Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen are bringing their two-man stage show back to Philadelphia for the first time in a decade, with AC2: An Intimate Evening With Anderson Cooper & Andy Cohen set for the Academy of Music on Nov. 14. The pair last performed together on a Philadelphia stage ten years ago, and this time they are promising the same unscripted, no-holds-barred format that built the show's following.
The event is billed as an unscripted, uncensored and unforgettable night of conversation, according to ensembleartsphilly.org, the venue's own listing for the show. Cooper and Cohen interview each other and take questions straight from the audience, and the venue describes the night as a live, interactive look behind the scenes of pop culture and world events. Cooper, a multiple Emmy-winning CNN anchor and a correspondent for CBS' 60 Minutes, and Cohen, an Emmy-winning host and executive producer of Watch What Happens: Live, have built the format around letting the crowd steer much of the conversation.
As 6abc Philadelphia reports, Cohen said he was excited to come back to Philadelphia, and the show closes out with a round of audience interaction and questions. Cohen also told the station that he and Cooper were introduced on a blind date more than 30 years ago that never got past the first phone call, yet the two went on to become close friends anyway. Cohen described the stage show as something like New Year's Eve, full of stories the pair couldn't tell on television, and he said Philadelphia crowds bring energy and opinions and are not afraid to show them. Cohen said he and Cooper expect big things from Philadelphia audiences and, in their experience, get them.
A Decade-Old Connection, Still Going Strong
The Philadelphia stop is a return engagement rather than a debut. Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen first brought their AC2 tour to the city's Academy of Music back in 2016, when Philadelphia Magazine described the outing as an unfiltered, unscripted evening of storytelling and “shallow tales,” per Philadelphia Magazine. The friendship behind the act goes back even further: Bravo reports that Cohen and Cooper actually met in the 1990s, after mutual friends tried and failed to set them up on that same blind date. The two have also co-hosted CNN's New Year's Eve Live together since 2017.
Cooper has described the on-stage dynamic in simple terms, telling PhillyVoice that he and Cohen essentially shoot the breeze for two hours once they're in front of a crowd. That loose, unplanned format is part of what has kept the show going on and off for roughly a decade, even as its touring history has been described in different ways by different outlets.
A Tour With a Complicated Timeline
Just how big the AC2 tour has been over the years depends on who's telling the story. WTOP reports that Cohen and Cooper spent about four years taking the show to more than 60 cities before putting it on hold after both became fathers. Cooper, meanwhile, told PhillyVoice the pair had done probably 30 or 35 shows over about three years, on and off. Either way, the show first debuted in 2015, according to Bravo's tour-details coverage, and went on pause for several years before organizers announced over the summer that they'd relaunch the event in Boston, as reported by Yahoo Entertainment.
The experience has been compared to going out to a bar and hearing their stories. Political questions are rare during the show's question-and-answer segment.
For Philadelphia, the details point to a single night at the Academy of Music built around that same loose, audience-driven format Cooper and Cohen have refined since 2015. Whether this stop is formally part of the same limited run described elsewhere has not been established, but the pitch is familiar: two longtime friends, no script, and a room full of people ready to ask whatever they want.
