Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Andy Cohen

Episode Date: October 24, 2021

A native of St. Louis, Andy Cohen began his career as a television news producer before jumping to entertainment and dreaming up the wildly popular Real Housewives series on Bravo. In this week’s ��Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist gets together with the Watch What Happens Live host to talk about the world he has created, his new book and his son, Benjamin. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks, as always, for clicking and listening along. Today's just fun. Today is a dear friend of mine, the master of the Bravo universe, the creator of the real housewives, the host of Watch What Happens Live on Bravo, the great Andy Cohen, truly one of the most fun people I know, the best people I know, the most creative people I know, and just a great dude. And I've been on, watch what happens live more times than I can count.

We were trying to figure it out before we sat down. 20, 25 over the last, I don't know, eight or nine years. He has me on a couple times a year. And by the way, used to have me on as we talk a little bit about when I was just, you know, I was an early morning cable news host, which I still am. But there wasn't a lot of currency in having me on. But he thought I'd be good on the show and we always had fun. He always paired me with a real housewife, beginning with Ramona of the Real Housewives of New York.

I don't have to tell you Housewives fans that, but since I've been on with people like, oh gosh, Lil Kim, we played pin the tail on the Willie, as I recall, where she was blindfolded and had to pin things on my body. did a shot ski with her, Selena Gomez, just about every real housewife you can think of. Tiffany Thesson, I think we slow dance like it was my prom years because, you know, like everyone, I was a fan of Saved by the Bell

that she was on, Kelly Kapowski, but I digress. Anyway, just a great conversation, a lot of fun. Andy's got a new book out. It's basically a calendar book. It's called Glitter Every Day, 365 quotes from women I love. So every day you flip through it and there's a new quote from a woman

he loves with a little commentary from him under each. So, you know, he's a new dad, new-ish dad. Benjamin, his son, his adorable son, is about three years old. His parents, Andy's Lou and Evelyn are amazing people from St. Louis, Missouri. Now they spend a lot of time with Benjamin. So he's got the show, he's got the book, he's got everything going on. He's a busy man and just a great guy and a real friend of Sunday Today. It's his second appearance on Sunday Today, the rare two-timer club. And he carries our big yellow Sunday today mug with him. Whenever he goes out for a walk in New York City, gets us a little guerrilla marketing when the paparazzi takes a picture of him. Just great. So I will shut up so you can hear from my man, Andy Cohen, right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Andy, good to see you, my friend. Hey, Willie. You are the number one brand ambassador for this show Sunday today. Well, because I love my mug. You've got the mug. I almost brought it because we are close to my house and I walked over and I was going to bring it.

It's in the dishwasher. For people who don't know, the paparazzi loves a good Andy Cohen shot. So when you walk outside... Well, when there's no one else around, they know where to find me. So when you walk outside, you hold the mug. And you're incredibly generous to do that. I used to walk my dog. Well, I mean, it's not deliberate.

I'm not like, oh, let me give Willie some shine this morning. I literally would walk my dog with my tea. Yeah. And that is my mug of preference. So there you go. Do you need a new mug? Can we replace it? No.

You need a second mug when one's in the washing machine. You know what? I'm building a house and I might need a second mug for that house. Right. But we'll talk about that down the line. Okay. You don't want to travel with it. Keep one in each place.

I want to keep one in each place. Okay. We're going to get that for you. Yeah, thank you. You should have back. to your backup. So thank you for being our unpaid brand ambassador. My pleasure. So I want to talk about your book in just a minute. Okay. Such a fun idea. But let's talk about what you've been up to. I haven't seen you in 18 months.

It's great to see you. I've been on, watch what happens live over Zoom. remotely, remotely a couple of times. Yeah. What's the past 18 months been like for you? Obviously, you got a little guy in your house. Yes. It's been, I mean, are we allowed to say it's been great? No. How is it? It's been... The time with your son has been great. The time with... You know what?

