‘Watch What Happens Live’ Is The Most Innovative Show In Late Night — So Where’s The Damn Respect?

One of the more ridiculous gossip items floating around for the past few weeks concerns Vanderpump Rules “star” Lala Kent being very, very angry with actual star Jennifer Lawrence — and that’s because the Oscar-winning actress called the reality star a c*nt. A) It’s a fair observation, as any even semi-regular Vanderpump Rules viewer can confirm, and B) on what other television program would one of the world’s most famous people get away with using one of the world’s most offensive terms?

Of course, this all went down on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, during an appearance that encouraged Lawrence to dish on all of her very favorite TV shows, the ones she is admittedly obsessed with and not in a guilty pleasure kind of way. She’s just plain guilty of loving nearly all that the Bravo programming has to offer, an undeniable fact that was highlighted throughout her solo half-hour appearance on the show earlier this month, which also included a freak out from Lawrence when she was surprised by cast members from The Real Housewives of New York.

What Watch What Happens Live is pulling off five nights a week not only separates the show from its competition, but is fully reinventing late night shows in the most fun, daring, and ridiculous of ways. So why, WHY, are we not giving the program the love and respect and acknowledgment (are you listening, Emmy voters?) it deserves?

Jimmy Fallon can crack eggs over his guests’ heads and challenge them to sumo wrestling or lip sync or charades battles, and those are nice too, but they aren’t creating the memes and the cultural moments, not to mention unearthing celebrity secrets, that WWHL produces on a regular basis.

Watch What Happens Live started in June of 2009 and has undoubtedly influenced the many post-show chat shows that have since been born. The half-hour talk show gave viewers the chance to hear their favorite Bravolebrities share their side of the drama we all just witnessed on screen, as well as allowing the public to call in and ask questions, making it one of the most interactive television shows of it’s time, a title it still holds today. In the fall of 2017, the show even became available as a podcast.

WWHL also makes the best use of its half-hour time-slot, peppering in silly yet creative rapid-fire games for guests that equally test their knowledge and ability to keep secrets. Oprah, Mariah Carey, and Kim Kardashian have all faced some of the toughest, most invasive, and straight up pettiest questions they’ve ever been asked on this show. Credit to Cohen for truly boasting his balls of steel in these moments, as well as the writers who are tasked with digging up and designing questions that address any and all of the dirt they can find on their famous guests, from sex to drugs to social media. Also, you try thinking up what has to be anywhere between 5-15 witty games each week that will prompt a celebrity to reveal something they’ve never said before — at least on TV. WWHL is taking risks all the time, but where the show truly excels is being able to capitalize on moments that work, and chuckle off the ones that don’t.

With Cohen in the host chair, WWHL guests know they aren’t going to get off easy, even close pals of Cohen’s. It’s his job to ask what we’re all thinking and what we all want to know and what we’re all speculating and being nosy about on the internet. And for the most part, he goes there and he pries and he doesn’t back away nearly as quickly as almost any other late night host would. Cohen craves the awkward. He’s as inquisitive as he is charming, which makes it sting just a little bit less for any celebrity squirmers. Because at the end of the day, Cohen is a fan too. His excitement never quite reaches the giggle levels that Fallon does, but the palpable feeling that he’s excited to be there and he wants to chat with his guests only helps to build the trust and the rapport he creates with celebrity pals new and old, which ultimately leads to the juiciest soundbites you’ll find anywhere on TV after 11pm.

Oh, and the free-flowing alcohol doesn’t hurt either. The drinks, the dance music pumping through the studio during commercials breaks, and the compact size of the clubhouse all add up to an atmosphere that helps the party vibe penetrate any screen you watch the show on. There’s a looseness at play here you’d be hard-pressed to find at any other late night show, no matter how hard they might try to seem totally casual. Sorry, but we can totally feel it when some publicist is clearly standing just off-camera making sure the host doesn’t stray from the pre-approved questions OR ELSE.

Watch What Happens Live may have started as more of a Bravo recap show than a total celebfest, but if you haven’t watched it recently, check back in and see what’s going on over there. It’s endlessly unpredictable, and between Cohen’s charisma and the big-name talent they’re pulling, on top of the thrillingly entertaining and unique segments they’re creating, no other show is taking advantage of their on-air opportunities, and access to A-listers, better than this one. At the very least, watch it to see who’s dropping the c-word this week.

Where to watch Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen