December 27, 2022 • 37 mins
On the second episode of Table for Two, host Bruce Bozzi meets up with his oldest friend, Andy Cohen, for lunch in Sag Harbor, New York. If the Real Housewives franchise (of which Cohen is executive producer) is any indication, the reality-television king’s empire stretches from Beverly Hills to Dubai. But he seems most at home on Long Island’s eastern tip, stealing from his dining companion’s plate, speculating about the sexuality of various late-night hosts, and revealing that egg-yolk omelettes aren’t the only thing James Corden covets.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm sitting at sag Harbor, at a restaurant called to
Total Journal, and I'm about to have lunch with my
best friend Andy Cohen. Or setting for today's conversation couldn't
be more kind of perfect. Sag Harbor is a place
that Andy and I would run around in our twenties.
(00:20):
We used to go to this place called the Paradise Dinner,
which was super gay and super fun and it's long
gone seven. We were sitting there having cheeseburgers when we
found out Princess Diana died. We cried, and then we
went to a gay bar called the Swamp. This is
what sag Harbor is. As I sit here today waiting
(00:41):
for Andy, I am really reminded of all the good times,
countless days sitting on the beach, great afternoons listening to music,
playing poker, fun times where we just had friends over
and we were laughing and cooking dinner. Sad times because
relationships end, did people came, they left, Reckless times because
(01:03):
we just sometimes drank too much or drove too fast,
and we were young and we were having a blast.
I went to the wrong place. Well, Hello Andy Goler,
Hi Bruce, where'd you go. I went to Dopo dopo
to toe dopo. I was a dopeopo. Can I get
(01:27):
you anything to drink? The rose? I'll have one too,
Thank you, might as well chers cheers to eight years later.
Here we sit, pull up a chair. We're gonna have
some fun. I'm Bruce Bozzi and this is table for
two and we can also order Ricardo. Yeah, Ricardo. I'm
(01:55):
gonna get the linguini with clam sauce. I mean, do
you want to start, if you want to start, start,
That's what I was looking at. Look at that, okay,
and I'm going to do the spighetto. Hi, Andy Cohen,
thank you for lunch. You know, Harbor was a very
important place for us because to me, it launched our friendship.
(02:17):
You think about it the summer of even though we
had the years like the September through May, it was
the summers. Talk to me about those summers. What you
remember you know us, Well, that was when I met you.
You were dating um, someone who was my best friend,
(02:38):
and we he found an amazing house that was on
the bay in sag Harbor and we all crammed into
this little two bedroom house. We had a little chair
starting in So we were in this teeny house and um,
(02:59):
we were crammed in. And I mean, look, I spent
the first two summers just staring at your toughest in
your little You had a blue bikini and then red bikini,
and I mean each of the bikinis had their merits.
But you look like like yeah you big blue eyes. Yeah,
(03:21):
and you know, I mean I was like, who is
this pretty? Why? I mean one of the things that
you would do those summers, you'd always ask like who, like,
what do you like? Who? Like? What are you like? You?
What are you gonna do for a job that we're
working at the Palm? So I mean that I think
(03:42):
you were a little student because I could talk to
you endlessly. And but one of the things that I
think was really that you might not know about you
during that time, was you know when you ask those questions.
I was a little bit deprogrammed, and I was certainly lost,
and I was working for my family at the Palm,
as you said, but that wasn't like and when I
couldn't really come up with an answer, that never left
(04:05):
like this guy, who is I mean, at the time
you're working at CBS, You're completely driven and I'm lost.
That was like, it was a painful question and a
good question to be asked, and it never sort of
left me that I always said when I said to you,
I like magazines. Yeah, I was like, well, maybe you
want to work in magazines? Is that something you would
(04:27):
want to do? You're like maybe. Listen it was. It
was really fun and so began my my relationship with
the Hampton's yunks to Jeff your Ax who found this place,
and then you guys broke up and he wound up
moving elsewhere and I held onto the house and I
ended the house until this year. Yeah, twenty two. So um,
(04:53):
that was great. Two. What were when we go back
to the summers? We didn't really go to the beach.
What did we do? We laid out at the house.
Were very much at the house. You were like king
of music and pop culture for the house. Even then.
You were really an educative for me in regard to
like Diana and remixes and all that kind of stuff. Right,
(05:16):
what was the music of the time that we were
listening to. Well, we're listening to very gay kind of
dance music and remixing a ton of Madonna. I mean
it was Madonna. It was I mean it was Madonna. Madonna, Madonna.
That's really and share was coming up the new stuff. Wow,
look at that. This, this is the beautiful, the flat bread,
(05:44):
the isle of thank you, Andy, How would you describe
yourself in the early nineties. I was really ambitious. I
was very energized by the city, by my job at
CDs was I wanted to do everything. I got no
sleep and I did do everything. I just never stopped.
(06:06):
I wanted to succeed at CBS. I wanted I said
yes to every assignment. I was some of the big assignments.
I remember you going places with Dan Rather. I did
one shoot with Dan Rather that was really impactful for me,
which was just a profile of Don I missed for
forty eight hours, actually, and I was doing a lot
of entertainment stuff for the morning show at CBS. I
(06:29):
said yes to everything. I loved it. You know. The
funny thing is I stayed in the Beach House for
twenty eight years and I loved it so much. It
was a sweet little love shock who really was And
I always said, I'm the only thing that would get
me to leave this house would be if I was
ever lucky enough to have a house on the ocean,
(06:53):
and I actually never envisioned myself able to afford that.
That was not my realm. And so now I'm by
the way. I just came from a walkthrough at my
new beach house, which will be done, God knows when,
maybe the end of the year. You say you were
very ambitious, and you were very ambitious, and you worked
(07:16):
really hard. But one of the things that I think
maintains to this day is you always were having fun.
I remember going to work with you. I remember, you know,
we were obsessed with a weatherman at CBS and like WS,
a local guy. I mean, you've no idea how the
trajectory of the next twenty eight years would be, not
only financially but your actual career. When you were you
were producing morning show that you at forty eight hours,
(07:38):
then you go, I'm back to the morning show, or
you would dealing the more show. What were the steps
like if you had to sort of say, I know,
Dan was a big influence on you. Well, he was
like the king of CBS News. He was the big anchorman.
