If you’ve ever wanted to hang out with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, here’s your chance. The longtime pals and media personalities are teaming up for a show appropriately titled “Deep Talk and Shallow Tales,” during which the two dish about their lives and then give the audience a chance to ask questions.
“Look, people can ask us anything,” Cohen said. “Nothing is off-limits. And the funny thing is if somebody asks me a question that I don’t want to answer or I’m too uncomfortable, Anderson will often answer for me. He usually knows what I’m going to say anyway.”
Cooper — a CNN anchor and “60 Minutes” correspondent — and Cohen — host of “Watch What Happens Live” and mastermind behind the “Real Housewives” franchise — met in the early ’90s when a friend tried to set them up on a blind date.
While the date never happened, they did become good friends. So good, in fact, they’ve gone on tour where they talk about everything from vacationing together to things about themselves that might leave them a little red in the face.
We caught up with the two last month for a fun chat while Cooper was taking a break from a “60 Minutes” piece he was reporting and Cohen was relaxing on vacation. (Unfortunately, it was before Madonna spanked Cooper on stage at one of her concerts, so we didn’t get a chance to talk about that experience.) Here are some highlights from our conversation:
Q. What’s going to happen at your show? What can we expect?
Andy: “We would love to know — we don’t know. We’re going to embarrass each other.
Anderson: “Andy always tries to embarrass me on stage a lot by trying to get me to tell the stories I really don’t want to tell.”
Andy: “And usually I succeed.”
Q. What percentage of the show will just be Anderson giggling?
Anderson: “We hope everybody is giggling throughout the whole thing. It’s very interactive with the audience. We found it’s a lot of couples who are coming, a lot of women who are having a women’s night out, there seems to be a lot of drinking in the audience. People seem to have a really good time and laugh a lot. It’s like hanging out in Andy’s clubhouse for a night.”
Q. Do you guys have long riders — a long list of demands (for the shows)?
Anderson: “Andy has a long rider. I actually had no idea you could have a rider, it never occurred to me. Andy, of course, that was the first thing he asked for. He has grilled chicken, salads and tequila. I actually tried to get him to cut back on the offerings in the dressing room because I thought it was wasteful, but he’s insisting on keeping it. I have nothing. I basically just get his scraps.
Andy (laughing sarcastically): “Oh my god, there are always three sides to every story. It’s always fascinating for me to hear Anderson’s side — it’s always news to me.”
Q. The story is you two were set up on a blind date that you didn’t go on but did become good friends. How do you think you would have reacted to each other if you had seen a picture of each other on Tinder for the first time? Do you think you would have swiped right or left?
Anderson: “I’ve actually never seen Tinder, so I’m not sure what swiping right or left means. But is one good and is one bad? I don’t know.”
Andy: “The answer is if you didn’t know me and you saw an attractive picture of me, yes, Anderson, you would have said, ‘Yeah, maybe I would give it a shot.’ Your issue with me on the phone on that first setup was I was too enthusiastic. But you can’t be too enthusiastic in a picture.”
Anderson: “But at the time, as I recall, you had rather large hair. You had this mop of hair, didn’t you?”
Andy: “Yeah. Yes I did.”
Anderson: “Maybe if it was the hair you have now, it would have been more reasonable.”
Andy: “She’s asking you to say something sweet about me.”
Anderson: “Something sweet? Andy is an incredibly close friend and I should be so lucky …”
Q. I know you two are well-versed in reality shows. If you could put each other on a reality show, what would it be?
Anderson: “I would put Andy on his show ‘Below Deck.’ (“Below Deck” is a show on Bravo about people who work on yachts.) Andy loves intrigue and Andy loves a confined space where there’s intrigue. Andy has a Christmas party every year, and he produces it like he produces a ‘Housewives’ reunion episode. So there’s someone who’s going to cause drama at the party, there’s somebody who’s going to get into a fight, maybe somebody who’s going to pull on somebody else’s hair. You know there’s always going to be an interesting mix of people and something going on at his parties. I imagine him on ‘Below Deck’ where he’s in a confined space — where he can really stir the pot.”
