Watch What Happens Live! host Andy Cohen is Gen X’s answer to 70s talk show mainstays, like Richard Dawson or Mike Douglas, an affable if impish presence, eliciting the best cocktail party bon mots from an eclectic grab bag of A-to-D-list celebs. And like his precursors, he subsumes his incisive wit in the garb of the court jester, secretly the master pulling everyone’s strings. This is chiefly why his late night show is such a dangerous and anarchic pleasure to watch.

Furthermore, people forget that his day job is as chief production exec for the army of shamelessly, gloriously mindless reality shows (Real Housewives, et al) that Bravo pumps out on a daily basis. Cohen almost single-handedly transformed that network from one that reflected pop-culture to one that generates it, buzzworthy fare that keeps water coolers and social media hopping.

Oh, he is an author too, with three books to his credit, and heavy hitter friends like Anderson Cooper, buddies who would die on their swords for the man. Yet, he leverages his St. Louis-bred Midwestern values and his Jewish upbringing to achieve a humble cornfed nerd cred that makes him instantly accessible.

For the most part, he has deftly avoided any controversy in his career. Until this week, when the post-Trump hurricane of toxic finger-pointing caught up even with him as the still-festering feud between Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper spilled into Cohen’s well-tailored lap.

It is in this context that Cohen held a meet and greet/Q&A at Detroit’s Motor City Casino Soundboard venue. Local 95.5 radio show personality Mojo moderated the evening. Cohen himself admitted during the event that the controversy this week had him a bit gun shy, and he was noticeably reserved. Gone (for tonight) was his Joan Rivers-meets-Robin Williams rat-a-tat gossipy mensch persona. One cannot really blame him.

That said, what was revealed on stage tonight was a side of Cohen that is often overshadowed by his onscreen antics: a measured, kind, thoughtful, inclusive personality that is likely the engine driving his long term success as both a behind-the-scenes executive and a front of house huckster.

(We had the pleasure of a quick interaction with him before the show and a photo opportunity. He was warm and genuine and authentically appreciative of his supporters, taking what time he could to acknowledge our common humanity. It was rather remarkable as these kind of cattle call meet-and-greets go.)

There really isn’t much to review about the evening other than it was a loose and free-ranging conversation about Cohen’s history. I would have appreciated a bit more about his days as a CBS producer and the challenges he experienced transitioning to his current role. Alas, the crowd – a few of whom seemed to have stepped off the set of one of Bravo’s productions – were there for dirt on which “real housewife” was the biggest alcoholic or most likely to end up in jail. C’est la vie.

To be fair, Mojo could have put a bit more work into the kinds of questions he asked, a series of FM morning show queries which often fell below the caliber of Cohen’s innate wit. Nonetheless, Cohen seized every moment to engage his audience in playful banter and seemed to relish the 90 minutes he had with us. He described his pal Kelly Ripa as having the gift of making everyone who shares the screen with her a better host. The same could be said for how Cohen’s ease-of-self helped Mojo tonight as well.

There were delightful touches with images of Cohen in his youth and videos of his family and friends projected onstage. At one point, Cohen joked, “Is this a roast?” Not at all, in fact. It ended up being a joyous and heartwarming celebration of a free spirit who has carved his own path and seems gobsmacked by his own success. Hopefully, next time he will bring his buddy Anderson Cooper along to ask the questions.

Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital). In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.