I don't know what my goal was because I thought
that I had made it the whole time, because you
never talked about like it wasn't like need to go
(08:00):
do this or that or the other. I remember when
I was offered a job that would have doubled my salary,
what I fell out to be a producer at the
Sally Jesse Raphael show Ross the Street. Yes, and I
was like, I mean, no offense to Sally Jesse Rafael,
but isn't it ironic that I now produced The Housewives,
which some high falutant people consider like trashy TV. But
(08:24):
I considered at the time Sally Jesse Rafael kind of well,
you know, you lower than what I was doing at CBS,
but it was twice the money. But I stayed at
CBS because I was like, that's not who I am,
and that my value. But the irony is that I
do consider The Housewives who I am because I think
it's a great soap opera. I think it's the great
(08:46):
American soap opera, and I've always loved soap operas. But
do you also think I mean, you talked a lot
about Oprah in your life from what an influence she was,
so do you think maybe Oprah? You know, once you
once of the Oprah Talk Show, you're not going to
Sally right exactly. If Oprah had been in New York,
I would have done everything I could to work at
that show. Since we're talking about work, I wanted to
(09:08):
talk to you about a couple of people and to
see how they influenced your career because growing up with you,
because I think we grew up together. I mean someone
like Lynn Redman, who people don't know. So Lynn was
a producer to explain who Lynn is. And you know
Lynn who I spoke to this morning. I was her
intern when I started at CBS News in like nineteen nine,
(09:31):
and she was just this woman who I was like,
oh my god, she has the best energy, and I
like fell in love with her. Yeah, And I said
to her, we're going to be friends, and she said, no,
we're not. You're an intern. I remember when I came
out to her because she thought that I was straight.
She felt like she had to share something about herself
(09:52):
because I had, so she said, well, I'm getting divorced,
and I was like, oh my god. And I mean,
so began a really incredible friendship. And I think in
terms of an influence, I mean, it's funny because she
reluctantly admits that I gave her great advice, even in
(10:14):
those days, work advice, work advice, like and I was like,
you know, she got offered a job at the CBS
Evening News, and she had all these fears about going
there from the morning show and she was gonna have
to integrate the CBSC even News because there weren't really
many people of color working there. I said, you have
(10:35):
to do this. I mean, you absolutely have to do
what you think. That's part of like your you know,
if I had to describe you, one of the things
that is amazing about you is that the aptitude and
you're able to give great advice. You listen to you
know what I mean. You know, it's so funny. I
take relationship advice on my radio show all the time.
I give relationship advice. I am in no way qualified.
(10:56):
I look at me, I'm like eternally single, So like,
why is that the case should My bar one people
is so high. I think I have the greatest friends.
That's how I'm comparing people, new people to people that
I've known for so long. I'm open to it. I mean,
(11:18):
now I have two kids. I mean, yeah, we're gonna
talk to people really looking for four year old guy
with two kids. Yeah, I don't think so. I mean,
I don't know. I don't think that sounds not desirable
to me. It's a lot of work, I'll tell you
that much. Yeah, tell me about it. Welcome back to
(11:54):
table for two. As my conversation with Andy carries on
the sunlight at two tilt Jarno shine softly and doesn't
threaten to turn gold for hours, shifting our focus to friendship,
specifically male friendships, which have meant so much to Andy
and me over the years. One of the things that
isn't necessarily culturally seen a lot is very visible male friendships.
(12:19):
And you talk about growing up and I had the
same thing like you did, which is a lot of golfriends,
you know, but you have very visible male friendships. So
a lot of kind of just touch upon your relationship
and who and who these guys were to you. I
went to college and I went to orientation at the
orientation weekend, and my person that I was assigned with
(12:42):
in my room, it turns out, is this guy Dave Ansel,
who became like my brother, and he really is like
my brother. And we call him straight did because he's
like the straight version of me, he and I. His
family was in the food business. My family was in
the food business. We just so connected. And I will
say within forty eight hours of freshman year beginning, Dave
(13:04):
turned to me and looked me at my eyes and
said I love you. And I was like what. And
I was like, oh my god. And you were not
out to him, no, and he was not saying I
love you like like we're in love, like we're gay guys.
It was brotherly love that I had never experienced. And
(13:26):
I was like, oh my god, this is the greatest.
And you know, I mean maybe when he first started
he got a great the he had a teeny little waist,
he was swemmer. I mean, you changed. At the beginning.
I fantasized about him a little bit, but then I
just was in love with him. And then I remember
when he would fool around with girls. I want to
(13:47):
get a little jealous. Yeah, this is eighty six. I
would get jealous. I would be like, oh, Dave slept
out lest like is this r And he was like
you know what I mean, like who did you have sex? Smith?
And he's like so and so I'm like he's like,
you don't think she's hot. I'm like, no, she's not,
you know a little bit, and we didn't like to
(14:11):
pretend how to get by at that time. Would you
peeking him when he was getting changed? No, not really, No,
I mean we I mean I saw naked and he
saw me naked, but nothing I was that. It was
really like a brother. When I looked at him naked,
it was like I was looking at my brother, right,
There was no, there was not, So you liken it
to John Mayer house. So the John Mayer thing is
(14:33):
John Mayer is someone who's very in touch with his
emotions too. He very quickly in our friendship started saying like,
you know what, I gotta tell you something, I love you.
Like he is someone to say I love you, and
I cherish you, and I cherish our friendship and just
this stuff that straight guys aren't necessarily supposed to say.
(14:59):
And these friendship with straight men have pup ended a
lot of preconceived notions about what male friendship can look.
It's most recognizable friendship has developed on screen and the
public eye with a fellow gay TV personality. Yes, I'm
talking about Anderson Coople. So then what's the difference between
(15:21):
me and Anderson in your life, two of your closest
gay friends. I mean, I would say at this point
Anderson is closer than you as a friend. With him,
it's like I have a very specific relationship in that
we've known each other for years and obviously, but I
would say in the last fifteen years we've gotten much
(15:43):
closer because he's been able to kind of guide me
as I've been in front of the camera and guide
me navigating what that is and having a show. It's
saying the wrong thing and getting it printed in the paper,
and you know, there are a lot of things about
navigating that world of doing a show every night that
(16:03):
he can relate to and that he's given me really
good advice. So you guys are sort of like the
Dean Martin Jerry Lewis, where you're a real the funny guy.
And then the great thing is, yeah, we've been able
to you know, we've been able to develop our friendship
as a public duo, which has been so fun for
me and I think for him because both of us
(16:24):
are such solo acts. I mean, I don't want to
have a co host at these reunions. Don't watch what
Evan's life like it's a one man band, and Anderson
ain't looking for a you know, don't put Connie Chong
next to him and the anchor ship like they did
to Dan rather like so he's a solo show. So
I think for both of us to be able to
(16:46):
do this thing together and do New Year's Eve together,
this will be our six year I think doing New
Year's Eve. You've been a pair, you kind of like
created this thing, and then you also become parents at
the same time. How has that impacted your friendship? And
it took that to a lot. I mean, we're you know,
we're these geriatric parents, um, and you know, hobbling around
(17:08):
chasing our children. But look, it's another bonding thing. And
also I think it's a really I think what's gonna
be really interesting for us is going to be as
it develops being gay dads. You know, as our kids
start realizing more and more, oh, I have gay dads.
I think that will be something that I'm so glad
(17:31):
that Ben will grow up with Wyatt, and Ben will
grow up seeing Anderson and Benjamin raising Wyatt and Sebastian.
And I was playing the stupid question game with Ben,
which I shouldn't play the other day at dinner where
I was like, let's play a question game and then
I'm like yellow or blue? Like blue, you know, and
(17:54):
hot dog or Mac and cheese, Mac and teethe. But
then I started saying, like because I so shady and
I'm even doing it with my kid. I'm like, would
you rather go to why at Cooper's house and play
or would you rather have a play date with like
ex friend of his from school? And He's like, I'd
(18:16):
rather go to Wyatt Coopers and I was like, thank god.
And then I was like, I'm like, you don't need
I know. And I'm like, you know what, Andy, you
don't need to be pitting Ben's friends against each other
like these are you know? And I said like, would
you rather go to Bruce's in California or go to Mom?
Which is a terrible thing to choose. He chose me.
(18:39):
He chose Mom, which Andy as definitively transportatin posting the
housewife reunions, interviewing famous friends, and watch what happens love.
There isn't a question he's afraid to ask. You might
not be surprised to hear that he's always been like this.
(18:59):
He's been a potcht her since the day I met him,
and well, it's one of my favorite things about it.
One of the things that I can remember vividly is
every time that we were together in ninety four and
ninety five and ninety six, inevitably would be in a
fight with the guy I was dating, because you would
have a tidbit, a negget of information that you would
(19:20):
throw out and I'd be like, oh, no, you're it comes,
it comes. It's just clearly part of the DNA, which
also makes you super successful in what you're doing. Thank
you man, your wal grovocatur. But last night I was
at a birthday party for John Slapper. I went to
the bar. There was this woman. She goes, oh, I'm Gina,
(19:41):
and then this guy was there. It was very attractive,
and he was waiting for a drink and he goes, hey,
I'm so and so, And I said, are you two lovers?
To the two of them, which, by the way, strange people.
It's not a thing that strange people. And the woman
was very titillated because this guy was very cute. She goes, no,
we're not, and I go, will you two she gets
to know each other. I found out later that I
was married and his wife was at the party, so
(20:03):
it was very improbably, but I asked another to some
of straight people, are you two lovers? And they're I
need to ask straight people like and they were married.
They go, well, we're married for twenty five years ago,
so you are loved because I know you know each other.
Going well, welcome back to my conversation with Andy Cohen
(20:39):
on table for two. There's something that happens during a
long meal in a restaurant, like to tell a journal,
if you take your time, you're bound to be interrupted
by someone special, even if she's just giving you a
hard time for not visiting more often. Honey, I love you,
I love you. Why don't I have you seen you?
You let me alone? No, why when have you? I
(21:03):
don't know. She's been working her ass all. You want
to see you here anymore? After Donna given us a
hot tip for a new restaurant, and Andy and I
promised to visit her more often, we settled back into
our conversation. In one of your books, you talk about
that you loved growing up in the Midwest. Occasionally I
(21:25):
would go to St. Louis, and to my astonishment, the
neighbors brought over muffins and pies my hand. I came
home and I was like, wait, I don't understand this, Like,
you know, the person who lives next to you and
they bring up it was literally you know, it was like, yeah,
it was crazy. But so I want to ask you
now that we have Lucy and Ben in the world,
(21:46):
and how do you plan on keeping it simple? Well,
which is an important piece, especially because your life is
much bigger than they're going to have a totally different upbringing.
I mean, they're growing up. You know, they're city kids already,
they're city kids and they're already seeing But how do
(22:08):
you keep it simple? Walk out of the block. You
get stopped every six ft year stuff. New York is
Maybury in reality. I mean the thing that is nice
about people stopping me. All they say is hi, Andy,
and they say hi. Then like usually they're not coming
up for a picture and stuff, and then is there.
(22:30):
I mean they sometimes do, and I do it, but
that will change. Has been starts to become more aware
of it. I'll say I can't do it right now,
but he calls you Andy Colin, which is funny. Sometimes
he does, but that makes sense. You know it's funny.
You'll be like, come here, Andy going, I'm gonna jump
in the deep end, catch me. He also does it
(22:52):
because he knows that I laugh. I don't think he
knows why it's funny. But how do you keep it simple?
I'm just trying to keep their lives as localized as possible.
I just don't want them to be douche and I
want them to be aware of what they have. I
want them to work when they can. So now that
(23:14):
you have their old enough two children, Lucy's baby, and
you're three years in with them, and you've watched me
with Ava, is that what you thought it would be.
I think you can think what it's gonna be, but
it takes on a life of its own. What's the
hardest part, The current hardest part is that he's just
testing his boundaries, right, He's testing how much he can
(23:35):
get away with and which is a very normal thing
to do at three and a half, but it is
exhausting to navigate No, you can't hit me, No you
can't wear pajamas to camp, and explaining and then having
them be very upset that I can't wear pajamas to camp,
and you know, Yesterday, we have a terrible morning. I
(23:57):
mean it was just ruthless. It was exhausting. Today we
had a great morning, you know. So it's normal. It's
like every right. I think there's a volatility to it
that's a little tiring. What would be the attributes of
growing up in the Midwest that you would like to
make sure your children have a sense of values, the
(24:21):
value of a dollar and working for it. I just
I always worked growing up, and so I want to
figure out a way that this kid your parents did.
What were some of the jobs again the opera? Well,
I mean I was. I delivered papers, which I loved.
When I was like in fourth grade, I was a
doorman at oppera theater of St. Louis. I worked for
(24:43):
our family's food business. That was mainly I worked there
every summer or break and making deliveries, answering phones, making copies,
working in the warehouse, working on the assembly line, like
everything that I could possibly do. I did you wore
in college in Faniel Hall, right, I worked at a
(25:05):
very dead heady like push card for four years, actually
all four years at the U. I also was a waiter,
but I worked there selling Mexican like blankets and those
Baja plover's and bracelets. And he has come a long
way since his days selling oversized ponchos from a push card.
But one thing that has never waivered is his work ethic.
(25:29):
As you have these two children, and you've been working
your ass off for the last you know, your whole
adult career. Right now, you are extremely busy. I know
you're writing another book, yes, so what makes you what
made you lean in to write another book? And what's
the book going to be? Well, the book is going
(25:50):
to be the third installment of the Antikoen Diaries series,
and people who love the diaries and they both sold
very well and said, what are you going to do
another one? And I just wasn't. I didn't think they
would be different enough from the first two. And now
I'm raising kids. Lucy is born during this book. I mean,
(26:13):
things happen that are different than in the first two.
And I'm dealing with, you know, fighting with Ben's toddler bed.
I mean things that I never would have imagined writing about.
So I think that parents will really relate to this.
And it's truly a different chapter in this series, and
it's a different chapter in my life. There do you
mean do you think, because you know the nature of
(26:35):
your celebrity is so is about the visibility? Do you
feel like and you are? And one of the things
you've created with the Housewife franchise is looking into people's
homes and relationships that there's that's something within you that
you're that I like to shy away. Yes, you like
to share. You lean into your I think that I
(26:57):
do like to. I am more selective than people would
realize about what I share, but I do like to.
I think it's fun and I think people kind of
expected of me, especially since I expected of everyone in
my universe, in the in the Housewives universe. But I'm
not on one of these shows. And so is there
(27:20):
anything you've ever shared that you regret? You know, I
wish I had not done there? Yeah, I mean I
don't want to repass it because then it gets rehashed.