Andy: “Mine would be the ‘Real Housewives of CNN.’ There’s got to be a lot of intrigue going on there that we don’t know about. I want to know about what goes on. It’s certainly one of the things I talk to Anderson about when I’m with him. But I want to know what’s really going on back there behind the scenes at CNN.”
Anderson: “Like in our equivalent of the teacher’s lounge — the anchor’s lounge where we’re just all hanging out?”
Andy: “In the anchor make-up room, yes.”
Q. Andy, are those questions you ask on the “Real Housewives” reunion shows from real people or just a way for you to keep your hands clean?
Andy: “Both. But I get down and dirty with these women. I don’t stay too clean on my own.”
Anderson: “I actually have a video I put together for our show. It’s a montage of some of the questions Andy has gotten away with asking. And he gets away with asking stuff that I would never in a trillion years ask anybody. It’s unbelievable when you look through all the tapes and all the questions; and even all the celebrities that come on his nighttime show ‘Watch What Happens Live.’ He asked Oprah if she’s ever ‘swum in the lady pond.’ I’m not even sure she knew what the lady pond was, but she answered the question.”
Q. Well, in that spirit then, “Amy from St. Paul,” wants to know if you’ve ever seen each other naked?
Anderson: “Oh, god, no.”
Andy: “No, no, no, no, no.”
Anderson: “Honestly, I would think of that as like seeing your parents naked. No — never.”
Q. Will there ever be a “Real Housewives of the Twin Cities”?
Andy: “You never know. I’m sure there will be some contenders in the audience when we’re there.”
Q. Since you guys make a living talking on camera, I’m wondering if you ever get tired of talking?
Anderson: “When I go home at night, I don’t talk. I really don’t, which is again why it amazes me that Andy goes out so much — every night. The last two nights I’ve spent binge-watching ‘Narcos’ on Netlfix. I’ve watched 10 hours of television in the last two days, and it was blissful. I didn’t have to talk to anybody. I just watched other people talk.”
Q. How about you, Andy?
Anderson: “The answer is, ‘No.’ He doesn’t get tired of talking.
Andy: “I don’t get tired of it. I’m on vacation right now in Sag Harbor, N.Y.”
Anderson: “You’re still on vacation?”
Andy: “Yeah, I know. Trust me, I’m actually ready to go back to work. I’ve been really quiet the last few days. And, Anderson, I was pretty quiet on that trip we took.”
Anderson: “As Oprah said to Andy, he carries the light. That is very true. Andy is the joy of any function he’s at. People want to be around him because he’s exactly as he is on camera, there’s no difference between what you see on television and what it’s like interacting with him.
“People will see that on stage. He has this ability to have fun with people. He’s not making fun of people, he’s having fun with them. When Andy leaves a party or leaves a function, there’s a disappointment — oh, Andy’s gone. It’s not as fun. People want Andy to talk and enjoy it.
“In fact, on our vacation, Andy was kind of sick for two days. Everybody — not only did they feel bad for him — they were eager for him to recover so that he could bring a new life into the vacation.”
Q. Do you guys have any Minnesota connections?
Andy: “I played in the Celebrity All-Star softball game the day before the All-Star baseball game (at Target Field) last year. I had so much fun. I love Minneapolis so much. I’m so excited about the time of year we’re going, I think it’s going to be beautiful. The restaurants are so great. And I went to a really great strip club in Minneapolis.”
Anderson: “Oh, lord.”
Andy: “After that All-Star game. I was doing the full athlete experience.”
IF YOU GO
What: AC2: An Intimate Evening with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen Live
Where: State Theatre, 805 Hennepin Ave., Mpls.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10
Cost: $79-$129
Tickets: ticketmaster.com or 800-982-2787
Amy Carlson Gustafson can be reached at 651-228-5561. Follow her at twitter.com/amygustafson.
