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Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper turned CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage into a yearly pop-culture ritual by pairing two opposite on-camera instincts: Cooper’s measured news-anchor composure and Cohen’s quick, celebrity-focused improvisation. Their memorable moments include live shots with guests, chaotic stunts, emotional interviews, pandemic-era broadcasting from an empty Times Square, and recurring jokes that only work because the hosts have decades of friendship behind them.
The partnership began with the December 31, 2017 broadcast counting down to 2018 and reached a ninth consecutive year in CNN’s announcement for the 2025 broadcast counting down to 2026. The best episodes are not simply a list of funny clips. Together, they show how a serious news network built an annual celebration around chemistry, controlled unpredictability and a willingness to let live television go slightly off script.
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How did Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper become a New Year’s Eve tradition?
Cohen joined Cooper for CNN’s 2018 telecast, the December 31, 2017 program that welcomed 2018. CNN’s December 2018 announcement described the upcoming broadcast as the pair’s second year together, establishing the year-counting convention that has continued in later publicity.
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The partnership worked because each host supplies what the other lacks. Cooper can move from a serious live-news question to a polished countdown without changing his controlled delivery. Cohen treats the same open-ended broadcast as an invitation to tease guests, improvise follow-ups and turn an unexpected moment into a segment. Their friendship makes the interruptions feel collaborative rather than competitive.
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The program’s basic shape is a long live window from Times Square, surrounded by celebrity interviews, musical performances, correspondents in other locations and audience interaction. That structure leaves room for planned bookings and spontaneous bits. Over time, CNN publicity has also highlighted the special’s large audience; the network called the 2018 edition its highest-rated New Year’s Eve special on record, a claim that should be understood as CNN’s own description rather than an independently audited result.
In the 2018 announcement, Cooper called ringing in the year with Cohen “a total joy.” Cohen joked that 25 years of friendship had led to an “almost-tradition” of co-hosting New Year’s Eve on CNN. The joke captured the show’s tone: affectionate, self-aware and not yet pretending that an annual ritual had been inevitable.
What happened during the 2018 broadcast counting down to 2019?
The 2018 broadcast was the first full demonstration of the format that viewers now associate with the duo. CNN presented the hosts as returning partners while surrounding them with major music and entertainment bookings, allowing Cohen’s conversational style to play against Cooper’s steadier presence.
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The broadcast also clarified why the partnership could support a recurring annual event. Cohen’s questions and reactions supplied comic momentum, while Cooper’s restraint gave the program a dependable center. The contrast is more durable than any single punchline: one host heightens the absurdity, and the other’s composure makes the absurdity visible.
Why was the 2019 countdown to 2020 an important expansion?
CNN promoted the 2019 broadcast as Cohen and Cooper’s third year together. By then, the pairing was being treated as a returning franchise rather than an experiment. The show continued to mix the Times Square countdown with performances and interviews, but its growing list of recognizable guests made the night feel closer to a live variety special.
Christina Aguilera, Lenny Kravitz, Shania Twain, Keith Urban and 50 Cent were among the names CNN used to promote the period’s programming. The significance was not just star power. A live New Year’s Eve special needs enough material to sustain several hours, and these bookings gave Cohen opportunities for playful exchanges while Cooper handled transitions and the countdown’s formal beats.
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This is also the point at which the show’s recurring traditions became easier to recognize. The hosts could move from a polished musical performance to an intentionally awkward interview or a correspondent’s stunt without abandoning the central premise: viewers were watching a live celebration in which preparation and improvisation shared the same screen.
How did the pandemic change the 2020 broadcast counting down to 2021?
The December 31, 2020 broadcast was unlike the previous celebrations because the public was excluded from Times Square during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cooper stated on air that, for the first time in decades, Times Square was closed to the public on New Year’s Eve. The absence of the crowd changed the visual language of the countdown: the hosts could not rely on the usual sea of revelers to supply energy.
Cohen addressed that unusual setting directly, telling viewers, “Hopefully, tonight is an escape. We’re going to smile and laugh with you. It is our biggest New Year’s Eve ever.” The comment acknowledged both the scale of the production and the emotional purpose of a live celebration during a difficult year.