But yeah, there's been a couple of you know, the
thing about it is the nature of celebrity now is
that you make an off handed comment a lot of
times on a podcast or on the radio that you're
(27:43):
just sitting here, and then if you look at this
sentence on its own, you sound absolutely insane, and people
do and break it down like that, and so and
then my mother calls. Your mother is like, what are
her big issues with you when it comes to this Now,
it's anything relating to the kids. So I set her
(28:08):
the first chunk of this new book I'm working on
to see if she felt that I violated Ben's privacy
in this book. And she cleared it. Then she said,
it's okay. Your mom has been a huge influence in
your life. We both have strong relationships with our mom.
We both have strong mothers. How much credit do you
(28:29):
give that influence once she's bringing you to where you
are today? A lot? I mean, I think she always
taught me that there was a world outside of my box.
She always thought it was important that my sister and
I realized that we were privileged and that everyone didn't
live like us. She used to work with juvenile delinquents
(28:52):
in the city kind of system, and she brought us there.
I remember she brought us to the juvenile detention center
once because she wanted us to see these kids and
get it into our heads a what could happen if
you start? You know, she was trying to scare us
(29:13):
straight a little bit, but also just say not everyone
has it so easy. Behind our house there was his
law office and Senator Eagleton from Missouri. Thomas Eagleton had
an election headquarters there one year, and she kept saying
(29:35):
to me, you should go volunteer. She was really bugging me.
She's like, go to Eagleton's office and volunteer, And I
was like, and I went, and I started volunteering for them,
to the point that I loved it there so much
that I was hanging out there every day after school.
It became my life. Wow, from like late when I
got back from Camp Um to or it was that summer,
(29:59):
and then the election was in November. But I became
and I think that you brought up Lynn Redmond earlier.
I think that was what made me become fearless when
I started at CBS News thinking that I was going
to be friends with all these much older people around me,
because I did become friends with these people. Um, I
remember their names today, Laddie, Arnold, Jackie. There were all
(30:24):
these people that I met during internships and stuff who
were older, who would like take me out to lunch.
When I was a kid. You know, I would be
like most they would take me out to lunch and
I would be like, so, you know, so I think
that that really affected me, and I really felt like
I was in somewhere cool working for the selection campaign.
(30:45):
I was like, this is really interesting. And these idiots
in my class, what are they doing? I gotta say,
your parents really the fact that your parents saw you.
You know, when you're seeing and you're motivating and your
push to be a part or something is to learn.
And your mom when you came out, your mom leaned in.
She understood, she saw you, she knew what was coming in,
(31:06):
you know what I mean, and she embraced and she
learned about it. It's completely part of the wholeness of you. Yeah,
and you're fortunate that didn't happen to Uch. You know,
most people don't have that not and they struggle. Yeah,
from that point on, Yeah, I was very lucky. You know,
you are one of the only openly gay late night
(31:31):
talk shows. I am the only well let's assume maybe
that I beat someone in the closet, but you are
the only who do you think is in the closet? No, no, no, no, Boddy,
neither of the Jimmy's, neither the Jimmy is no. I mean,
Seacrest is as gay as you're gonna get, but he's
not gay. So no, I don't think there's I don't
think there is. But my question is, you know, we
(31:54):
grew up well, you know when people thought you were gay,
they weren't nice. And so you represent a rather large
community and you're the only one out there. When have
you felt part of the group. When have you felt
part of what group? The late night When has it
been like, yeah, I don't totally feel part of the group,
(32:15):
but I've been all in late night TV for thirteen years.
I mean I talked about years ago. Um and Graydon
Carter and I have talked about this. There was a
big photo shoot the Vanity Fair did of all of
the late night talk show and they left me out
of but they added James Corton, who wasn't even on
the area yet, and Trevor Noah who had just started,
(32:39):
and we were like, I know, he's so cute, and
we were my pr People were trying and trying, trying,
and actually I was asked in a New York Times
magazine profile. There was a conversation about that I'm always
keeping score of kind of where I rank in the
universe of celebrity or how people see me. And I
(33:01):
used that as an example is something that I was like,
you know, I had been on the air for seven
years at that point, but they wouldn't. And Graydon later said,
you know what, after that article came out, he goes,
you know what, you were right? You should have been
in that, which was really meaningful to me. Acknowledge your feeling, Yes,
and so, but I think overlooked. But just well, first
(33:25):
of all, I think my show is not I'm not
a comedian. I think it's I think it's a different
kind of talk show, true, and I think that makes
you I think there's been a traditional idea of what
a late night talk show is. I would argue that
Watch What Happens Live has redefined what the late night
talk show. I think we've seen a lot of things
(33:47):
that originated on your show bleed into everyone else. No,
I mean it was the first bar on late night
James Gordon got a bar. James Gordon wound up kind
of ripping off your shot. There you go. So it
is what it is. And that used to be stuff
that I was really hyper sensitive about, and frankly I
just feel so grateful now, and I'm not blowing smoke
(34:08):
and being bullshit. I'm so glad we're still going that.
It's like great copy my set, go go with God.
And so I mean, I kind of I think when
you take a step back and you look at someone
who represents not the mainstream, it plays in and of itself,
(34:29):
and you've gotten a lot of flat you have certainly
redefined at night and to thank you, one of the
next two chapters for you, oh God, I mean no,
I think it's figuring out my real estate and finishing
this speech house. I'm working on our new apartment in
(34:50):
the city. And then I think it's the kids. I mean,
the next I want to keep all these planes in
the air that I have going professionally. But also I mean,
it's really about the kids and just making sure they're
as great as they can be and I don't let
them down. Well, if there's anything like my best friend,
thank you, they will be. Just as our time together
(35:14):
is wrapping up, Ricardo clears our plates and brings out
an espresso soaked Tiramasu to top off and already indulge
in lunch. Ricardo, we are done. He has he has
dipped and dumped his bread into my post. And as
much as I'd like to stay here basking in the
memories from the place that brought us so many, it's
time to move on to our next meal. I mean not,
(35:37):
you have to come, yes, so you can get the table. No?
Did you hear that? Where he has to come so
we get a table? Absolutely not. As the afternoon slips
away and the sky begins to glow, I am filled
by the warmth that comes from sharing a meal with
someone so important to me. I feel really thankful that
(35:59):
I have a friend like this guy. And friendships don't
come easy, they don't last necessarily. They have a beginning,
they have a middle and an end. And our beginning
was here and we're still going strong. Table for You
with Bruce Bozzy is produced by IRR Radio seven seven
(36:22):
Park and Airmail. Our executive producers are Bruce Bozzy, Jonathan
Hoss Dressler and Nathan King. Table for Two is edited
and written by Tina Mullen and researched and written by
Bridget Arsenalt. Our sound engineers are Emil B. Klein, Paul Bowman,
and Melissa Midcalf. Table for Two is l a production
team is Danielle Romo and the Rain Viens. Our music
(36:45):
supervisor is Randall Poster. Our talent booking is by Jane Sarkin.
