How Andy Cohen Really Feels About Making His Own Headlines

At the risk of sounding like a Real Housewives tagline, when Andy Cohen conversations, people listen. That is true when it hosts Watch What Happens Live and Bravo reunions, and it’s especially true of his SiriusXM show, where he has time to dig into everything from Wicked to Bravolebrity brouhahas.

“There are things I say that the viewers disagree with,” Cohen, 56, said. Us from him Andy Cohen Live sliving in NYC. “It was a moment early Vanderpump Rules where I said (on the radio), ‘Lala (Kent) is a voice reason this season.’ People played that clip for months afterwards and were all over me.”

During the daily broadcast on Radio Andy (channel 102, 10 am), Cohen and cohost John Hill – also his ex-girlfriend, more on that later – “produced a lot of pop culture news,” he said. “And we also reflect on it. Whatever happens in pop culture, it will be shared here.” And in Andy Cohen Live, that often means the latest in the Bravo universe.

Cohen is the first to acknowledge that it can be difficult to navigate giving his honest look while wearing so many hats in reality TV (he also produces the Housewives franchise). “Sometimes I’m a mess, but I think I have good sense,” said Cohen, adding, “(Radio) is also a place where I speak more often as a producer than I do anywhere else another. It’s a great opportunity for me to give background and explain my position further.”

The people he discusses on air may respond in the media – or they may even respond directly. “I remember Teresa (Judge) He called me out on something I said, but I was like, ‘Teresa, did you hear the clip? Let me explain,’” Cohen recalls of the Real Housewives of New Jersey a star “And she was like, ‘Oh, my God, I get the context now.'”

On December 2, Mr VPR again, telling listeners: “Bravo announced, or word got out, that they were revamp the showand I have to say, this is, first of all, the right thing to do.” No, he’s not a producer on that particular show, but fans looked up to him – as did a host of celebrities. Without naming names, he confirmed that his phone blew up when news broke about the recasting of season 12. “(The reaction was) mostly sadness and, ‘Oh, my God,'” he said. “Then I have to say, ‘Look, as it needs to be.'”

How does it feel to see his opinion sought and passed on? “If it’s a good headline, I’m happy about it. If it’s a bad headline, I get annoyed by it like anybody else,” says Cohen. “We have a lot of air time. (Often) only John and I talk. Anything that could be said could either end up making a headline or (laughs) come back to bite me.”

He Doesn’t Do It Alone

The secret sauce to Andy Cohen Hill’s co-host may live. “I can’t think of too many exes who hold something together – Sonny a Dear maintain after they divorced – but I think it’s interesting for the listener to hear John completely overshadowing me,” admits Cohen. “Or it completely knocks me down in a way that no one else would go there. Even Jeff Lewis.”

And when Hill comes into his own Housewives disputes — most recently exchanging back-and-forth with former ROCK a star Kelly Dodd — Cohen lets him fight his own battles. “That was between John and her. I sat out and he quickly apologized,” she said. “At Radio Andy, I’m proud of everyone in the family for what each person has built, because they’ve all come to this with their own personality and point of view. And they’ve all built their own followings and their own little universes on the channel.”

Ah, back to Jeff Lewis — another personality under the Radio Andy umbrella on SiriusXM. His comments on Jeff Lewis Live have become storylines on several Bravo series this year, incl Real Housewives of Orange County a The Real Housewives of New York City, which Cohen acknowledges plays a part in why the shows are now breaking the fourth wall.

“It’s wild that the tentacles of the Housewives have reached him, and it’s reached the show,” Cohen said of the “outspoken” and “provocative” host. So blunt that Lewis hears from his boss? Not unless Cohen wants to be part of that story too. “It will take a lot for me to participate because I’ve been burned,” he said. “He’s read my messages on the air!”

There is also Dorinda Medleythe only former housewife on the channel. “I wouldn’t have done it if she was still on the Housewives. It would have created some potential problems,” said Cohen. “She has a very unique perspective. She has been in the game. She is also a fan. She is very smart. She has an opinion, so it works on a bunch of levels.”

Outside of the Bravo universe, Radio Andy features talent like the journalist Gayle Kingwhich “brings a completely legitimate perspective on pop culture to the radio,” says Cohen; an actress Sandra Bernhard; the Smith sisters (“they spread pop culture like nothing else”) and perhaps the most popular addition to the team of social media influencers of late Tinks. “When Tinx is on, the phone lines are completely jammed. She gives the best relationship advice – people really want to hear from her,” says Cohen. (Us see the calls coming in before Tinx’s broadcast even starts.) Time to make your own headlines, Tinx!

Hey, Mr. DJ

While music is part of Andy Cohen Live – just three minutes before going on air during Ni’s visit, Cohen confirms to his producer that Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” is the choice to bring in that particular Wednesday’s show – here’s the main event on his separate SiriusXM channel, Andy Cohen’s Kiki Lounge . “During Covid, I spent many nights searching for my 600 most perfect songs,” he said Us. “They are only songs that touch me, songs that I have a story about (and) songs that have affected me in my life.”

Song He Can’t Get Enough Of: Cohen adds and subtracts from the Kiki Lounge line “all the time.” His latest obsession: Troye Sivan‘s “One of Your Women.”

A song that made Too Much: It should Sabrina CarpenterAn “Espresso” stay in 2024? “It’s a great song but such annoying ear candy at the moment.”

Song of the Summer: “I was in love this summer,” Cohen happily declares, referring to the title track Charli XCX’s crucial favor. “I love that album.”

Song for the Holidays: Cohen’s favorite classic tune is “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses, but it’s also a sucker for Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” saying Us as a fact: “Mariah is everyone’s Christmas queen.”

His Children’s Song Make Him Listen To: Son Ben, 5, “love ‘Life Is a Highway’ from Cars,” Cohen revealed. When asked if he feels the same way about the Rascal Flatts cover from the 2006 animated film, he simply replies, “No.”

A Song That Makes Him Cry: Coldplay’s “Warning Song” can still get him in the mood as co-host Hill considers it a “breakup song”.

A Family Hit Song: Cohen beams as he reports that Ben and his daughter Lucy, 2, are on board with his dedication to Madonnanaming “Hung Up” as the family’s No. 1 song. But when they’re stuck in traffic (as is often documented on Cohen’s Instagram Stories), his visit is the Grateful Dead.