Inside Andy Cohen’s ‘WWHL’: A behind-the-scenes look at Bravo’s exclusive Clubhouse

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.

When you’re a Bravo fan, you realize precisely what I imply. The Clubhouse is the intimate set the place Andy Cohen hosts Bravo’s stalwart late-night program Watch What Occurs Dwell, and it is almost unimaginable to get in as an viewers member. You’ll be able to’t purchase tickets, enter a lottery, or wait in line all day. You need 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 consistently born, creating real-time on-line gossip.

Regardless of the issue, I am right here to inform you what it is wish to attend — twice.

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

The very first thing it’s essential to do to enter the Clubhouse, must you be so fortunate, is not very enjoyable. You fill out some types means 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 situations. Then there are extra emails about what to anticipate and put on: “Gown as if you happen to’re getting cocktails with Bravolebrities!” On the day of, you are in your finest shirt, in step 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 time, and you’ll 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 company, you are led up an elevator to the sixth ground, 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 traces up in a selected order similar to the place you will sit within the Clubhouse.

• As soon as seated, there’s a Q&A with Andy earlier than the present’s company 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 celebrities get chauffeured out in black vehicles.

Now, the million-dollar query for Bravo followers in all places: What is the expertise like? TL;DR: It is as enjoyable as you’d think about and much more intimate than you’d assume. 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 might you not be? We sat shut sufficient to odor Tre’s fragrance. (It smelled good.)

Let’s get into the main points.

The pre-show

Let me be clear: There is no such thing as a having a nasty time at a WWHL taping for a fan. It is a once-in-a-lifetime expertise since you may’t buy the ticket. However I’ve obtained to say, our taping with Giudice was much more enjoyable as a result of the followers have 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 ground. A pregnant lady negotiated along with her pals to dole out her drink tickets — everybody cackled. Even the bartender mentioned, “Oh, it is an incredible crowd.”

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

That is the factor: As a result of you may’t purchase tickets, you will get an attention-grabbing mixture of attendees. Typically tickets go up at charity auctions — I anticipate a number of disinterested finance bros obtained their associate’s tickets that means. Then there are pals of oldsters who work on the present, pals of company, and superfans who pulled strings. After which, twice, there was me and my spouse, Analise. It is laborious to explain how excited we have been.

The WWHL drink menu.
Credit score: Mashable / Tim Maricn

Proper earlier than we entered the Clubhouse.
Credit score: Mashable / Tim Marcin

The primary go-round, we have been virtually fearful 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 would spill stay on air. It was nerve-wracking however in a night-before-Christmas type of means. By the second taping (pictured above), we felt extra snug. And the gang was far more open and enjoyable. Everybody danced, joked, and had fun, easing anxious vitality and elevating pleasure.

In the course of the pre-show glad hour and photo-op, you may even run into the company on the present. The room is not large, and the loos are shared. One viewers member from the Summer time Home-themed episode hustled out of the restroom and shortly advised 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 truthfully, 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 celebrities of your favourite exhibits, watching all of it go down because it occurs.

OK, wait, just a little little bit of housekeeping and a not-so-secret reality. Some Watch What Occurs Dwell episodes are not aired stay. The Summer time Home-themed episode, for 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 per week. There isn’t any means 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. ( the one.)

It is laborious 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 perpetually, could not imagine the on-set bar was barely a few ft from the company. Digital camera angles can play tips.

Everybody prepping for to movie WWHL.
Credit score: Mashable / Tim Marcin

“The studio was so small, and the viewers was so small, it was far more intimate than I anticipated,” Analise advised me after the tapings.

The Andy Cohen Q&A

So by the point you have got 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 final title is Homosexual?” — however principally, 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 in your TikTok account.

Nonetheless, as a journalist, I felt the necessity to ask him a query. I requested him which Bravolebrity made him probably 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 in the course of the 2021 RHOBH reunion. Truthfully, I felt proud that I momentarily stumped among the best interviewers on the market — and that was a great 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 am filming a promo,” if somebody tries to ask one thing whereas the digicam rolls. He’ll ask, “Sir, are you right here below duress?” to the uneasy finance bros. He’ll speak to the viewers and producers in his earpiece concurrently. As I mentioned, 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.

Cohen, Hubbard, and Prescod speaking throughout a industrial.
Credit score: Mashable / Tim Marcin

Taping the present

As an viewers member, you’re there to convey the vibes. You are inspired to have a great, well-lubricated time together with your fellow seatmates. It is laborious to have a nasty time, primarily as a result of a producer named Rachael could be one of the best hype-woman I’ve ever seen. She’s obtained the entire spiel down flat, like a camp counselor on her tenth summer time. She’s cheering. She’s getting you going. She’s letting you realize 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 industrial break. (And now you may’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’ll be able to spot a lot 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 if you happen to completely should use the lavatory, there is no such thing as a re-entry. You are out and in in simply concerning the precise 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 obtained 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 obtained 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 assume, fed her a line about her enemies being “obsessed” from our little peanut gallery.

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We obtained to see Giudice’s make-up folks — seemingly glammed up for an evening out on the membership — rush out to the touch her up throughout industrial breaks. We even noticed Giudice take numerous selfies, getting the angles excellent, lengthy after the cameras stopped rolling and as producers in all probability eagerly awaited the viewers to exit.

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

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

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So, how was it?

I hope by now it is clear: Going to Watch What Occurs Dwell is a blast for a Bravo fan. It is like leaping into the TV display momentarily and getting a bit half within the Bravoverse. When you pay attention intently, you may hear my chuckle within the background and barely catch me in an viewers shot. You get to see if the Bravolebrities stay as much as their popularity, which, in my expertise, is a powerful sure.

Positive, you should purchase a ticket to BravoCon, however 1000’s of individuals try this. WWHL is the golden ticket, the ever-so-exclusive deal with. Our Bravo-watching pals have been jealous, and for good purpose. It’s miles extra intimate than another 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 inform you how one can get in, however I can counsel you do it if you happen to can. And if you happen to do rating an invitation to Bravo’s chocolate manufacturing unit, simply be sure you put together a great query for Andy.