Inside Andy Cohen’s Clubhouse: A behind-the-scenes have a look at ‘Watch What Occurs Reside’

The primary rule of the Clubhouse is: You are not invited to the Clubhouse. The second rule of the Clubhouse is: No, actually, you are not invited.

In the event you’re a Bravo fan, you already know precisely what I imply. The Clubhouse is the intimate set the place Andy Cohen hosts Bravo’s stalwart late-night program Watch What Occurs Reside, and it is practically inconceivable to get in as an viewers member. You possibly can’t purchase tickets, enter a lottery, or wait in line all day. It’s important to beg and hope or know somebody. It could be New York Metropolis’s most unique ticket and the most popular commodity within the Bravoverse, a spot the place beef amongst Bravolebrities is continually born, creating real-time on-line gossip.

Regardless of the issue, I am right here to let you know what it is prefer to attend — twice.

The nice people at Bravo allowed me and my spouse — a Bravo superfan who received me hooked on the community’s choices years in the past — to attend two exhibits after I wrote concerning the community’s increase in recognition in 2023.

The very first thing it’s essential do to enter the Clubhouse, do you have to be so fortunate, is not very enjoyable. You fill out some types method forward of time, agreeing to, I assume, some boilerplate guidelines that, frankly, I did not hassle to learn. I used to be going, irrespective of the circumstances. Then there are extra emails about what to anticipate and put on: “Dress as if you’re getting cocktails with Bravolebrities!” On the day of, you are in your greatest shirt, in keeping with roughly 19 different viewers members outdoors a nondescript workplace constructing in Decrease Manhattan.

The present is a well-oiled machine, even whether it is recognized for creating messy on-line drama. WWHL is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this summer season, and you may inform they know precisely how one can churn these episodes out. Earlier than we get into the nitty-gritty particulars, listed below are the fundamentals of attending the present IRL:

• You queue outdoors the workplace constructing exactly one hour earlier than filming, the place you are counted, checked in, and handed two drink tickets.

• Alongside the remainder of the friends, you are led up an elevator to the sixth flooring, the place you hear loud, enjoyable music as you get shut.

• There is a small foyer with a bar (therefore the drink tickets), backdrops for pictures (with cutouts of Cohen and the WWHL desk), and some locations to sit down and mingle.

• Shortly earlier than filming, the viewers strains up in a selected order akin to the place you may sit within the Clubhouse.

• As soon as seated, there’s a Q&A with Andy earlier than the present’s friends arrive and filming begins.

• You watch the present! It takes about so long as the precise airtime. You’re inspired to whoop, yell, react, and take part when applicable.

• After the present, you’re again outdoors the workplace constructing, watching the celebs get chauffeured out in black automobiles.

Now, the million-dollar query for Bravo followers in every single place: What is the expertise like? TL;DR: It is as enjoyable as you’d think about and much more intimate than you’d suppose. The episodes we noticed featured, respectively, Lindsay Hubbard and Gabby Prescod from Bravo’s Summer time Home, then actor Joel Kim Booster and Actual Housewives of New Jersey legend Teresa Giudice. As an viewers member, you’re legitimately a part of the present. How may you not be? We sat shut sufficient to scent Tre’s fragrance. (It smelled good.)

Let’s get into the small print.

The pre-show

Let me be clear: There isn’t a having a foul time at a WWHL taping for a fan. It is a once-in-a-lifetime expertise since you possibly can’t buy the ticket. However I’ve received to say, our taping with Giudice was much more enjoyable as a result of the followers had been so excited. Individuals started cheering as they stood in line outdoors the constructing. Of us danced within the elevator because the music waned from the sixth flooring. A pregnant girl negotiated together with her associates to dole out her drink tickets — everybody cackled. Even the bartender stated, “Oh, it’s a great crowd.”

By way of some unfortunate break, the Summer time Home crowd was a bit extra muted. It appeared a number of males had been dragged alongside who perhaps did not get how large a deal it was to attend.

That is the factor: As a result of you possibly can’t purchase tickets, you will get an attention-grabbing mixture of attendees. Generally tickets go up at charity auctions — I anticipate a number of disinterested finance bros received their associate’s tickets that method. Then there are associates of oldsters who work on the present, associates of friends, and superfans who pulled strings. After which, twice, there was me and my spouse, Analise. It is exhausting to explain how excited we had been.

The primary go-round, we had been nearly apprehensive about it. We fretted over what to put on for a few week. We arrived so early. I threw again my free drinks earlier than taping, afraid I might spill dwell on air. It was nerve-wracking however in a night-before-Christmas type of method. By the second taping (pictured above), we felt extra comfy. And the group was rather more open and enjoyable. Everybody danced, joked, and had fun, easing anxious power and elevating pleasure.

Through the pre-show completely happy hour and photo-op, you may even run into the friends on the present. The room is not large, and the bogs are shared. One viewers member from the Summer time Home-themed episode hustled out of the restroom and shortly instructed us she had an interplay with Hubbard within the girls’s room. I am utilizing kinder phrases than the fan’s description of the occasion, however actually, how freaking cool to have a famously (allegedly) impolite Bravolebrity (allegedly) be impolite to you! It is each Bravo superfan’s dream! You are on this tiny area with the celebs of your favourite exhibits, watching all of it go down because it occurs.

Mashable Prime Tales

OK, wait, a bit little bit of housekeeping and a not-so-secret reality. Some Watch What Occurs Reside episodes are now not aired dwell. The Summer time Home-themed episode, as an example, was taped two days forward of time. It is sensible. Cohen is a media mogul with, I assume, a busy schedule. The present airs 5 days every week. There is no method he’d be free each evening.

