Click here to read the full article.
Andy Cohen is having a nice end of the summer.
I’m not only chatting with him over Zoom from his beach house in the tony Hamptons enclave of Amagansett (did you see the photos and write-up of the home in Architectural
Digest?), but he’s just returned to the States from a vacation in Greece.
Now it’s time to get to work. Not only is Cohen costarring alongside “Love Island” breakout JaNa Craig in Credit One Bank’s new ad campaign “You’re the Credit One for Me: The Reunion,” a spoof of a dating reality show reunion, but Bravo announced just last week that “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles” star Tracy Tutor is joining “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
The casting isn’t a complete surprise. Tutor, a Los Angeles native who raised her kids in SoCal, had made it well known that she wanted to be a Housewife.
“This is a very long time coming,” Cohen tells me. “She’s been on ‘Watch What Happens Live!’ for years promoting ‘Million Dollar Listing,’ and she overlaps with the ‘Housewives of Beverly Hills.’ Also, her personal story is so great. She’s climbed her own mountains. She’s aspirational. If the hallmark of being a great ‘Real Housewife’ is speaking how you feel, she’s certainly a bullseye.”
Why did it take so long for Tracy to be cast?
I think Bravo needed to make sure that they were done doing whatever they were doing with “Million Dollar Listing LA,” and so, you know, everything happens in its own time.
She’s already said she has people she wants to go after.
I know.
That’s what you want to hear. You want the drama, right?
You also want to hear that the person fits. Yes, I mean, I don’t know. It means that she’s got a connection and a feeling.
Let’s talk Rosie O’Donnell. Did you watch her sub for Jimmy Kimmel?
I was in Greece last week, so I watched clips online. I’m a big Rosie fan. She’s very likable, and she did it right, and she knows what she’s doing, and it was great to see her in that format. It was a joy.
Someone has to bring her back.
The TV landscape has changed so much. It does make you wonder if she’s the person who could galvanize a few million people to make something happen in daytime. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with her. To me, if you’re a streamer trying to start a late-night franchise or a talk franchise, on the one hand, wouldn’t it be the greatest thing? On the other hand, if Washington is wielding an unusual amount of power over these companies, it may not be. I would love to see who takes the chance.
Have you been asked to be on “The Traitors” yet?
They haven’t asked me. First of all, I think I would be eliminated immediately. I host the reunion, which I would like to keep doing. I don’t think I could do that if I were on it. But also, I think I would be such a target, and I’ve produced competition reality shows, so I don’t know who would want me on their cast.
Have you been asked by other reality shows?
I got an ask about “Dancing with the Stars” many, many, many years ago.
Why’d you say no?
I can’t dance on TV. No one wants to see that. I used to be the greatest freeform dancer, and I feel like every time I go to Dead shows, people film me dancing, and then I get made fun of on TikTok. Let me dance in peace.
I know you get asked all the time, but what is that one city you’re still hoping for another “Real Housewives”?
The answer is the cities that we want are usually the ones that are not obvious. We’ve cast in Nashville two or three times. We’ve cast in Chicago two or three times. We’ve cast in Greenwich, Connecticut. When you look at Potomac and you look at Rhode Island, Salt Lake City before everybody started doing reality shows in Salt Lake City, these are places that people hadn’t thought of. So I think it’s going to be more like that.
When you say you cast in those cities, meaning you auditioned women?
Meaning we have cast wide nets and put groups of women on camera who could be potential Housewives, but that we’ve just not found the right groups yet.
Let’s talk about the new Credit One spot. I’m sure you get plenty of pitches for different endorsement deals. How did you decide this one was right for you?
The creative for the spot was so funny. It’s Credit One Bank doing a “You’re the Credit One for Me” reunion. They call it edutainment, and actually, it is that. What they did was they came up with a very good spoof for a reunion show, which I’m frankly surprised that no one has done sooner. They’re trying to help people get educated about rebuilding their credit through a fake reality dating show and its reunions.
When was the last time you checked your credit score?
I checked it a couple months ago. I’m OK. I pay my bills.
I keep getting this email from American Express that says my credit score has changed, and I don’t want to look at it.
You need to look, Marc. You need to be educated about your credit score. A few years ago, I was like, “Why isn’t my credit score higher?” My financial planner was like. “Clearly there’s like one payment that you’re missing, or there’s one thing, and we forensically went back and figured out what was going on, and we solved it. So, yeah, you know, when your credit score starts rising, it should make you feel really good.
Did you ever think that your impact on pop culture would enter the halls of a bank?
Yes, a smart bank like Credit One Bank. Thankfully, they have the brains to see this. [Laughs] No, not necessarily, but I do think it’s the recipe for a really good spot. So I’m glad they did it.
This Q&A has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
