To viewers searching for New Year’s Eve programming on December 31, “CNN New Year’s Eve Live” with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen may seem like an anomaly. After all, ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” with Ryan Seacrest looks much more wholesome and family-friendly. NBC’s “A Toast to the New Year” with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush is a nostalgic look back on the past year.
In contrast to these is CNN’s slightly more adult-focused event. The answer to the question, “Is Bravo star Andy Cohen and journalist Anderson Cooper allowed to get drunk?” is an emphatic “Yes.”
The Unconventional Tradition: How Shots Became Part of CNN’s New Year’s Eve Fun
Drinking champagne or other alcoholic beverages on New Year’s Eve is a pretty common theme. While maybe not as expected, even doing alcoholic shots isn’t unusual. But most viewers aren’t used to watching the hosts of the New Year’s Eve show get drunk during the broadcast. However, this is part of what makes CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live” so much fun to watch.
While Cohen and Cooper regularly do shots during their New Year’s Eve show, they aren’t the first co-hosts to play drinking games. When Cooper co-hosted with Kathy Griffin, she came up with ways to get him drinking.
“When I say Andy instead of Anderson, you have to take a shot. My goal is to get you fired by the end of the broadcast,” the comic joked to him in 2008. In subsequent years, she began telling viewers that they had to drink if she called him Andy, as well.
When Cohen took over as Cooper’s co-host in 2017, he suggested they do tequila shots at the top of every hour. However, as the night wears on, the number of shots increases.
“It’s a blur for me,” Cooper joked on an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
CNN Boss Axed On-Air Drinking Tradition in 2022, But It Didn’t Last Long
While Cohen and Anderson taking shots of Tequila has become tradition during the eight- now nine-year period they’ve hosted, 2022 was a dry year. That was because, with the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, new boss Chris Licht axed on-air drinking.
“I’m not looking for a bunch of my respectful talent to be out there all night doing shots,” Licht allegedly told CNN employees (via The Washington Post). “That will be different. I don’t think that builds credibility.”
Despite being exempt from the ban, they decided to keep the 2022 broadcast alcohol-free. Instead, they took different non-alcoholic shots all night, like pickle juice. Fortunately for the duo and fans of their drunken antics, Licht was gone by 2023, and the on-air tequila shots resumed.
This year’s New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen” will air at 8 PM ET/ 7 PM CT on CNN.