The pandemic, actually, for me, has been okay. I have been able to work during the entirety of the pandemic, of which I feel very grateful. And then I've gotten to spend an inordinate amount of time with my son that I never would have gotten. And that's been, frankly, incredible, especially as a single parent to be a young parent to be, able to really, I try to spend as much time obviously as possible with him, but I feel an extra weight on me as a single parent to really let him see that I'm around. Yeah, and we, I mean, partly by force, but we've had that opportunity for the last, during the pandemic. Yeah, I feel that way too. You feel guilty in some way saying this has been a blessing in disguise or at least

a silver lining, which is that I have been home forced to be home. But I'm I've been there for all this stuff for now a year and a half with my kids. So it's okay to say that part of it at least has been okay. As long as I've known you, you've talked publicly and privately about wanting to be a dad sometime down the road. And now you are. Yeah. How has the reality been compared to those expectations yet? It's actually been an easy ride so far.

I mean, it's been, you know what? It's been all right. I thought that it was going to be completely. overwhelming and I actually feel like he has been trying to make it easy on me a little bit and he's just he's a good guy he's very nice it's very sweet he's starting he's becoming a three major is that the turn oh yeah yeah so that just started last weekend and um so that was interesting we were supposed to have a movie night Friday night and I was so excited about it but he then started to show his will, and I had to take the movie away.

And guess who was the real loser in that? Me, because I was then screwed on a Friday night. I was like, what am I doing? Right. Now you got two hours to fill. Exactly. I was very, I was actually more upset than him that I took the movie night away. So I'm not sure what lesson was taught.

That's the dirty little secret I didn't know going to parenting. The terrible twos has the big branding. It's the three. It's the three. Yeah. By a long shot. They're verbal. They have opinions.

Right. They're moving around. Yes. What's he into, like, in terms of movies and what's his thing? You know what? I have been really, he has not watched much TV or movies just until this summer. And so what he's really into right now is Sesame Street. Great.

Which is great. And he, I let him watch it on the weekends. It's his treat. No TV during the week. And I will say, I screen it in. an ordinary amount of housewives and he's always coming up to my desk while I'm watching and I'm like no, no, no, you are not watching this. You are not watching this. He saw me grilling Erica Jane on a housewives reunion. The other day he's like, daddy, daddy. I'm like, yes, but no. Yeah. Someday he'll

learn what his father's doing behind that computer. Yes, he goes to work. Yes, he certainly will. Yeah. So it sounds like you've, you guys have had all this bonding time and, and, being a single parent, like you say, has its challenges. Yes. How do you navigate that part of it? Just one day at a time. And luckily, I have several jobs, but all of them allow me to be in and out of my home all day. So, weirdly, I am almost always around for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with him.

So that, to me, is a great bit. that's a great amount of continuity for him where we get to see each other. And yeah, I mean, I just think time is the thing. And so I've been very lucky during the pandemic to be able to see him. And it'll be interesting. Now New York is thumping in a sense.

And I'm anxious to be part of the thump. And so I think he's, I keep saying, you know, my show is going back to live with an audience. So I keep saying, Daddy's going to work. Daddy's going to work. And so we brought him to the clubhouse last week because I wanted him to see what, that there was a place that was work. Right. And he quite enjoyed it.

Does he have any sense for what you're doing when you go to work? I mean, a kid doesn't know any difference. We think, oh, this is where dads go. Yeah, he just knows. He walked into the clubhouse and he had been there as a baby, but he hadn't been there. 18 months. And he was like, whoa. And I forgot that the shelves

are basically all toys. Right. And he's like, this, this? He wanted to take it. I'm like, that's taped down. You can't have that. It's not a toy. Don't touch Julian Andrew's tea bag.

Yes. He was trying to get to Julianneux tea bag. No, no, no, no. Funny that you say that. Yes. Tamara's implant. He was trying to get to, like, this is not a toy.

This was in someone. These are not the things most. to have in their office. No, no, no. So the show, when I did it a couple times on Zoom, you're always very kind to invite me to have it. Still a blast with you.

