Does Patti LuPone "give a damn?" CNN's New Year's Eve Live's Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper closed off 2022 on December 31 with the right questions. The hosts, notorious for getting tipsy on live television every New Year's Eve, started the year off sober due to CNN's decision to prohibit hosts and broadcasters from drinking during the night's coverage. Thus, with the broadcast lacking in its usual chaos, Cohen and Cooper knew exactly who to call in: Broadway's very own Patti LuPone.
In a segment titled, "Does Patti LuPone give a damn?!", Cohen and Cooper asked LuPone the important questions: her thoughts on Broadway's longest-running musical The Phantom of the Opera closing, Ticketmaster being sued by Taylor Swift fans for fraud, and other shocking news from 2022.
Before the interview even began, LuPone asked Cohen, "Do we drink?" before looking off-camera to the side of the stage, shouting: "I want a shot of tequila!" The hosts then happily obliged her with a shot, which she sipped for the entirety of the segment.
Starting off with a bang, Cooper asked LuPone if she "gives a damn" about The Phantom of the Opera extending their run by two months due to an explosion in ticket sales. Without hesitation, LuPone replied: "You know what...it should just die." She added that she believes "there should be term limits on federal and Supreme Court judges, on members of Congress, and Broadway musicals."
In response to Cohen asking if she "gives a damn" about no longer having her Actors' Equity card, LuPone swayed side to side in a mocking dance and replied in sing-song: "I don't give a damn!" Other reactions from LuPone: Lea Michele in Funny Girl, "I think that's probably quite wonderful." Wicked being split into two-movies: "I didn't know that...."
In a now-viral moment, Cooper asked LuPone, "Do you give a damn about Ticketmaster being sued over the Taylor Swift ticketing disaster?" and LuPone quickly responded: "Oh, yeah! Fu--" before cutting herself off. After a fit of laughter, LuPone concludes: "'F' Ticketmaster."
LuPone ended the segment by plugging the livestream for her 54 Below show, "Songs From a Hat," January 1 at 8 p.m. She will perform songs randomly chosen from a hat containing 43 songs. She admitted to Cooper and Cohen that the concept for the show is "completely" terrifying, "There's so many lyrics! I think about 43 songs, what are the lyrics?"
Throughout the evening, viewers on social media raved about LuPone's "IDGAF" attitude, claiming it to be "the energy [they] need going into 2023."
Here's to the ladies who "don't give a damn!"
Patti LuPone in Sunset Boulevard (West End, 1993)
