Andy Cohen on Drinking During CNN’s New Year’s Eve Special and the One Moment He Wishes He Could Take Back

TV star and radio personality Andy Cohen made a surprise return to the Stern Show on Tuesday morning, checking in on the heels of his and Anderson Cooper’s headline-grabbing New Year’s Eve countdown. In addition to disagreeing with Siri over his $15 million net worth and complimenting the King of All Media on his recent in-depth interview with movie star Ben Affleck, the 53-year-old “Watch What Happens Live” host spoke candidly about everything from his relationships to re-contracting COVID-19. He also squashed rumors colleagues at CNN were upset with him for drinking and letting loose during Friday’s big broadcast.

“I will not be shamed for having fun on New Year’s Eve. That’s why I’m there,” Andy told Howard. “It’s a four-and-a-half-hour show. The booze started kicking in around 11:30 … I kicked into high gear with 45 minutes left.”

“I had a blast. Anderson had a blast. We left, we were in the car [heading] home, and were like, ‘That was New Year’s Eve,’” he continued.

If anything, Andy imagined CNN was happy with the show considering the network just announced it will bring him back to ring in 2023. “The only direction that I get every year from [CNN president] Jeff Zucker is ‘have fun.’ That is my job,” Cohen explained, adding that 2021 was a “middling” year made worse with a late-December coronavirus spike and the death of actress Betty White, so he did his best to cheer the world up for a night.

Other memorable moments from Cohen’s CNN countdown included slamming outgoing mayor Bill de Blasio and questioning why a band without Steve Perry called itself Journey. Howard disagreed with the latter point.

“I love that this is what you latched onto,” Andy told him with a laugh. “I ranted against 18 different things, but I like that this is what gets you going.”

There was one moment from Friday night Andy wished he could take back: throwing ABC and its New Year’s Eve host Ryan Seacrest “under the bus,” as he put it. “That is my only regret from the night … because I really like Ryan Seacrest and he’s a really nice guy. I was—as they say—in my cups, and I was kind of enjoying the rant. I was like, ‘Wow, it’s really fun being on CNN just ranting like a nutty guy,’” he recalled, adding, “That I felt bad about and I texted Ryan the next morning.”

In talking about relationships, Andy revealed he loved Anderson Cooper and considered him handsome but only viewed him as a dear friend. He also told Howard that, while he’d been physically intimate with someone just a week ago, the great love of his life was still his son Ben.

Despite some on-air coughs during the New Year’s Eve broadcast, Andy insisted he was feeling fine after recovering from his second bout with COVID-19 and was ready to go back out into the world. “I’m going for number three,” he joked. “I had the first [COVID-19 variant], I had Delta, and now I’ll get the third.”

“You had Omicron before it was cool,” co-host Robin Quivers laughed.

“The gays do everything first,” Andy concluded with a laugh.

Hear more Andy Cohen on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy on channel 102 and Andy Cohen’s Kiki Lounge on channel 312.