Special thanks to Amy Sugarman, Uni Share, Kevin Uvane, Bobby Bower,
Alison Cantor Graber and Gabby Karen Jump Prelo to Felice
and the staff of Tu Till Jarno and Sack Arbor.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(37:08):
your favorite shows. H
I'm sitting at sag Harbor, at a restaurant called to
Total Journal, and I'm about to have lunch with my
best friend Andy Cohen. Or setting for today's conversation couldn't
be more kind of perfect. Sag Harbor is a place
that Andy and I would run around in our twenties.
(00:20):
We used to go to this place called the Paradise Dinner,
which was super gay and super fun and it's long
gone seven. We were sitting there having cheeseburgers when we
found out Princess Diana died. We cried, and then we
went to a gay bar called the Swamp. This is
what sag Harbor is. As I sit here today waiting
(00:41):
for Andy, I am really reminded of all the good times,
countless days sitting on the beach, great afternoons listening to music,
playing poker, fun times where we just had friends over
and we were laughing and cooking dinner. Sad times because
relationships end, did people came, they left, Reckless times because
(01:03):
we just sometimes drank too much or drove too fast,
and we were young and we were having a blast.
I went to the wrong place. Well, Hello Andy Goler,
Hi Bruce, where'd you go. I went to Dopo dopo
to toe dopo. I was a dopeopo. Can I get
(01:27):
you anything to drink? The rose? I'll have one too,
Thank you, might as well chers cheers to eight years later.
Here we sit, pull up a chair. We're gonna have
some fun. I'm Bruce Bozzi and this is table for
two and we can also order Ricardo. Yeah, Ricardo. I'm
(01:55):
gonna get the linguini with clam sauce. I mean, do
you want to start, if you want to start, start,
That's what I was looking at. Look at that, okay,
and I'm going to do the spighetto. Hi, Andy Cohen,
thank you for lunch. You know, Harbor was a very
important place for us because to me, it launched our friendship.
(02:17):
You think about it the summer of even though we
had the years like the September through May, it was
the summers. Talk to me about those summers. What you
remember you know us, Well, that was when I met you.
You were dating um, someone who was my best friend,
(02:38):
and we he found an amazing house that was on
the bay in sag Harbor and we all crammed into
this little two bedroom house. We had a little chair
starting in So we were in this teeny house and um,
(02:59):
we were crammed in. And I mean, look, I spent
the first two summers just staring at your toughest in
your little You had a blue bikini and then red bikini,
and I mean each of the bikinis had their merits.
But you look like like yeah you big blue eyes. Yeah,
(03:21):
and you know, I mean I was like, who is
this pretty? Why? I mean one of the things that
you would do those summers, you'd always ask like who, like,
what do you like? Who? Like? What are you like? You?
What are you gonna do for a job that we're
working at the Palm? So I mean that I think
(03:42):
you were a little student because I could talk to
you endlessly. And but one of the things that I
think was really that you might not know about you
during that time, was you know when you ask those questions.
I was a little bit deprogrammed, and I was certainly lost,
and I was working for my family at the Palm,
as you said, but that wasn't like and when I
couldn't really come up with an answer, that never left
(04:05):
like this guy, who is I mean, at the time
you're working at CBS, You're completely driven and I'm lost.
That was like, it was a painful question and a
good question to be asked, and it never sort of
left me that I always said when I said to you,
I like magazines. Yeah, I was like, well, maybe you
want to work in magazines? Is that something you would
(04:27):
want to do? You're like maybe. Listen it was. It
was really fun and so began my my relationship with
the Hampton's yunks to Jeff your Ax who found this place,
and then you guys broke up and he wound up
moving elsewhere and I held onto the house and I
ended the house until this year. Yeah, twenty two. So um,
(04:53):
that was great. Two. What were when we go back
to the summers? We didn't really go to the beach.
What did we do? We laid out at the house.
Were very much at the house. You were like king
of music and pop culture for the house. Even then.
You were really an educative for me in regard to
like Diana and remixes and all that kind of stuff. Right,
(05:16):
what was the music of the time that we were
listening to. Well, we're listening to very gay kind of
dance music and remixing a ton of Madonna. I mean
it was Madonna. It was I mean it was Madonna. Madonna, Madonna.
That's really and share was coming up the new stuff. Wow,
look at that. This, this is the beautiful, the flat bread,
(05:44):
the isle of thank you, Andy, How would you describe
yourself in the early nineties. I was really ambitious. I
was very energized by the city, by my job at
CDs was I wanted to do everything. I got no
sleep and I did do everything. I just never stopped.
(06:06):
I wanted to succeed at CBS. I wanted I said
yes to every assignment. I was some of the big assignments.
I remember you going places with Dan Rather. I did
one shoot with Dan Rather that was really impactful for me,
which was just a profile of Don I missed for
forty eight hours, actually, and I was doing a lot
of entertainment stuff for the morning show at CBS. I
(06:29):
said yes to everything. I loved it. You know. The
funny thing is I stayed in the Beach House for
twenty eight years and I loved it so much. It
was a sweet little love shock who really was And
I always said, I'm the only thing that would get
me to leave this house would be if I was
ever lucky enough to have a house on the ocean,
(06:53):
and I actually never envisioned myself able to afford that.
That was not my realm. And so now I'm by
the way. I just came from a walkthrough at my
new beach house, which will be done, God knows when,
maybe the end of the year. You say you were
very ambitious, and you were very ambitious, and you worked
(07:16):
really hard. But one of the things that I think
maintains to this day is you always were having fun.
I remember going to work with you. I remember, you know,
we were obsessed with a weatherman at CBS and like WS,
a local guy. I mean, you've no idea how the
trajectory of the next twenty eight years would be, not
only financially but your actual career. When you were you
were producing morning show that you at forty eight hours,
(07:38):
then you go, I'm back to the morning show, or
you would dealing the more show. What were the steps
like if you had to sort of say, I know,
Dan was a big influence on you. Well, he was
like the king of CBS News. He was the big anchorman.
I don't know what my goal was because I thought
that I had made it the whole time, because you
never talked about like it wasn't like need to go
(08:00):
do this or that or the other. I remember when
I was offered a job that would have doubled my salary,
what I fell out to be a producer at the
Sally Jesse Raphael show Ross the Street. Yes, and I
was like, I mean, no offense to Sally Jesse Rafael,
but isn't it ironic that I now produced The Housewives,
which some high falutant people consider like trashy TV. But
(08:24):
I considered at the time Sally Jesse Rafael kind of well,
you know, you lower than what I was doing at CBS,
but it was twice the money. But I stayed at
CBS because I was like, that's not who I am,
and that my value. But the irony is that I
do consider The Housewives who I am because I think
it's a great soap opera. I think it's the great
(08:46):
American soap opera, and I've always loved soap operas. But
do you also think I mean, you talked a lot
about Oprah in your life from what an influence she was,
so do you think maybe Oprah? You know, once you
once of the Oprah Talk Show, you're not going to
Sally right exactly. If Oprah had been in New York,
I would have done everything I could to work at
that show. Since we're talking about work, I wanted to
(09:08):
talk to you about a couple of people and to
see how they influenced your career because growing up with you,
because I think we grew up together. I mean someone
like Lynn Redman, who people don't know. So Lynn was
a producer to explain who Lynn is. And you know
Lynn who I spoke to this morning. I was her
intern when I started at CBS News in like nineteen nine,
(09:31):
and she was just this woman who I was like,
oh my god, she has the best energy, and I
like fell in love with her. Yeah, And I said
to her, we're going to be friends, and she said, no,
we're not. You're an intern. I remember when I came
out to her because she thought that I was straight.
She felt like she had to share something about herself
(09:52):
because I had, so she said, well, I'm getting divorced,
and I was like, oh my god. And I mean,
so began a really incredible friendship. And I think in
terms of an influence, I mean, it's funny because she
reluctantly admits that I gave her great advice, even in
(10:14):
those days, work advice, work advice, like and I was like,
you know, she got offered a job at the CBS
Evening News, and she had all these fears about going
there from the morning show and she was gonna have
to integrate the CBSC even News because there weren't really
many people of color working there. I said, you have
(10:35):
to do this. I mean, you absolutely have to do
what you think. That's part of like your you know,
if I had to describe you, one of the things
that is amazing about you is that the aptitude and
you're able to give great advice. You listen to you
know what I mean. You know, it's so funny. I
take relationship advice on my radio show all the time.
I give relationship advice. I am in no way qualified.
(10:56):
I look at me, I'm like eternally single, So like,
why is that the case should My bar one people
is so high. I think I have the greatest friends.
That's how I'm comparing people, new people to people that
I've known for so long. I'm open to it. I mean,
(11:18):
now I have two kids. I mean, yeah, we're gonna
talk to people really looking for four year old guy
with two kids. Yeah, I don't think so. I mean,
I don't know. I don't think that sounds not desirable
to me. It's a lot of work, I'll tell you
that much. Yeah, tell me about it. Welcome back to
(11:54):
table for two. As my conversation with Andy carries on
the sunlight at two tilt Jarno shine softly and doesn't
threaten to turn gold for hours, shifting our focus to friendship,
specifically male friendships, which have meant so much to Andy
and me over the years. One of the things that
isn't necessarily culturally seen a lot is very visible male friendships.
(12:19):
And you talk about growing up and I had the
same thing like you did, which is a lot of golfriends,
you know, but you have very visible male friendships. So
a lot of kind of just touch upon your relationship
and who and who these guys were to you. I
went to college and I went to orientation at the
orientation weekend, and my person that I was assigned with
(12:42):
in my room, it turns out, is this guy Dave Ansel,
who became like my brother, and he really is like
my brother. And we call him straight did because he's
like the straight version of me, he and I. His
family was in the food business. My family was in
the food business. We just so connected. And I will
say within forty eight hours of freshman year beginning, Dave
(13:04):
turned to me and looked me at my eyes and
said I love you. And I was like what. And
I was like, oh my god. And you were not
out to him, no, and he was not saying I
love you like like we're in love, like we're gay guys.
It was brotherly love that I had never experienced. And
(13:26):
I was like, oh my god, this is the greatest.
And you know, I mean maybe when he first started
he got a great the he had a teeny little waist,
he was swemmer. I mean, you changed. At the beginning.
I fantasized about him a little bit, but then I
just was in love with him. And then I remember
when he would fool around with girls. I want to
(13:47):
get a little jealous. Yeah, this is eighty six. I
would get jealous. I would be like, oh, Dave slept
out lest like is this r And he was like
you know what I mean, like who did you have sex? Smith?
And he's like so and so I'm like he's like,
you don't think she's hot. I'm like, no, she's not,
you know a little bit, and we didn't like to
(14:11):
pretend how to get by at that time. Would you
peeking him when he was getting changed? No, not really, No,
I mean we I mean I saw naked and he
saw me naked, but nothing I was that. It was
really like a brother. When I looked at him naked,
it was like I was looking at my brother, right,
There was no, there was not, So you liken it
to John Mayer house. So the John Mayer thing is
(14:33):
John Mayer is someone who's very in touch with his
emotions too. He very quickly in our friendship started saying like,
you know what, I gotta tell you something, I love you.
Like he is someone to say I love you, and
I cherish you, and I cherish our friendship and just
this stuff that straight guys aren't necessarily supposed to say.
(14:59):
And these friendship with straight men have pup ended a
lot of preconceived notions about what male friendship can look.
It's most recognizable friendship has developed on screen and the
public eye with a fellow gay TV personality. Yes, I'm
talking about Anderson Coople. So then what's the difference between
(15:21):
me and Anderson in your life, two of your closest
gay friends. I mean, I would say at this point
Anderson is closer than you as a friend. With him,
it's like I have a very specific relationship in that
we've known each other for years and obviously, but I
would say in the last fifteen years we've gotten much
(15:43):
closer because he's been able to kind of guide me
as I've been in front of the camera and guide
me navigating what that is and having a show. It's
saying the wrong thing and getting it printed in the paper,
and you know, there are a lot of things about
navigating that world of doing a show every night that
(16:03):
he can relate to and that he's given me really
good advice. So you guys are sort of like the
Dean Martin Jerry Lewis, where you're a real the funny guy.
And then the great thing is, yeah, we've been able
to you know, we've been able to develop our friendship
as a public duo, which has been so fun for
me and I think for him because both of us
(16:24):
are such solo acts. I mean, I don't want to
have a co host at these reunions. Don't watch what
Evan's life like it's a one man band, and Anderson
ain't looking for a you know, don't put Connie Chong
next to him and the anchor ship like they did
to Dan rather like so he's a solo show. So
I think for both of us to be able to
(16:46):
do this thing together and do New Year's Eve together,
this will be our six year I think doing New
Year's Eve. You've been a pair, you kind of like
created this thing, and then you also become parents at
the same time. How has that impacted your friendship? And
it took that to a lot. I mean, we're you know,
we're these geriatric parents, um, and you know, hobbling around
(17:08):
chasing our children. But look, it's another bonding thing. And
also I think it's a really I think what's gonna
be really interesting for us is going to be as
it develops being gay dads. You know, as our kids
start realizing more and more, oh, I have gay dads.
I think that will be something that I'm so glad
(17:31):
that Ben will grow up with Wyatt, and Ben will
grow up seeing Anderson and Benjamin raising Wyatt and Sebastian.
And I was playing the stupid question game with Ben,
which I shouldn't play the other day at dinner where
I was like, let's play a question game and then
I'm like yellow or blue? Like blue, you know, and
(17:54):
hot dog or Mac and cheese, Mac and teethe. But
then I started saying, like because I so shady and
I'm even doing it with my kid. I'm like, would
you rather go to why at Cooper's house and play
or would you rather have a play date with like
ex friend of his from school? And He's like, I'd
(18:16):
rather go to Wyatt Coopers and I was like, thank god.
