I grabbed this at a book sale for 50 cents. Andy Cohen’s name seemed vaguely familiar, and hey, I like pop culture! I realized after starting it that he’s that Bravo guy — he was head of development for years, hosts a talk show and executive produces Real Housewives. I watch literally nothing on Bravo — unless they’re rerunning Grey’s Anatomy — and couldn’t pick a Housewife out of a lineup if my life depended on it, but I liked the book anyway. So if you’re a fan of the above, you should definitely read it — and if you’re not, give it a shot anyway.
“I was a good kid, but I’ve had one Achilles’ heel that’s stayed with me through the years: talking. I simply could not shut the fuck up-I still can’t and that small issue has gotten me in all sorts of trouble.”
Andy Cohen grew up in St. Louis in the 1970s and 80s, and had an obsession with television and performing from a young age. Convinced that he would one day achieve his dream (hosting a talk show), he worked his ass off to get there. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in broadcast journalism, interned at CBS and talked to everyone. He ended up as a producer, and worked for several talk shows/morning shows before making his debut at Bravo.
He’s a funny dude. The book cracked me up — especially his remembrances of his childhood and stories about his very funny, very stereo-typically Jewish mother (he writes her pretty much in all caps — cracked me up). I skimmed a lot of the Real Housewives stuff — I liked the discussion of how it came to be but tuned out for the details on reunions and various Housewives. Still, there’s something here for pretty much any pop culture fan, and Cohen has a great writing style.
