Andy Cohen's name may not be recognizable to many, but his influence on pop culture is familiar to most. From a young pop culture-obsessed kid to being an executive at a cable network, Cohen's journey has taken many turns. Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture reads like a journal, recording comical moments and touching stories from his youth until today.
Cohen's first love was television, and his childhood devotion to Charlie's Angels and All My Children is evident in his daily letters home to his mother from summer camp. The letters are included in the book, each reminding her to tape his shows so he wouldn't miss an episode. His Mom Evelyn Cohen plays a central role in the book, portrayed as a typical Jewish mother from the Midwest, and one who is continually duped by her son's over-the-top pranks. Cohen also writes of growing up in St. Louis and being a gay teen in the 1980s, a time when society wasn't very accepting of homosexuality.
He focused on journalism and broadcasting in college, hoping to turn his passion into a career, and, in fact, the book begins with him interviewing his childhood heroine Susan Lucci for his college newspaper. After working with several national news programs in his 20s and early 30s, Cohen took a position as an executive at cable network Bravo and helped build the channel into a reality television empire. The book gives his behind-the-scene looks at everyone from Oprah to the women on his real housewives series.
Today, Cohen serves as the Executive Vice President of Development and Talent at Bravo. The network is a subsidiary of NBC Universal. He serves as the host of Bravo's late night talk show Watch What Happens Live. His blog is popular among fans of pop culture, television and media. Most Talkative is his first book.
"A quick, breezy read with occasional LOL moments of how Andy Cohen came to be Andy Cohen. It's not Shakespeare or a true autobiography but it definitely adds a dimension to the personality we see 5 nights a week on Watch What Happens Live. You'll be done with the book in less than a day, certainly something to just sit back and relax with for a few hours."
—
Tracee (4 out of 5 stars)