And then I was like, I'm like, you don't need
I know. And I'm like, you know what, Andy, you
don't need to be pitting Ben's friends against each other
like these are you know? And I said like, would
you rather go to Bruce's in California or go to Mom?
Which is a terrible thing to choose. He chose me.
(18:39):
He chose Mom, which Andy as definitively transportatin posting the
housewife reunions, interviewing famous friends, and watch what happens love.
There isn't a question he's afraid to ask. You might
not be surprised to hear that he's always been like this.
(18:59):
He's been a potcht her since the day I met him,
and well, it's one of my favorite things about it.
One of the things that I can remember vividly is
every time that we were together in ninety four and
ninety five and ninety six, inevitably would be in a
fight with the guy I was dating, because you would
have a tidbit, a negget of information that you would
(19:20):
throw out and I'd be like, oh, no, you're it comes,
it comes. It's just clearly part of the DNA, which
also makes you super successful in what you're doing. Thank
you man, your wal grovocatur. But last night I was
at a birthday party for John Slapper. I went to
the bar. There was this woman. She goes, oh, I'm Gina,
(19:41):
and then this guy was there. It was very attractive,
and he was waiting for a drink and he goes, hey,
I'm so and so, And I said, are you two lovers?
To the two of them, which, by the way, strange people.
It's not a thing that strange people. And the woman
was very titillated because this guy was very cute. She goes, no,
we're not, and I go, will you two she gets
to know each other. I found out later that I
was married and his wife was at the party, so
(20:03):
it was very improbably, but I asked another to some
of straight people, are you two lovers? And they're I
need to ask straight people like and they were married.
They go, well, we're married for twenty five years ago,
so you are loved because I know you know each other.
Going well, welcome back to my conversation with Andy Cohen
(20:39):
on table for two. There's something that happens during a
long meal in a restaurant, like to tell a journal,
if you take your time, you're bound to be interrupted
by someone special, even if she's just giving you a
hard time for not visiting more often. Honey, I love you,
I love you. Why don't I have you seen you?
You let me alone? No, why when have you? I
(21:03):
don't know. She's been working her ass all. You want
to see you here anymore? After Donna given us a
hot tip for a new restaurant, and Andy and I
promised to visit her more often, we settled back into
our conversation. In one of your books, you talk about
that you loved growing up in the Midwest. Occasionally I
(21:25):
would go to St. Louis, and to my astonishment, the
neighbors brought over muffins and pies my hand. I came
home and I was like, wait, I don't understand this, Like,
you know, the person who lives next to you and
they bring up it was literally you know, it was like, yeah,
it was crazy. But so I want to ask you
now that we have Lucy and Ben in the world,
(21:46):
and how do you plan on keeping it simple? Well,
which is an important piece, especially because your life is
much bigger than they're going to have a totally different upbringing.
I mean, they're growing up. You know, they're city kids already,
they're city kids and they're already seeing But how do
(22:08):
you keep it simple? Walk out of the block. You
get stopped every six ft year stuff. New York is
Maybury in reality. I mean the thing that is nice
about people stopping me. All they say is hi, Andy,
and they say hi. Then like usually they're not coming
up for a picture and stuff, and then is there.
(22:30):
I mean they sometimes do, and I do it, but
that will change. Has been starts to become more aware
of it. I'll say I can't do it right now,
but he calls you Andy Colin, which is funny. Sometimes
he does, but that makes sense. You know it's funny.
You'll be like, come here, Andy going, I'm gonna jump
in the deep end, catch me. He also does it
(22:52):
because he knows that I laugh. I don't think he
knows why it's funny. But how do you keep it simple?
I'm just trying to keep their lives as localized as possible.
I just don't want them to be douche and I
want them to be aware of what they have. I
want them to work when they can. So now that
(23:14):
you have their old enough two children, Lucy's baby, and
you're three years in with them, and you've watched me
with Ava, is that what you thought it would be.
I think you can think what it's gonna be, but
it takes on a life of its own. What's the
hardest part, The current hardest part is that he's just
testing his boundaries, right, He's testing how much he can
(23:35):
get away with and which is a very normal thing
to do at three and a half, but it is
exhausting to navigate No, you can't hit me, No you
can't wear pajamas to camp, and explaining and then having
them be very upset that I can't wear pajamas to camp,
and you know, Yesterday, we have a terrible morning. I
(23:57):
mean it was just ruthless. It was exhausting. Today we
had a great morning, you know. So it's normal. It's
like every right. I think there's a volatility to it
that's a little tiring. What would be the attributes of
growing up in the Midwest that you would like to
make sure your children have a sense of values, the
(24:21):
value of a dollar and working for it. I just
I always worked growing up, and so I want to
figure out a way that this kid your parents did.
What were some of the jobs again the opera? Well,
I mean I was. I delivered papers, which I loved.
When I was like in fourth grade, I was a
doorman at oppera theater of St. Louis. I worked for
(24:43):
our family's food business. That was mainly I worked there
every summer or break and making deliveries, answering phones, making copies,
working in the warehouse, working on the assembly line, like
everything that I could possibly do. I did you wore
in college in Faniel Hall, right, I worked at a
(25:05):
very dead heady like push card for four years, actually
all four years at the U. I also was a waiter,
but I worked there selling Mexican like blankets and those
Baja plover's and bracelets. And he has come a long
way since his days selling oversized ponchos from a push card.
But one thing that has never waivered is his work ethic.
(25:29):
As you have these two children, and you've been working
your ass off for the last you know, your whole
adult career. Right now, you are extremely busy. I know
you're writing another book, yes, so what makes you what
made you lean in to write another book? And what's
the book going to be? Well, the book is going
(25:50):
to be the third installment of the Antikoen Diaries series,
and people who love the diaries and they both sold
very well and said, what are you going to do
another one? And I just wasn't. I didn't think they
would be different enough from the first two. And now
I'm raising kids. Lucy is born during this book. I mean,
(26:13):
things happen that are different than in the first two.
And I'm dealing with, you know, fighting with Ben's toddler bed.
I mean things that I never would have imagined writing about.
So I think that parents will really relate to this.
And it's truly a different chapter in this series, and
it's a different chapter in my life. There do you
mean do you think, because you know the nature of
(26:35):
your celebrity is so is about the visibility? Do you
feel like and you are? And one of the things
you've created with the Housewife franchise is looking into people's
homes and relationships that there's that's something within you that
you're that I like to shy away. Yes, you like
to share. You lean into your I think that I
(26:57):
do like to. I am more selective than people would
realize about what I share, but I do like to.
I think it's fun and I think people kind of
expected of me, especially since I expected of everyone in
my universe, in the in the Housewives universe. But I'm
not on one of these shows. And so is there
(27:20):
anything you've ever shared that you regret? You know, I
wish I had not done there? Yeah, I mean I
don't want to repass it because then it gets rehashed.
