CNN announced on Friday that Andy Cohen will once again join anchor Anderson Cooper as host of the network’s New Year’s Eve Live broadcast from Times Square in New York City.
Cohen, the Emmy-winning executive producer of Bravo’s long-running The Real Housewives franchise, is marking his eighth consecutive year as Cooper’s co-host of CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage.
Besides airing the festivities on the network’s linear channel, the broadcast will be available to stream live on Max for CNN subscribers, along with digital coverage on the network’s website.
While the network will begin airing live reports at 7 a.m. ET as cities around the world begin ringing in 2025, CNN will kick off its full-time NYE coverage at 2:45 p.m. ET with Laura Coates and Boris Sanchez, who will anchor from London and Paris, respectively.
CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, meanwhile, begins at 8 p.m. ET and will feature a wide array of comedians, musical performers and celebrities, along with the network promising “some surprise guests.”
Some of the artists that will be featured on the broadcast include Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who will perform live from his residency in Las Vegas, Sting, Meghan Trainor, Shania Twain, Diplo, and Lil Jon. Additionally, Mickey Guyton will perform “Imagine” live from Times Square, and comedians Whitney Cummings, Amy Sedaris and Ziwe will appear.
Elsewhere around the country, national correspondent Randi Kaye will report from Key West, while correspondent Stephanie Elam will host coverage from the Bahamas. CNN International host Richard Quest has once again been tasked with reporting from the crowds at Times Square.
After Cohen and Cooper sign off at 12:30 a.m. ET, anchor Sara Sidner will be joined by CNN data analyst Harry Enten and sports journalist Cari Champion to take over the broadcast and count down the new year in the Central Time Zone in Austin, Texas.
Cohen’s return for the eighth time is hardly a surprise. During a Q&A with Variety in October, he said he was expecting to return and looked forward to having his close pal Cooper take shots live on the air.
“After what Anderson did in that hurricane, I’m not only giving him tequila, I’m throwing it at him,” he said, referencing Cooper getting hit by flying debris while covering Hurricane Milton.
Cohen pushing a reluctant Cooper to choke down tequila shots, all while creating viral moments on social media, was a tradition that was briefly interrupted during the then-CNN CEO Chris Licht’s tumultuous reign. After Licht took over in 2022, he announced that the network would dial down the on-air drinking during its New Year’s Eve coverage.
However, after a dry celebration to ring in 2023, Licht was fired months later — and the shots once again flowed during last year’s telecast.
