Anderson Cooper does shots with Stephen Colbert while discussing Chris Cuomo’s firing
It sounds like everybody at CNN could use a stiff drink these days
TV News Anderson Cooper
For his last in-studio guest of 2021, Stephen Colbert, who’s taking the rest of this godforsaken year off as The Late Show shuts down for the holidays, broke out the booze for Anderson Cooper. And while the CNN mainstay claimed (and eventually proved) that he’s “not very good at drinking,” once Colbert popped open the tequila from his not-so-secret CBS studio bar, the Anderson Cooper 360 host joined The Late Show host in toasting goodbye to this, again, garbage fire of a year on Thursday.
CNN viewers already know that Cooper’s the sort of lightweight to comically gag after being peer-pressured into downing televised shots, as Colbert attested with a montage of Cooper getting immediately loopy while hosting CNN’s 2020 New Year’s Eve coverage alongside colleague Andy Cohen. (Even remote correspondent Snoop Dogg looked taken aback by how giggly Cooper was getting.)
Still, as anyone paying attention to the behind-the-scenes drama at CNN knows, there’s plenty of reason for Cooper to take the edge off of late. Colbert started the first of their three segments by asking Cooper straight-up about the recent firing of Cuomo Prime Time news analyst and network mainstay, Chris Cuomo. Displaying the politic reticence of a newsperson when his network becomes the story, Cooper admitted that, while he isn’t rooting for something bad to happen to a colleague “and somebody who is a friend of mine,” Cuomo’s actions indeed warranted his December 4 firing.
“I feel terrible for him and for his family,” Cooper began, before conceding, “Look, journalists have strict ethics and have strict rules that we are to abide by, and if you don’t abide by them, there are repercussions.” Colbert didn’t press his guest on the now well-known specifics of Cuomo’s misdeeds. You know, whether it was helping his politician brother’s efforts to discredit women accusing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, or Chris Cuomo’s own accused sexual misconduct that finally forced CNN to pull the plug on its high-rated show.
Cooper, demurring at Colbert’s assertion that Cuomo’s termination had been a long time coming (again, with that whole blatant conflict of interest thing), noted that he was surprised that the firing happened as suddenly as it did on the actual day. Joking that his New Year’s Eve drinking buddy Andy Cohen immediately swooped in to ask if Cuomo’s job was now open, Cooper lightly roasted his friend by noting, “Andy believes he is fully qualified to host a presidential debate because he hosts the Housewives reunion.” Sick burn there, although Cooper was clearly discomfited at Colbert’s inevitable questions about all of CNN’s own sordid backstage drama.
31 Comments
Did Andy Cohen get cut from this interview? It was supposed to be Andy and Anderson there tonight…but the last time they were both on Colbert’s show it seemed like he didn’t vibe with Stephen, I wonder if he asked Anderson to not have him there? I noticed he made a comment to Anderson during the interview that talking to him was a delight because “He was able to conduct a professional interview”. Was that a dig at Andy?
Doubtful but could be? Andy tends to try and suck up all the attention, I find. Not a fan.
if I have to do a celebratory shot with Colbert, why, WHY must it be tequila? I thought he liked whiskey like I do–can we do that instead?
“DRINK UP!”
NO! I would literally drink any other liquor out there before tequila. We have a history and it’s not a good one LOL.
Tequila and gin seem to be the two types of liquor that people can develop permanent aversions to based upon one bad experience. I feel for my wife, who can’t enjoy the simple pleasure of a gin and tonic on a hot day because when she was 20 she got hammered on the stuff to the point where just smelling it reaches into the deep recesses of her brain and induces nausea.
that’s essentially my story with tequila, and while I don’t have an *aversion* to gin, it’s definitely nowhere near the top of my list of favorite liquors. Also have to put scotch with those two.
That’s what vodka & tonics are for.
Well that sounds tasty. Two flavorless ingredients.
It’s not as sharp as the juniper tang of a good gin, but with good vodka it does have flavor. And, when it comes to quenching your thirst on a hot summer day, there’s little that beats it.
I recommend it highly for your wife, and if you sample it yourself, you may find you like it too.