Well, you know, Sunday Today is always celebrating an anniversary. Yes. There is always an anniversary to be celebrated at Sunday today. 100 episodes, five years, 25 weeks doing something. There is always an anniversary I find. Am I wrong? And that's why I have you here today. I'd like to book myself for the five and a half year anniversary.

There's always... It's coming up fast. Yes. You guys love a milestone. Anything to get on your show. I mean, I appreciate it. But I do feel like this is an organization that loves to gather around a milestone. We got some, for our fifth anniversary, we got some celebs to congratulate us.

Ryan Reynolds did one. He said, happy fifth anniversary. That's not that big a deal, actually. Why am I doing this video? Right. Yes. So what was it like for you to, because we all experience this in one form or another, to do that show over Zoom because so much of that,

anyone who's been in that clubhouse is the crackle of the back and forth. Right. It was weird. It was highly efficient, which I loved. Yeah. We are doing the show at 1.30 in the afternoon, and we will be done at 155. And then you can go about your day. So it felt fake for a long time.

and I was doing my own makeup to horrible results and really not seeming to care for a very long time what I looked like going on television. I didn't monitor my what I was putting out there. Too much, too little. Everything. Everything. Didn't care.

Just was like once I did the show from my, I was doing it from my office for a big, chunk of time and had left the Grateful Dead play for the entire show. And they called me after the show and said, we're detecting music. I said, oh, I left the Grateful Dead channel on for the whole show. They're like, we're going to hope no one notices. And I believe no one noticed. So there was a, I mean, my show is already homemade, as it were. But it was real Scotchats. tape and I was shooting my own cold opens. I have a disco ball in my house. I shot every angle of the disco ball. You know, and I shot the cold opens at night. So I was starting to get really

creative. And of course, I was, you know, I might be an edible in when I started shooting the cold opens. And it was, and I would send them to my team and they're like, boy, you really, they're like, keep trying. Keep trying. That one was a little too strong. for on the air. You're a little too hype. I think I sort of sympathized with that we all got a little too comfortable with our home studios, what we're wearing on the bottom, what we'd look like, I stopped, yeah. Who was wearing anything on the bottom?

Not a lot. Yeah, no. Would you do shorts and flip-lops? I wore, I was barefoot. I wore, I mean, I did it out in the Hamptons for four months, and I was in, I would jump in the pool and then be in a wet bathing suit. I'm going to skip the makeup today. It's fine.

Like, I mean, I was a run. I was a runaway train. So I was a runaway train. At what point did you say, all right, we need to go back to the studio. I can't wait to see my audience again. Well, it was, there was a slow, basically, I think we were last. Everyone was kind of going back. And I was like, really?

And I was like, okay, it's fall weather. I'll go back. And then when we, and then I was enjoying being back in the studio. Because, again, we were taping in the afternoon. And it was a, it was a solid half hour in and out, which is fall. and efficient. And then getting the audience back was a big deal. And now that the audience back, now that the audience is back and the guests are there,

it's what we're supposed to be doing. I'm like, oh, this is why we do it. So I'm very happy to be back. As I said, you've been very generous to have me on that show. I don't know how many times, 20, 25 times. Many anniversaries to celebrate. Including well before there was a Sunday today. Yes.

When I was a cable news co-anchor and you put me on that show. And that honestly, I still are a cable news. I am. I am. But then now we've added the anniversary shows for Sunday today. But that was a huge deal for me. Honestly, I don't know if we've ever talked about this publicly, but it exposed me to a new audience.

It was incredibly fun. It showed me what TV could be. It's still the most fun you can have anywhere. Thank you. So when you're in that studio, you've created such a space. What is the magic of that show to you? Why do you think it's taken off the way it has? I think it is.

I think people respond to the authenticity of the show. I think that God knows I, you know, I screw up every episode. The audience maybe, you know, the audience is drinking. The guests are drinking. It's a loose atmosphere. And, you know, I mean, Anthony Anderson was on last recently. Anthony Anderson was on recently and his mom was behind the bar. drinking Baileys and Hennessy,

which I didn't even know was a combination. And she, the show was at the bar for the whole show. And I was like, I had Jim Gaff again and Anthony Anderson on, who are both very funny, but we moved the show to Mama Doris behind the bar. And so we'll go where the fun is. We lean into the front. If we spill a cake on the floor, it's about the cake. We follow the action.

