Andy Cohen is remembering 15 years of chaos at the club.
As Watch what happens live celebrates his 15th birthday, Cohen is reflecting on some of his biggest hits and regrets in an exclusive rETrospective interview with ET. Among the most unforgettable was Oprah Winfreyappearance in 2013.
“This was a big moment for me and for the show,” Cohen says, recalling footage of the moment. “I’m a huge Oprah fan.”
Towards the end of the interview, Cohen’s carefree attitude took over and he took the opportunity to ask if she had “taken a dip in the lady pond.”
“That’s probably one of my few regrets,” Cohen says.
“It meant a lot to me that Oprah Winfrey did the show,” he continues. “It went brilliantly and I turn around and ask her if she’s ever had sex with a woman. I mean, couldn’t I leave that out?”
At the time, Winfrey responded directly: “No, no, no. Thank you.”
Cohen says the media mogul was “super nice” and “wasn’t awkward” after the cameras stopped rolling. However, he later heard from Winfrey’s friend, King Gaylethat the former talk show host may not have understood the question.
“Gayle King told me later that week that Oprah didn’t know what I meant by ‘lady pond,’” Cohen says. “I thought I explained it pretty well there, but listen, I was so grateful that Oprah did the show and I still am. That remains, I think, my favorite episode.”
As for one of his favorite guests, Cohen has high praise for Patti LuPone.
“I mean, Patti LuPone doesn’t have any F’s to give, so she’s the perfect guest for the club,” Cohen gushes. “She’s been here many times.”
LuPone memorably took aim at Madonna during a 2017 meeting with Cohen, when she called the Prevents stars in “a movie killer”.
“This clip caused me a lot of problems with Madonna, who called me a ‘troublemaker queen’ from her stage. Celebration Tour. (She) said, ‘You need to stop talking bad about me on your show,'” Cohen laments. “Now, the truth is, I wasn’t the one who talked bad about her. It was people like Patti LuPone — who I also love, by the way.”
Cohen says he ended up sending Madge a highlight reel of “all the nice things we’ve said” about her over the years.
“She liked it,” Cohen adds, noting that she has yet to accept his invitation to be a guest on the show, after more than 15 years of requests.
“The secret of success Watch what happens live, “I think it’s spontaneity, authenticity, fun, humor, me going out there and people never knowing what’s going to happen,” Cohen reflects on his guests’ experiences. More often than not, that includes drinking.
“People let their guard down here,” he says. “It’s also live, we’re on air at night, we serve alcohol.”
He adds, “It’s so small here that it’s deceptive, like, people don’t realize they’re actually on television.”
One such occasion occurred in 2011, when Regina King It is Jackee Harry were, in Cohen’s words, “seasoned.”
“They were crushed in the green room and they were crushed more the longer we went on,” Cohen recalls. “I was wondering if it was too messy and then I realized, ‘Oh wait, people on Twitter are loving this’ and it became a really, really historic episode.”
Cohen himself was known to absorb next to friend Anderson Cooper during the duo’s New Year’s Eve broadcast on CNN.
“The friendship I have with Anderson means a lot,” says Cohen. “We have become much closer over the last 15 years. We’ve been on tour together, we co-hosted New Year’s Eve together, we’ve been through a lot, and parenting together has been a great joy in our lives. .”
Today, Cohen is a father to Benjamin, 5, and Lucy, 2. Anderson is a father to two sons: Wyatt, 4, and Sebastian, 2.
“Becoming a father has also completely changed the way I approach work,” adds Cohen. “I come, I do my thing, I go home with the kids and I love bringing them here.”
It’s a stark contrast to how it all began on July 16, 2009, when WWHL premiered for the first time.
“I used to go out every night until the wee hours of the morning after the show and now I just stay home,” she says. “I go home and kiss my kids goodnight while they’re asleep and I can’t wait to see them in the morning. My life has completely changed and I wouldn’t have imagined it 15 years ago.”
The host and Real Housewives the mentor says he is “incredibly grateful” these days.
“The next chapter of life is really about the kids,” he shares. “And keeping this show going and keeping the Housewives as fresh as possible.”
RELATED CONTENT: