“I wanted to work at the State Department” is not something you’d expect to hear from the showrunner of Bravo’s off-the-wall late-night gabfest “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.”
But that was Deirdre Connolly’s first career ambition. She studied political science at Boston College and was planning to move to Washington, D.C., to forge a career in the federal government.
But an internship for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in her final year of college left Connolly at a crossroads.
“As much as I admired him and it was amazing and it was such a gift to do, it kind of turned me off of politics as a job,” she says.
Still, it proved an invaluable experience: When Kennedy’s head of communications left for MTV, it occurred to Connolly that her intense love for pop culture could be her meal ticket.
She eventually went to MTV too. A job on “Total Request Live” kicked off her career in live television.
It’s a fitting backstory for Connolly, who, as the mastermind behind “Watch What Happens Live,” regularly has to deal with another high-powered Kennedy — this one of the Bravo-lebrity variety: James Kennedy of “Vanderpump Rules.”
“Watch What Happens Live” launched in 2009 to little fanfare, but it has become a key player in the late-night arena, attracting A-listers like Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer Lawrence.
“Deirdre understands my voice perfectly,” Cohen says. “She has made sure that the culture at ‘Watch What Happens Live’ — a little show based around fandom — has remained the same as it was when we started. We can be shady, but we’re ultimately positive and we’re ultimately fun. She’s been a great co-pilot with me as we do this.”
To be celebrating the series’ 10th anniversary is a trip for Connolly.
“It is insane to think about. It really is,” she says. “I started to realize that I’m measuring my life in seasons of ‘Housewives.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, I was doing that around the time the spinoff for ‘Bethany Ever After’ started or whatever thing. So yeah, that’s what 10 years of Bravo does.”
It’s a good thing.”