And I think people respond to that idea that they don't know what's going to happen. The guests can wind up hating each other. We've had guests who literally, you can see them on the air that they hate each other. And the audience then starts, you know, chiming in and it's fun. You know what else is true about that show? It's a little like Howard Stern where by stepping into that studio, you're agreeing to something. You are submitting to my tomfoolery and my messiness, and you are now going, you are on the witness stand about your life. Right.

And so here we are. And the thing that we're a publicist on another show would say you can't ask about that does not seem to apply on your show. Well, we don't pre-interview our guests, which is great. Yeah. So then we can't, you know, it's less trouble to. get into, but I mean, there are times when people come in and say, listen. Yeah. I don't want to talk about the fact that I hate Rex, Y, or Z. But one of the genius moves you have is you can put it off on the audience, so-and-so, right? Well, it's true. Listen, I don't want anyone to leave unhappy. Yeah.

So. Casting is huge. You often put me on with a housewife. Yes. We like high and low. We like big and tall, small and big. I don't know. You know. You know. know we like yes yeah hey guys thanks for listening to the sunday sit down podcast stick around to hear more from andy cohen right after the break welcome back to the sunday sit down podcast now more of my conversation with andy cohen let's talk about glitter every day 365 quotes from women i love yes what's the idea behind it the idea is just basically in the title i want to this is a book that you can look at every day, have a little bit of, little splash of glitter thrown on you every day. I love, women have shaped me for my entire life, from my mom to mentors to the housewives,

to divas and icons. And so this is a quoted day by a woman that I love. I love a lot of women. And they've said a lot of things. And talk about high and low. We've got Madonna to Malala, Durinda Medley, to. to Kamala Harris. I mean, it's all over the place. It's funny you say that. I'm going to jump ahead because I thought this captured you perfectly.

On one page, we have a quote from Anne Frank. Yes. As I turn the page, Countess Luann. Thank you. That's Andy Cohen in a nutshell. It absolutely is. Two women that I respect immensely and who have different things to offer the culture, but valid nonetheless, Willie.

This is the world that we live in. by the way. And never before have been mentioned in the same breath until you just did. That's correct. We lead off the book with a quote from the great Evelyn Cohen. My mom. Her quote is, get a hold of yourself, Andy. Yes. What was the context of that? Well, that is a quote that my mom has used over the years that renders me slapped in the face. Get a hold of yourself, Andy. And I will quite literally get a hold of myself and come back to earth. It is what, it's in her arsenal of you're a runaway train. You've got to get it together, basically.

It's a very simple sentiment from Evelyn Cohen, but one that I respond to. It feels like it's something you've heard for a long time. I have. Yeah, I have. Yeah. She doesn't, she'll, she whips it out when, when she needs it. Yes.

Your parents are a big part of your private story, but also your public story. They are like they're on the show and the audience loves them. Yeah. They seem to be thoroughly enjoying this ride that you were on. They are, but the ride that they are most enjoying is the curveball that I threw them at 50 years old of giving them another grandchild. Yeah. Because this was the kid that no one's. saw coming. Even as the years went on, I would say, you know, I still want to have a kid.

And my mom would say, it's not happening. Like, really, oh, okay, you're going to, you're flying to L.A. for a party right now. When are you going to have a kid? So I proved them all wrong. And it's the great, one of the great joys of having my son is watching his relationship with his grandparents, who are well into their 80s. who FaceTime with him every night at dinner. And he gets to have dinner with them. And he loves them so much. It calls them Ma and Pa.

And it is a beautiful relationship that I didn't really get how deep that was going to be before he came along. I just figured they're in St. Louis. You know, they'll see them every time. But this is a, it's a deep, great relationship. And he loves them so much. And how lucky. I feel that way too about my parents that your son will have a relationship with them.

