Here's What a Day in the Life of Working at Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen *Really* Looks Like, According to an Insider
WWHL staffer T. Kyle MacMahon peels back the curtain on what it's like to work for Andy Cohen.
If you've ever wondered what it would be like to work at Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, The Daily Dish can confirm that it is a "chaotic and creative collaboration." How do we know? Well, we went straight to the source and recently asked T. Kyle MacMahon, the Lead Digital and Social Producer for the Andy Cohen-hosted series (who you can check out in action in the clip above).
He went on to share that his role has changed a bit in the three years that he's worked there, adding, "Our schedule is very difficult and always changing, no week has ever been the same!"
So, what exactly does that mean? Well, he recently spoke to The Daily Dish and offered some insight into what a normal day looks like at WWHL as the show celebrates its 10th anniversary of tea-spilling, shade and shotskis. And there's only a few things that are certain: His day to day is always surprising and there is one perk we are very jealous of. Below, he breaks it all down.
The Daily Dish: What is the first thing you do when you show up to work?
T. Kyle MacMahon: I usually get to the office by 5 p.m. and the first thing I do is schedule all the tweets for the night. If you want to ask a question on the show, trust me — we see your tweets! Send them to @Andy! We also collect all the questions from our Facebook Messenger Bot, Wacha The Dog. I watch the episodes happening that night, write ideas for memes, and keep an eye on what the fans are talking about online.
Can you give a bit of a rundown of what your day looks like once you get going?
I wake up around 10 a.m. (sounds glamorous, but when you read what time I get to bed you’ll understand!) and I check my email in a panic to make sure I didn’t f--k anything up the night before.
I spend my day trying to relax or go for a walk, and then I head out around 4 p.m. I grab my “morning” coffee and I arrive to work at 5 p.m. and from 5 to 9 p.m. I schedule tweets, monitor conversation on social, work on Instagram content, and watch whatever episodes are airing that night on Bravo. We have a team meeting at 7:45 p.m., and 8:30 p.m. is dinner time! Andy arrives for rehearsal at 9:45 p.m. Guests arrive to the studio anywhere from 9-10 p.m. and that’s when I get a sense of content we can film with them.
We’ll film runways or backstage skits if we have time. The show goes live at 11 p.m., and I take notes on everything that happens. We start the After Show at 11:31 p.m [editor’s note: exclusively on bravotv.com!] and sometimes it’s short, but sometimes it’s long Sarah Jessica Parker stayed for 30 minutes once! Once the After Show is done I narrow down my notes to four press-worthy highlights and I go back to my desk around midnight.
I cut show clips, export, get titles and descriptions for every clip, upload to BravoTV.com, upload to YouTube, save and export the After Show so it can be on YouTube ASAP for fans to watch, pick funny clips for Instagram, prepare Instagram Stories, prepare the press release, send the press release. The last step is uploading closed captioning to all the clips on the website. It’s a whirlwind from midnight to about 1:30 a.m.
I usually get home from work around 2 or 3 a.m. and pass out around 4 or 5 a.m. I wake up, and do it all again! Saturday is my "weekend.”
What is the craft services like?
We do get one meal a day! It changes every night, but my favorite is when we get chicken fingers. I’m a cheap date.
What do you do while WWHL is taping?
I sit and furiously take notes on every question that’s being asked and I transcribe the answers. I write outlines for what clips I think fans will want to watch the next day. I select four clips from every show that I think are press-worthy, or that fans might want to watch over and over [like] Plead the Fifth. I keep an eye on Twitter to see if any Bravolebrities are watching so we can talk about it on the live show!
What is the last thing you do?
If I’m lucky and the technology gods are on my side, I wrap up my shift at 2 a.m. The last thing I do is post the WWHL After Show and then I send a press release with all the highlights from the show. The press release goes out to just under 200 writers and includes all the clips you see in the blogs the next morning. I get in a taxi and post a "swipe up" on Instagram after every show — so if you want to watch the After Show it will be there every night!
What’s it like having Andy as a boss?
It means a lot to me because growing up I was told I would “never be successful” because I’m gay. Seeing Andy on TV with his own show, thriving, was so inspiring for me and gave me the push to make a name for myself as well. Andy didn’t just wake up one day and get a TV show — he put in THE WORK over many, many years. He went from behind-the-scenes to producer to on-air talent. He’s the host, but he understands how everything works.
That work ethic inspires me to learn every skill I possibly can. It’s surreal that he’s now my boss since he was my role model in college. It’s also nerve-wracking because he sees everything I post [laughs]. My first season I was super quiet and focused, and now three years later Andy really values my opinions and feedback. I wanted to prove myself and put in the work, and I did it. We consistently grow in our numbers season over season.
Now that you have an idea of what it's like to work with Andy at WWHL, make sure you tune into the show to find out what juicy secrets get spilled -- and don't forget to check out the WWHL podcast for even more good times.
