Just who he's gonna insult and what the clean up on aisle 3 is gonna be in the morning,” Cooper, 57, said during the Dec. 16 episode.

Cooper’s comment — while said light-heartedly — likely refers to a 2021 incident in which Cohen claims he was served too much alcohol during the live event, leading him to insult a competing New Year’s broadcast on ABC hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Cohen called Seacrest’s show a “group of losers,” which landed him in hot water the next day.

Speaking of the incident a few days later on The Howard Stern Show, Cohen admitted that he regretted his actions. "I really like Ryan Seacrest and he's a great guy and I really regret saying that and I was just stupid and drunk and feeling it,” he told Stern.

This will mark the eighth consecutive year that Cohen and Cooper will be hosting the CNN special, and viewers have come to expect — and delight — in watching the old friends crack each other up. Fans, especially, love watching the usually buttoned-up Cooper let loose.

Cohen and Cooper have been friends for over two decades, and first connected when a mutual friend attempted to set them up. While a date never actually happened (Cooper called it off after speaking to Cohen on the phone), the pair connected several years later and became platonic

Anderson Cooper and Andy Cooper at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 12, 2024. 

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty 

Now, the pair have bonded over fatherhood. Cohen is father to Benjamin, 5, and Lucy, 2, while Cooper shares sons Wyatt, 4, and Sebastian, 2, with his ex-partner Benjamin Maisani.

"We are these geriatric patients hobbling around chasing our children, but look it's another bonding thing," Cohen said in a Dec. 2022 episode of his Table For Two podcast. He also shared that he is “so glad” his children will get to spend time with other kids who come from a home with two dads.

CNN's New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen will be broadcast live from New York City’s Times Square at 8 p.m. ET on CNN and Max.