He'll know them. The grandparent child's relationship is so magical. And I remember great times with my grandparents and sleeping over there. And they give your kids something that you can't. And it's just so exciting and sweet. That to me has been an incredible side benefit from this entire journey. So Evelyn Cohen's the biggest star in this book. I think we agree.

Yes. And actually I should have put her on the cover, I realized. Oh, she's not? No, she's not. Riscoe didn't do a caricature. Maybe we fixed that. Yeah. Some huge names in here.

Dolly Parton, Madonna. What's the thrust of the kind of person you want? Like, how did you put this list together? You know what? It's just women I love. Yeah. Strong, powerful women with something to say. So that could be anyone that has touched me in my life.

I mean, I have a quote from my friend Liza in there that I love that is only go, oh, no, when you're a hammer, everything's a nail. And that's, I mean, we all know people who just create problems in the universe. I mean, you famously work with a ton of them on air on NBC News. Who would you say those people are that you work with? Across the NBC family of networks? There's some, we'll talk about it in a second. Oh, okay.

We'll circle back to it. Okay, great. As they say. Anyway, so I love that quote. When you're a hammer, everything's a nail. So there are quotes in here to live by, and there are quotes in here to laugh by. Yes.

And I put a little commentary on every page of my own relationship with the women or the quote or, just some thought I'm having. Yeah, I mean, I just love the, there's too many of the list, but you go from Jack Hay to Jill Biden on the same page. Yes, absolutely. Like that's the beauty.

Jack Hay to Jill Biden. That's the beauty. Two of our beacons of inspiration. There you go. Yes. There you go. And is it true that Hoda Cotby gave you the idea for this book, or at least she encouraged you to write it?

Hodes didn't just give me the idea. I basically just stole it. the idea from her. She had come out with two quota day books. And I was, I happened to be co-hosting with her during the publication of both books, I believe. So I spent a fair amount of time chilling Hodes books. And I thought to myself, what if I did one of these but put my own spin on it? So then kind of halfway through writing it, I FaceTimed her and said, I need to make sure this is okay with you.

Like, do you have another one of these coming out? Because I do maybe in the fall, is this okay? She's like, write your book. There's a couple great quotes from Hauden. Yeah, Oda is in the book. Yes, of course. Pay nice tribute. And you mentioned her in the acknowledgment.

Yes, well, I mean, again, she inspired this book completely. It's not, you're not ripping her off. It's a genre. People do this all the time. And by the way, yours speaks to your point of view. With all due to Hodes, she didn't invent the Quota Day book. I mean, but I did kind of, she was the person that I kind of ripped it from.

But yes. Who in this book would you like to have Unwatch What Happens Live, who you've not yet had on Watch What Happens Live? Who in that book wouldn't I like to have to watch What Happen's? You've had some of them, a lot of them. Yes. No, I mean, I think Michelle Obama, Michelle Obama has done every show but mine. Now, what's going on with that? Michelle Obama did the chew when it was on. I think Michelle Obama has been on CSI.

I'm not kidding. Really? I think so, or NCIS or something like that. Truly, there almost isn't a show that she hasn't been on except mine. So maybe I should feel good about that. I don't know what, she can't be afraid of Andy Cohen. He throws his arms open. It's fun.

She's faced tougher than. And I, yes. Boy, I would love to see that. Be great, right? Be great, yes. Okay, so Michelle is the big get. She's one of them. Who else is on there?

On your list. You've been at this a while. You get most people you want nowadays. I mean, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you know, it. I find that, yes. Yes. Uh, uh, everybody wants, uh, gosh, who else would I like that's in that. We got Madonna.