CNN called the program the pair’s fourth time together. Instead of treating the empty streets as a reason to abandon the format, the broadcast used the hosts’ conversation and remote contributions to create intimacy. The result was a New Year’s Eve special that functioned partly as entertainment and partly as a shared ritual for viewers who could not gather in the usual way.
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The 2021 broadcast brought the show’s drinking-and-shot routine into especially clear focus. Contemporaneous coverage emphasized Cohen and Cooper taking shots with guests, including Ringo Starr and Carole and Howard Baskin. The humor came from watching Cooper’s controlled persona placed in a deliberately loose, celebratory format while Cohen encouraged the bit.
The shots are best understood as a recurring on-air device, not as the entire identity of the program. They create a simple visual joke that can be repeated with different guests, but the surrounding interviews, performances and live reports keep the broadcast from becoming a single gag. The routine also depends on the hosts’ willingness to acknowledge the awkwardness of doing a party tradition on a nationally televised news network.
Because alcohol consumption can raise practical concerns for viewers, the segment should not be read as a universal recommendation or a measure of how anyone should celebrate. Its editorial function is comic contrast: Cooper’s reserve, Cohen’s prompting and a guest’s reaction all become part of the live exchange.
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Which stunts defined the 2022 countdown to 2023?
A CNN production interview published in connection with the 2022 broadcast looked back at the special’s signature stunts. The list included an umbrella incident, holograms, live tattoos and piercings, ziplines, a ski slope, hanging off The Edge at Hudson Yards and an Olive Garden party crash. These bits explain why the program can feel more like a live stunt-and-variety show than a conventional countdown.
Each stunt uses the same basic formula: place a correspondent or guest in an unusual environment, add the pressure of a live broadcast and let the hosts react from the main set. The physical spectacle supplies an immediate visual hook, while Cohen’s improvisation and Cooper’s reactions turn the setup into comedy. The stunts also give the night geographic variety beyond the central Times Square camera.
The same production interview recalled a 2017 Celine Dion interview in Las Vegas after the city’s music-festival shooting. That conversation is important for a different reason. It showed that the hosts’ New Year’s Eve work can include emotionally consequential interviews as well as party segments. The moment belongs to the broader history of their live collaboration, even though it was not itself a midnight Times Square stunt.
When did the first-shot tradition return?
CNN’s official clip for the 2023 broadcast counting down to 2024 shows Cohen and Cooper restarting their first-shot tradition after taking the previous year off. The return mattered because viewers had come to recognize the shot as a ritual marker, similar to a recurring opening joke or the final countdown.
Its value lies in the acknowledgment of continuity. A live special can change guests, locations and set pieces every year, but a repeated action gives the audience something to anticipate. Restarting the bit also demonstrates that the hosts can suspend a tradition without permanently losing it; the show’s rituals are flexible enough to pause and resume as circumstances require.
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What were the standout segments in the 2024 countdown to 2025?
CNN’s official recap of the 2024 broadcast gathered several segments that show the breadth of the format. A costume contest provided a visual competition, while Ralph Fiennes recited the viral “demure” line, turning a widely recognizable phrase into a live-TV performance.
Andy Cohen’s parents checking in added a family element that could not be replicated by a standard celebrity booking. Lil Jon discussing meditation introduced a calmer, reflective note into a broadcast otherwise built around noise, movement and jokes. The midnight Times Square countdown remained the structural destination, but the surrounding segments made the journey feel varied rather than merely chronological.
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These moments also demonstrate the advantage of the hosts’ contrasting energies. Cohen can make a personal family appearance or a trending phrase feel like part of the party, while Cooper’s reactions help prevent every segment from collapsing into the same volume level.
What changed for the 2025 broadcast counting down to 2026?
CNN’s 2025 announcement described Cohen and Cooper as entering their ninth consecutive year as co-hosts. It also announced a distribution change: the celebration was moving to CNN’s AllAccess streaming offering and apps. Because streaming availability can change by year, country and subscription product, viewers should check CNN’s current listing for the specific celebration they want to watch rather than assume that an older platform description still applies.
