"It's like a telethon with no disease."
Once again, best friends Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper co-hosted CNN's New Year's Eve coverage from Times Square and one important element missing the year prior has returned: The booze.
“It feels like it’s the end of a year-long bender tonight,” CNN’s Cooper said at the start of the show. “I’m joined of course by my partner-in-crime, Andy Cohen.”
“Hey, Anderson!” Bravo’s Cohen responded, before wishing his BFF a Happy New Year.
“This is our seventh year doing this together—it’s like my 20th year in Time Square,” Cooper explained.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Cohen said. “Four and a half hours. You’ve often said that this is like a telethon without disease … I stole that line from you at one point."
Ring in the new year with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen as they co-host CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live from Times Square! #CNNNYE https://t.co/HO6TJ8Z2tP pic.twitter.com/d75nYwh0ZuJanuary 1, 2024
While the BFFs were joined by a slew of celebrity guests—including Henry Winkler, John Mayer, Bowen Yang, Neil Patrick Harris, and Jeremy Renner—the star of the show was, of course, the tequila.
"Can daddy get his juice?" Cohen at one point asks Anderson, who is made to feel clearly uncomfortable by his friend and co-host.
"Andy Cohen making Anderson Cooper visibly uncomfortable will never not be hilarious," one fan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Can daddy get his juice responsibly?" Anderson replies.
We, of course, all know the answer to that question.
Andy Cohen making Anderson Cooper visibly uncomfortable will never not be hilarious pic.twitter.com/NNp6tp5w9MJanuary 1, 2024
Viewers were quick to point out that the best part of the show was watching Cooper struggle to down shot after shot, each facial expression more hilarious than the last.
"Why do people do this?" Cooper said at one point and after struggling with another top-of-the-hour libation.
"I love that we, as a community, bullied cnn into letting anderson cooper and andy cohen drink on tv," one X user tweeted.
"I will never get tired of watching Anderson Cooper take a shot," another wrote.
"The world is slowly healing through anderson cooper and andy cohen taking shots on #cnnNYE and hearing anderson’s giggle," another noted.
Anderson Cooper getting inebriated timeline pic.twitter.com/0CguMxhSCxJanuary 1, 2024
Another hilarious moment was singer John Mayer's appearance from a cat bar in Tokyo, Japan.
Yes, you read that right.
As Mayer deadpans the camera to explain to the confounded CNN co-hosts that he is enjoying his foray into 2024 in a bar surrounded by cats, Cooper loses his cool and laughs through the entire segment.
At one point, the journalist has to exit the frame in order to compose himself.
Anderson Cooper can't stop laughing at John Mayer in a cat bar pic.twitter.com/5uCNm24RIMJanuary 1, 2024
Of course, there were a slew of other memorable exchanges throughout the celebratory evening and as a result of more than a few cocktails, including the moment Cooper laughs through an interview with Neil Patrick Harris, an exchange with Saturday Night Live's Bowen Yang and Cooper reacting to Nicki Minaj's New Year resolution.
Fans were also quick to note that as the clock struck midnight and the CNN camera panned to the crowd, a gay couple was seen locking lips because, hey, it's 2024 folks! Equality for all!
5...4...3...2...1!Happy 2024 from Times Square in New York City! #CNNNYE pic.twitter.com/WXXBUx092rJanuary 1, 2024
Here's to a healthy, happy and safe 2024! (With or without tequila.)