Madonna's never been on. I love you, Madonna. She's never been in the clubhouse. Oh. No, she'd be great. Yeah. Love her. Yeah. So many. Because Madonna is a North Star for you, is that fair to say? Yeah, she is. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I love my ladies. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's totally fun and like you can just peel right through it. And I just, as I say,

the juxtaposition of the people in this book from Real Housewives to Anne Frank is just too good. It's too good. Thank you. Stick around for more of my conversation. with Andy Cohen, including his wild ride through 15 years of the real housewives. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Now, more of my conversation with Andy Cohen. Let's talk about housewives. Okay. 15 years. You know what? Can you believe that? Just watched season 16 premiere of Orange County. And how do we feel? It's fantastic. Yeah. They got the assignment. Yeah. Let's go back to like 2000.

when you're cooking this up, you never could have imagined what it was going to become, but what did you think it would be back then? Well, in the best, when it started, it seemed like a sociological time capsule of this group of women who were kind of Nouveau-Riche in a gated community in Orange County who spoke to their children in a way that none of us had ever seen and were, they were just different. And it was while Desperate Housewives was airing,

which is how we got the name Real Housewives, because these were the real Housewives. And it was a play on Real, because, of course, much of them wasn't. And so it felt like a, so I remember Tom Shales from the Washington Post in his vitriolic review of the first episode of the Real Housewives of Orange County,

he did say this is like some sociological time capsule of the Nuva Reach. And I thought, well, this is, that is what we were going for. Now, season two of the Housewives of Orange County, we found that Gina Keogh was getting separated. And that was when I leaned in and said, oh my god this is now a soap opera this is not slamming and this could go on forever did i think i would be

sitting with you 16 years later talking about it absolutely not am i thrilled by it yes they have given me and many others inordinate amounts of pleasure i would not be here where i am today without them. And that's one of the reasons why I thought it was important to include them in this book and why it is a mix of high and low, because there are things that they've said that really ring true to me and a lot of other people that I think are really of a closer look. And I don't think we can even call it a guilty pleasure anymore. So many people watch it across, it's just a pleasure for a lot of people, across the spectrum. Yes. So how was the show, Andy, evolved over the year? So you got Orange County, here comes New York.

in New Jersey, and you've grown and shown different people and different cultures and different cities. Yeah, I mean, you know, it has evolved. I have another book out on my imprint called Not All Diamonds and Rose, which is a oral history of the real housewives in its entirety. It comes out in like two weeks, and it's great. And you see the evolution of it. I think there was an evolution when I, I, think there was a moment where people started to really realize they were on TV and they could make a moment. And there are some moments that were made that were incredible on television that we

thought, how authentic is it that this woman is taking her leg off in Lyserk and throwing it to make a point? Maybe not an incredible finale for season, I think, six of New York Housewives. But we didn't bring a Viva back the next year because we kind of thought, where do we go from here? Right. You've thrown your leg in Lyserk. Where does the story take us that we could possibly go? We've been to the mountain top.

We've been to the mountain top. So I think that we try to, we try to lean into the reel and we try to go away from the performative. But this is a show now all these years later where people know they're on television. We're in the middle of two incredible moments. You know, Beverly Hills, something happened with Erica Girardi, one of our housewives. As the cameras were rolling, our husband was implicated in a horrible crime. And so we're watching that unfold now and watching the women relate to that and react.

to that. And that's a real story that's happening. And it's, it's, it's, it's like a mystery that people are tuning in for. And so you can't, the thing about it is, you can't predict where any of this is ever going to go because it's real. And that's what keeps me watching and that's what keeps everyone else watching. And it doesn't art that we put extremely charismatic, sometimes, um, temperamental, always humorous, sometimes volatile women, you know, in a mix. And see what happens. Yeah, I mean, the fact that these shows have been on this long and people are still as dialed in as they were on season one or two speaks to how you keep that alive. Because I guess in real life, it's not going to go away. Life is explosive. And also,

if you look at friend groups, women come in or friends come in, friends go out. They evolve over time. And you've expanded your audience by the cities you've chosen and the groups of women you've chosen, right? It's true. I mean, Salt Lake City, man. Yeah. Who would have thought? Another curveball.

Mormon housewives look into it. People want to know, to the extent you can talk about it, behind the scenes, I'm sure it must just be. Your phone is texts and phone calls from various housewives who have an issue with something that was in the show, how they were portrayed. How do you manage this universe that you created? I think that my senses have been dulled over the years a bit. Maybe I'm a little more.