A secondary recap reported a comic segment in which Cooper was prompted to read Taylor Swift’s “Wood.” The joke fit the established pattern: Cohen or the production setup places the traditionally formal anchor in an unexpected pop-culture situation, and Cooper’s attempt to maintain composure becomes the punchline.
The move to a streaming-oriented presentation did not erase the program’s original identity. The essential ingredients remained the live countdown, celebrity interaction, correspondent pieces and the chemistry between a veteran news anchor and an improvisational entertainment host.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why do Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper take shots on CNN?
The shots are a recurring comic ritual that lets the broadcast dramatize the difference between the hosts. Cohen generally pushes the celebratory energy forward, while Cooper’s restrained reactions create a counterpoint. Guests become part of the joke, and the audience can recognize the ritual even when the surrounding segment changes.
CNN coverage has documented the routine with guests, including the 2021 appearances involving Ringo Starr and Carole and Howard Baskin, and the 2023 clip showing the first-shot tradition’s return. The network has not presented the bit as the sole reason for the show’s popularity; it is one repeatable device inside a much larger live format.
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Which moments best explain the show’s lasting appeal?
The most representative moments fall into four groups:
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- Comic contrast: Cohen’s improvisation against Cooper’s composed delivery, especially when a formal anchor is asked to participate in a deliberately silly bit.
- Ritual: recurring shots, the midnight countdown and familiar audience interaction that reward viewers who return each year.
- Spectacle: ziplines, holograms, tattoos, piercings, a ski slope and other stunts that make the broadcast visually distinct from a studio interview program.
- Context: the empty Times Square of 2020 and the serious Las Vegas interview remembered in the production retrospective, which show that the hosts can acknowledge difficult circumstances without abandoning the live celebration.
Together, these elements explain why the partnership has lasted. The show is neither a straight news program nor an uncontrolled party. Its appeal comes from the tension between professional broadcast discipline and the possibility that Cohen, Cooper, a guest or a correspondent will push the next segment somewhere unexpected.
How should viewers understand the partnership’s timeline?
CNN’s own year labels can be confusing because a broadcast held on December 31 counts down to the following calendar year. The clearest way to read the chronology is to identify both dates: the December 31, 2017 telecast counted down to 2018 and was described as their second year together in the December 2018 announcement; the December 31, 2020 telecast counted down to 2021 and was called their fourth time together; and the 2025 announcement for the celebration counting down to 2026 called it their ninth consecutive year.
That progression is more than a publicity statistic. It marks the transformation of a friendship-based pairing into an annual television appointment, with each year adding another ritual, guest exchange or production stunt to the shared memory of the broadcast.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are Cohen and Cooper’s New Year’s Eve years counted?
CNN counts the December 31 telecast by the year it welcomes. Thus, the December 31, 2017 program is the broadcast counting down to 2018, while the December 31, 2025 program counts down to 2026. Publicity can describe the same edition by either the broadcast year or the incoming year, so using both dates avoids confusion.
Did the hosts always perform the first shot every year?
No. CNN’s 2023 clip specifically highlighted the return of the first-shot tradition after the prior year’s break. That pause shows that recurring bits can be suspended and later revived without ending the broader partnership.
What kinds of guests appear on the special besides musicians?
The broadcasts have included actors, television personalities, families of the hosts and unusual interview subjects, not only recording artists. Examples include Ralph Fiennes, Lil Jon, Andy Cohen’s parents, Ringo Starr and Carole and Howard Baskin.
Is the Times Square crowd present during every edition?
No. The December 31, 2020 countdown took place while the public was barred from Times Square because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cooper explicitly noted on air that the square was closed to the public, making that edition visually and historically different from ordinary years.
Where can I watch a future Cohen-and-Cooper countdown?
Distribution has changed over time, moving from earlier CNN television and streaming arrangements to the CNN AllAccess offering and apps announced for the 2025 broadcast. Check CNN’s current schedule and regional availability before the specific New Year’s Eve you plan to watch.
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