But yeah, there's been a couple of you know, the
thing about it is the nature of celebrity now is
that you make an off handed comment a lot of
times on a podcast or on the radio that you're
(27:43):
just sitting here, and then if you look at this
sentence on its own, you sound absolutely insane, and people
do and break it down like that, and so and
then my mother calls. Your mother is like, what are
her big issues with you when it comes to this Now,
it's anything relating to the kids. So I set her
(28:08):
the first chunk of this new book I'm working on
to see if she felt that I violated Ben's privacy
in this book. And she cleared it. Then she said,
it's okay. Your mom has been a huge influence in
your life. We both have strong relationships with our mom.
We both have strong mothers. How much credit do you
(28:29):
give that influence once she's bringing you to where you
are today? A lot? I mean, I think she always
taught me that there was a world outside of my box.
She always thought it was important that my sister and
I realized that we were privileged and that everyone didn't
live like us. She used to work with juvenile delinquents
(28:52):
in the city kind of system, and she brought us there.
I remember she brought us to the juvenile detention center
once because she wanted us to see these kids and
get it into our heads a what could happen if
you start? You know, she was trying to scare us
(29:13):
straight a little bit, but also just say not everyone
has it so easy. Behind our house there was his
law office and Senator Eagleton from Missouri. Thomas Eagleton had
an election headquarters there one year, and she kept saying
(29:35):
to me, you should go volunteer. She was really bugging me.
She's like, go to Eagleton's office and volunteer, And I
was like, and I went, and I started volunteering for them,
to the point that I loved it there so much
that I was hanging out there every day after school.
It became my life. Wow, from like late when I
got back from Camp Um to or it was that summer,
(29:59):
and then the election was in November. But I became
and I think that you brought up Lynn Redmond earlier.
I think that was what made me become fearless when
I started at CBS News thinking that I was going
to be friends with all these much older people around me,
because I did become friends with these people. Um, I
remember their names today, Laddie, Arnold, Jackie. There were all
(30:24):
these people that I met during internships and stuff who
were older, who would like take me out to lunch.
When I was a kid. You know, I would be
like most they would take me out to lunch and
I would be like, so, you know, so I think
that that really affected me, and I really felt like
I was in somewhere cool working for the selection campaign.
(30:45):
I was like, this is really interesting. And these idiots
in my class, what are they doing? I gotta say,
your parents really the fact that your parents saw you.
You know, when you're seeing and you're motivating and your
push to be a part or something is to learn.
And your mom when you came out, your mom leaned in.
She understood, she saw you, she knew what was coming in,
(31:06):
you know what I mean, and she embraced and she
learned about it. It's completely part of the wholeness of you. Yeah,
and you're fortunate that didn't happen to Uch. You know,
most people don't have that not and they struggle. Yeah,
from that point on, Yeah, I was very lucky. You know,
you are one of the only openly gay late night
(31:31):
talk shows. I am the only well let's assume maybe
that I beat someone in the closet, but you are
the only who do you think is in the closet? No, no, no, no, Boddy,
neither of the Jimmy's, neither the Jimmy is no. I mean,
Seacrest is as gay as you're gonna get, but he's
not gay. So no, I don't think there's I don't
think there is. But my question is, you know, we
(31:54):
grew up well, you know when people thought you were gay,
they weren't nice. And so you represent a rather large
community and you're the only one out there. When have
you felt part of the group. When have you felt
part of what group? The late night When has it
been like, yeah, I don't totally feel part of the group,
(32:15):
but I've been all in late night TV for thirteen years.
I mean I talked about years ago. Um and Graydon
Carter and I have talked about this. There was a
big photo shoot the Vanity Fair did of all of
the late night talk show and they left me out
of but they added James Corton, who wasn't even on
the area yet, and Trevor Noah who had just started,
(32:39):
and we were like, I know, he's so cute, and
we were my pr People were trying and trying, trying,
and actually I was asked in a New York Times
magazine profile. There was a conversation about that I'm always
keeping score of kind of where I rank in the
universe of celebrity or how people see me. And I
(33:01):
used that as an example is something that I was like,
you know, I had been on the air for seven
years at that point, but they wouldn't. And Graydon later said,
you know what, after that article came out, he goes,
you know what, you were right? You should have been
in that, which was really meaningful to me. Acknowledge your feeling, Yes,
and so, but I think overlooked. But just well, first
(33:25):
of all, I think my show is not I'm not
a comedian. I think it's I think it's a different
kind of talk show, true, and I think that makes
you I think there's been a traditional idea of what
a late night talk show is. I would argue that
Watch What Happens Live has redefined what the late night
talk show. I think we've seen a lot of things
(33:47):
that originated on your show bleed into everyone else. No,
I mean it was the first bar on late night
James Gordon got a bar. James Gordon wound up kind
of ripping off your shot. There you go. So it
is what it is. And that used to be stuff
that I was really hyper sensitive about, and frankly I
just feel so grateful now, and I'm not blowing smoke
(34:08):
and being bullshit. I'm so glad we're still going that.
It's like great copy my set, go go with God.
And so I mean, I kind of I think when
you take a step back and you look at someone
who represents not the mainstream, it plays in and of itself,
(34:29):
and you've gotten a lot of flat you have certainly
redefined at night and to thank you, one of the
next two chapters for you, oh God, I mean no,
I think it's figuring out my real estate and finishing
this speech house. I'm working on our new apartment in
(34:50):
the city. And then I think it's the kids. I mean,
the next I want to keep all these planes in
the air that I have going professionally. But also I mean,
it's really about the kids and just making sure they're
as great as they can be and I don't let
them down. Well, if there's anything like my best friend,
thank you, they will be. Just as our time together
(35:14):
is wrapping up, Ricardo clears our plates and brings out
an espresso soaked Tiramasu to top off and already indulge
in lunch. Ricardo, we are done. He has he has
dipped and dumped his bread into my post. And as
much as I'd like to stay here basking in the
memories from the place that brought us so many, it's
time to move on to our next meal. I mean not,
(35:37):
you have to come, yes, so you can get the table. No?
Did you hear that? Where he has to come so
we get a table? Absolutely not. As the afternoon slips
away and the sky begins to glow, I am filled
by the warmth that comes from sharing a meal with
someone so important to me. I feel really thankful that
(35:59):
I have a friend like this guy. And friendships don't
come easy, they don't last necessarily. They have a beginning,
they have a middle and an end. And our beginning
was here and we're still going strong. Table for You
with Bruce Bozzy is produced by IRR Radio seven seven
(36:22):
Park and Airmail. Our executive producers are Bruce Bozzy, Jonathan
Hoss Dressler and Nathan King. Table for Two is edited
and written by Tina Mullen and researched and written by
Bridget Arsenalt. Our sound engineers are Emil B. Klein, Paul Bowman,
and Melissa Midcalf. Table for Two is l a production
team is Danielle Romo and the Rain Viens. Our music
(36:45):
supervisor is Randall Poster. Our talent booking is by Jane Sarkin.
Special thanks to Amy Sugarman, Uni Share, Kevin Uvane, Bobby Bower,
Alison Cantor Graber and Gabby Karen Jump Prelo to Felice
and the staff of Tu Till Jarno and Sack Arbor.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(37:08):
your favorite shows. H
Host
Bruce Bozzi
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