You know, I used to look at my dad and think, how does he exist amidst the chaos, the cacophony of this group of overmodulated loud talkers that exists in my nuclear family, myself, my mother, and my sister? I was like, this man is tuning out this dialogue. And so maybe I've put myself into a neutral gear a little bit. And I think that maybe I'm just gliding through this all like Luke Owen a little bit now. And, you know, I talk about my mom a lot, but, you know, there's something to be said. There's actually a great quote from Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

in the book, where she said, sometimes we all have to be a little bit deaf and we choose to hear what we want to hear. And I thought that was such a great quote because it's like, you know, some things matter that you hear, some things don't. Maybe, you know, some critiques that you get, tune it out. Something that someone's yelling about,

you think, you know what, they're going to be over it tomorrow. I mean, I'm not going to take this on. Right. So, um, RBG. So it's a little bit of psychiatrists, a little social work, a little of that, right? Just hear them out and let it flush its way through the system. Yeah. There are some moments though, well, you can't do that.

And I'm thinking about the reunions. Yes. Because you are physically in that room. Absolutely. And sometimes under assault. Yes. That is true. Um, but I control the narrative.

Uh, it's okay. And, um, I think you're talking about Teresa. I said that happened many years ago. That was a long time. Yes. Yes. Yeah. No, I mean, we're in the midst of I really had my toughest interview yet with the whole Erica

Gerardi, Beverly Hills, it's unfolding right now, unprecedented four-part reunion that's happening right now because there were that many questions that needed to be answered by Erica. Isn't it amazing that you've created this universe where, it's not just the show itself, but there have to be interviews and debrief. There's a news cycle about the shows you've created. It's incredible.

I opened the New York Post, and I am amazed at the amount of coverage that these women get. It's really dominant. Page 6 is almost now all. It's solidly many days, 50% housewives. Bravo Leopardy's, by the way. And I'm thrilled by it. For people who don't know, you started in journalism.

Yes. At CBS News. I remain in journalism. You do remain as you just described. Yes. But you were a hard news producer. I was. I was.

You interned there. You wrote for your school paper at BU. Are you sometimes, do you ever take a minute and say, wow, look how my life has turned. I love that part of my life, but look how things worked out. I think it evolved as TV news evolved. I mean, TV news became a little softer over the years. And so I think people started to become more interested in personalities. And I think that the definition of what is news has evolved as well.

So I walk into a Housewives reunion and my attitude is this is news for a lot of people. I mean, it's meaningless, of course. But it's a form of news, nonetheless. It truly affects no one's daily life. And yet, it's like the Facebook hearings might. Right. But I recognize that it is important to people. And people want me to do a good job.

There's no question about that. Whenever I go on this watch what happens live, I have everyone in my life saying, you've got to know about this and that and ask Andy about this and that they're just mining for information. They're so invested. They're so invested. So do you have any hints about what's coming next in your universe? Are you creating other things that will excite Bravo fans?

We're cooking something up that I can't talk about right now. Oh, yes. In the housewives world? I think so. A new world? Maybe. Wow. Yeah.

Okay, before I let you go, is there an Andy? Andy Cohen quote that if you do 365 days of quotes from men you love, is there a word to live by from Andy Cohen? Happy anniversary Sunday today. That's an evergreen quote. That's an evergreen quote. Is there a thing you say? People in your life would say, oh, that's an Andyism or people you work with? God, everything that I say, I think has been ripped.

off by some woman, frankly. Hold on. We'll save it for the next book. Okay. Let you think on it. You know, I have to think of it. You know, men are such block ads. You're not going to get much of a book.

But, yeah. Next time. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Andy. Thanks, Willie. Great to see you. Happy anniversary.

Thanks. My big thanks again and always to Andy Cohen, my good friend, for a great conversation. Always a good time. whether you're in the clubhouse and watch what happens live or just sitting down talking about his book, Glitter Every Day. 365 quotes from Women I Love. That book hits stores on November 2nd. Go check it out. Thanks to all of you for listening. If you want to hear more of our conversations with my guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune into Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sitdown, podcast.