I’m just talking shit. Perfectly content with a vodka tonic, and I assure you she is well aware herself. I do think I was 25 before I discovered there were vodkas out there that didn’t taste like lighter fluid.
Fair enough. I’m not above talking trash for fun myself …
That was exactly how I felt until I moved down to Mexico 6 years ago and watched my new friends take civilized sips of the drink inbetween rich conversation. That’s when I realized that I was drinking the Americanized bro version where it needed to be downed in one ugly shot.
Is drinking on television just getting to be a thing now?
Do I sound a bit like a Carrie Nation?
I’d guess he’s seen how popular the Seth Meyers segments are or they assume this makes them seem relateable (especially since CNN loves to have the drunk New Year segments for their anchors). It feels like a late night version of the whole “wine mom” thing. I don’t have a Puritan response to it, but any time I see these shows lean so far into this format, I just think of some of my alcoholic loved ones and switch out.
I had forgotten all about Cooper getting absolutely shitty on like three shots last year. His uncontrollable giggle fit was priceless.
Please put down the hatchet.
“Cooper… noted that he was surprised that the firing happened as suddenly as it did on the actual day”I hope Cooper realizes how bad this makes Jeff Zucker and CNN look. Either one of the supposedly top news organizations lacks the fact gathering and analysis skills to know what Chris Cuomo’s scandals meant, or else they had given up on Zucker being any more interested in protecting the integrity of CNN than he had at NBCUniversal with Matt Lauer, Trump and Weinstein.
Jeff Zucker needs to be let go. Why the hell would CNN hire yet another former Trump aide as a commentator/contributor? This is beyond ridiculous. another example of how being white and right wing helps you to fail upwards, consistently.
“Failing upwards” describes the entire Trump clan.
Zucker is doubling down on his strategy of paying a lot of money for nonentities he can plug into the shoutfests which have turned CNN into a ratings swamp loaded with commercials for herbal supplements and HELP I’VE FALLEN! alerts.His commitment to a failed format would be like NBC deciding during the era of prestige TV to turn over its primetime schedule to Jay Leno wandering the streets of Burbank asking people what they thought about Celine Dion’s pregnancy. Which he also did.
i am curious as to who is CNNs target demographic these days. i just assumed it was news for airport terminals.
Cooper’s surprise at the suggestion that a company might want to prepare its employees for some large public news was REALLY telling. Colbert was right that there’s a very specific reason for this – to help control the messaging once employees start being bombarded with outside questions, and make sure everyone is working off the actual set of facts rather than rumor and conjecture. This is corporate communications 101 and surely SOMEBODY at one of the biggest media companies on the globe is familiar with this.
Stephen, you once thought it was a bright idea to do a comedy sketch with a noted war criminal responsible for millions of deaths in the form of Henry Kissinger and there’s no way you couldn’t have been long aware of that. Maybe you too should sit down and be quiet?
God, shut up. You morons think if anyone has something they regret in their past they should “sit down and shut up.” You only think this because you’re anonymous and nobody knows or cares about your skeletons.
Hey, so why not do a fluff piece with a Vanderbilt while he’s at it?
“Millions of deaths”, eh? lol
This shouldn’t be some jokey horseshit played out over late night comedy. This type of naked and bare malfeasance in the media is largely why we find ourselves in such a mess today.
“I feel terrible for him and for his family,” Cooper began, before conceding, “Look, journalists have strict ethics and have strict rules that we are to abide by, and if you don’t abide by them, there are repercussions.” AHAHAHHAHAHAHA. What phony bullshit.
i was watching this (and laughing) and thinking how far late night interview shows have come. if Letterman could’ve done shots with guests back in the day, i think he might have. at the very least, Colbert should thank Letterman for paving the way with this kind of stuff with guests.
This seems to be a trend:
Man: Sexually harasses women and only women he works with, because he is heterosexual. Sometimes specifically targets a type of woman (let’s say, tall blondes).
Media: Asks men, women outside of the alleged abuser’s specific kink, or people the alleged abuser barely interacted with (or couldn’t get away with abusing, and thus didn’t) if the alleged is actually an abuser, they say no because he genuinely did not abuse them.
Media: You see? He’s innocent!