Andy Cohen has joined many other late night TV hosts by announcing that he will no longer produce episodes of his show, Watch What Happens Live , in a studio. According to Variety , the host and creator of the show announced on Friday that he plans to tape episodes in his apartment in New York City instead.
The first episode of Cohen’s new, more stripped down version of the show will air on Sunday, and will feature Jerry O’Connell, as well as Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes and Real Housewives of New York star Ramona Singer.
“Our show is arguably the most lo-tech show in late night in its current form. So the idea of taking it down even further a few notches is just ironic and hilarious,” Cohen told Variety .
Cohen continued by explaining that the show never had many bells and whistles to begin with.
“I mean, we’re the show that I still can’t believe gets a live signal out of a very small clubhouse in Soho. So we will now be from my own clubhouse in the West Village. My show has always been something of a little coffee klatch, party-line type show. And this seemed like a very natural extension of not only the show, but obviously the times that we’re in right now,” the host said.
Other guests for upcoming episodes include John Mayer on Monday night and some of the stars of Vanderpump Rules on Tuesday. In describing what the show will look like now, Cohen seems to think it will only be a slight improvement over something like Skype.
The show’s staff has reportedly been pitching ideas that are unique to the home-shooting format, including home show-and-tells. For the past week, Cohen has been hosting his radio show from his apartment.
In making the announcement, Cohen has joined other late night hosts that were already doing some version of their shows from their homes. Jimmy Fallon has been hosting a stripped down version of the Tonight Show at his house all week, and was interrupted by his daughter as he was attempting to interview Jennifer Garner.
Stephen Colbert has taken a decidedly more absurdist route, filming video segments for YouTube in which he is dressed in a full suit in a bathtub. Jimmy Kimmel has taped segments featuring guests like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as each late night host tries to figure out what the best format is for their shows moving forward.
