Andy Cohen (television personality)

Andrew Joseph "Andy" Cohen (born June 2, 1968) is an American talk show and radio host, author and producer. Cohen hosts the Bravo nightly series Watch What Happens: Live and is the author of a memoir, Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture. He is the first openly gay host of an American late-night talk show. After being head of development at Bravo for more than 10 years, Cohen resigned in November 2013. He continues to serve as an executive producer of The Real Housewives franchise and host of Watch What Happens: Live.

Life and career

Cohen was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Evelyn and Lou Cohen. He graduated from Clayton High School in 1986. As a child, Cohen attended Camp Nebagamon For Boys in Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin. He is a graduate of Boston University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism. He interned at CBS News alongside Julie Chen, who was also working as an intern. He spent 10 years at CBS News, eventually serving as senior producer of The Early Show. Cohen also served as a producer for 48 Hours and CBS This Morning. In 2000, he became vice president of original programming for the cable network Trio. Cohen joined Bravo in 2004 when the network purchased Trio.

Cohen is a regular on Today and Morning Joe and has co-hosted Live! with Kelly, and The View. He has made various guest appearances on other talk shows. On October 4, 2012, Cohen was the guest co-host on Anderson Live, with Anderson Cooper. Cohen and Cooper discussed Cooper's coming out as a gay man. On August 15, 2013, he declined to co-host the Miss Universe pageant in Russia, due to the country’s recent adoption of anti-gay laws. On March 22, 2014, he appeared in Lady Gaga's music video for "G.U.Y.", the third single from her 2013 album Artpop.

Cohen has partnered with Anderson Cooper on a national tour, AC2. They have toured over 20 cities, and raised over $240,000 for OneOrlando following the massacre. In mid 2016, Cohen launched his own book imprint, Andy Cohen Books, under Henry Holt and Company. His third book, "Superficial," was released in November 2016.

Since 2015, Cohen has his own radio channel on SiriusXM called RadioAndy. The channel features Andy, Sandra Bernhard, Jon Alter, John Benjamin Hickey, and Bethenny Frankel, on SiriusXM channel 102.

Awards and accolades

• Emmy Award, 2010, as Executive Producer of Outstanding Competitive Reality Series Top Chef
• In 2007, Cohen was named one of Multichannel News' "40 Under 40" broadcasting executives.
• Peabody Award, 2004, as executive producer of the Trio documentary The N-Word. In December 2012, GQ named Cohen one of the 25 Best Dressed Men of the Year.

In 2012, he was chosen as one of Broadcasting & Cable's "Digital All-Stars" and in 2010, appeared on the TV Guide "Power List" of talked-about individuals.