So, anyway, what occurs after these welcome drinks? You are shortly shuttled into the Clubhouse, previous hallways adorned with decorations like Jax Taylor’s notorious chunky white fisherman’s sweater. (You recognize the one.)

It is exhausting to overstate how tiny the Clubhouse is. I have been on different TV units, and it nonetheless felt fairly condensed. Analise, who has been watching the present without end, could not imagine the on-set bar was barely a few ft from the friends. Digicam angles can play tips.

“The studio was so small, and the audience was so small, it was much more intimate than I expected,” Analise instructed me after the tapings.

The Andy Cohen Q&A

So by the point you could have your pre-drinks, you are taking your seats, and also you speak with Andy, an viewers member will spend much more time doing different issues than truly seeing the present get filmed. However the Q&A is a extremely anticipated second for followers as a result of Andy is the Alpha and Omega of Bravo. Most viewers members used the time to make little jokes or ask gossipy questions concerning the Bravoverse. There have been some cringey questions — “Are you jealous my last name is Gay?” — however largely, Cohen did a deft job joking with the viewers whereas avoiding revealing something too newsy. He is there to heat you up, not offer you Bravo tea on your TikTok account.

Nonetheless, as a journalist, I felt the necessity to ask him a query. I requested him which Bravolebrity made him essentially the most nervous or required him to prep the toughest for an interview. He needed to take a beat earlier than sharing his reply: Erika Jayne throughout the 2021 RHOBH reunion. Actually, I felt proud that I momentarily stumped among the finest interviewers on the market — and that was a superb factor as a result of I used to be too nervous to observe up.

And Cohen is proper there. He paces up and down in entrance of the viewers; the entrance row sits in chairs, and the second row is raised on an prolonged bench. The man has a presence. He controls the room like a celeb who’s had followers bombard them for the previous 15 years. He’ll funnily reply viewers questions and sternly warn them, “I’m filming a promo,” if somebody tries to ask one thing whereas the digicam rolls. He’ll ask, “Sir, are you here under duress?” to the uneasy finance bros. He’ll speak to the viewers and producers in his earpiece concurrently. As I stated, the present is a well-oiled machine, and the viewers is an integral a part of that equipment — however an annoying fan is not going to be the grain of sand that grinds the gears to a halt.

Cohen will get to his customary seat after the viewers Q&A wraps up, and the present begins.

Taping the present

As an viewers member, you’re there to convey the vibes. You are inspired to have a superb, well-lubricated time along with your fellow seatmates. It is exhausting to have a foul time, primarily as a result of a producer named Rachael could be one of the best hype-woman I’ve ever seen. She’s received the entire spiel down flat, like a camp counselor on her tenth summer season. She’s cheering. She’s getting you going. She’s letting you already know when to scream and for a way lengthy. Now that I’ve gone behind the scenes, I can’t miss her yaaaaaaaaaaaaay out and in of each WWHL business break. (And now you possibly can’t both.)

In any other case, it is type of like watching the present at residence. Even the taped broadcast adopted a strict schedule. You possibly can spot many of the graphics on screens overhead. Telephones are allowed, however solely throughout breaks. You are inspired to ohh and ahh and haha, however there’s completely no yelling out or answering the trivia questions. And in case you completely should use the lavatory, there isn’t a re-entry. You are out and in in simply concerning the actual time it takes to observe the present on tv.

It may not shock you to know that a lot truly occurs throughout Watch What Occurs Live. We received to observe Hubbard skirt accountability on her much-publicized break-up and spot Andy giving her severe side-eye from a spitting distance away.

We received to see Teresa Giudice — in a skin-tight lavender jumpsuit — forcefully (and type of unconvincingly) deny ever leaking issues to bloggers. We watched as her husband Louie, who’s taller than you suppose, fed her a line about her enemies being “obsessed” from our little peanut gallery.

Tweet might have been deleted

We received to see Giudice’s make-up individuals — seemingly glammed up for an evening out on the membership — rush out to the touch her up throughout business breaks. We even noticed Giudice take numerous selfies, getting the angles good, lengthy after the cameras stopped rolling and as producers most likely eagerly awaited the viewers to exit.

Seeing these soon-to-be-viral moments up shut was a singular expertise.

Tweet might have been deleted

Tweet might have been deleted

Tweet might have been deleted

It was additionally neat to be there dwell as individuals watching from residence misplaced their minds over Giudice — her jumpsuit, her putdowns of her sister-in-law whose identify she refused to utter, and, properly, simply Teresa simply being Teresa. I cracked up at Giudice’s refusal to say her SIL’s identify, and folk seen it on-line. I even predicted to Analise she’d put on a latex jumpsuit earlier than she took the stage. (Possibly I watch an excessive amount of Bravo.) Nevertheless it was cool to be there in individual for what I might normally tweet about from my sofa.

Tweet might have been deleted

Tweet might have been deleted

Tweet might have been deleted

So, how was it?

I hope by now it is clear: Going to Watch What Occurs Reside is a blast for a Bravo fan. It is like leaping into the TV display momentarily and getting a bit half within the Bravoverse. In the event you hear intently, you possibly can hear my snort within the background and barely catch me in an viewers shot. You get to see if the Bravolebrities dwell as much as their status, which, in my expertise, is a powerful sure.

Positive, you should purchase a ticket to BravoCon, however hundreds of individuals try this. WWHL is the golden ticket, the ever-so-exclusive deal with. Our Bravo-watching associates had been jealous, and for good purpose. It is extra intimate than some other studio present I have been to. Any schmo can see Stephen Colbert. Not many get to throw again a Fresquila alongside Andy Cohen.

I am unable to let you know how one can get in, however I can counsel you do it in case you can. And in case you do rating an invitation to Bravo’s chocolate manufacturing unit, simply ensure you put together a superb query for Andy.