There’s a pretty stark contrast between the TV worlds of Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.
Cooper is a longtime news anchor for CNN as well as a correspondent for "60 Minutes," delivering reports on significant global events ranging from natural disasters to politics.
Cohen, who is the executive producer of The Real Housewives franchise, is also the host of "Watch What Happens Live," the talk show on Bravo that brings in guests from the world of entertainment to discuss a variety of pop culture issues.
Despite their steep differences in TV coverage, Cooper and Cohen have been close friends for 25 years. Utah residents have the opportunity to see the pair off screen in “AC2: An Intimate Evening with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.” The national tour, subtitled “Deep Talk and Shallow Tales,” comes to the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City on June 10.
“I’ll leave it up to the audience to decide who’s the deep talk and who’s the shallow tales,” Cooper joked in an interview with the Deseret News.
His carefree spirit and witty remarks throughout the interview indicate that the show allows him to let loose a little.
“People are surprised to hear me be funny if all you’ve seen is me on the news,” he said. “It’s not a night of politics or anything like that. Things are so polarized now, and I think you get enough of that everywhere else. (The show) is based on the side of me that my friends see, and Andy says it’s the best version of me because it’s kind of more close to what I'm like in daily life.”
So how did Cooper and Cohen come to form a bizarre friendship that often raises eyebrows and questions? It all comes down to a blind date that never happened.
When Cooper called Cohen to arrange to meet for dinner, he decided within a minute of the conversation that the man on the other end of the phone would never be someone he could date.
“He just seemed too enthusiastic,” Cooper said. “And he asked me about my mother (Gloria Vanderbilt) in the first minute, which is violating my cardinal rule. I never told him we were going to have a date. I just got off the phone and never did the date, but it worked out for the best because we became really close friends.”
This unexpected friendship is the foundation and heart of the show. And what kind of show can audiences expect from this duo?
“A lot of people come to the show saying, 'We have no idea what this is going to be,’” Cooper said. “(Andy and I) really want the experience to be kind of fun and unique for each person...It’s just funny, true stories from our lives and from our friendship, and also just fun celebrity stories and encounters that we’ve had.”
Cooper and Cohen will take turns interviewing each other and sharing personal accounts from the world of pop culture and global events — stories that often don’t make it on TV, Cooper said. There’s even an interactive component involving a Q&A session with the audience.
“It’s very much like hanging out with us for the night,” Cooper said. “(By the end of the show), people feel they really know us in a close way.”
And although “AC2” has been warmly received, the demanding schedules of both Cooper and Cohen make it difficult to do the show regularly. The Salt Lake City edition will be their 27th show, according to Cooper.
And while there are certain humorous anecdotes that are included in every show, Cooper and Cohen like to surprise each other as much as they do their audiences, so there’s a good chance the Salt Lake City show will cover some unexpected topics and uncharted territory.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Cooper said. “I love Salt Lake City. It’s great to do the show with Andy and get to spend a weekend entertaining people and having fun. It’s a very intimate night of conversation, and it’s a very different kind of thing from what I do on a nightly basis. It’s nice to be able to show a different side to yourself. (And) the most important thing is that people enjoy their time and feel like it was a night well spent.”
Content advisory: The show contains mature content not suitable for young audiences.
If you go…
What: "Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen: Deep Talk and Shallow Tales"
When: Saturday, June 10 at 8 p.m.
Where: Eccles Theater, 131 Main St., Salt Lake City
How much: $55-$350