Why Do Guests Go Wild for WWHL? Blame It on the Clubhouse

How exactly does Andy Cohen get his guests to cut looser than we've ever seen them on Watch What Happens: Live? The L.A. Times has a theory -- blame it on the Clubhouse.

Yes, the booze and Andy's buoyant, breezy vibe helps. But the Times' L.A. at Home blog suggests that the show's secret weapon is really the poppy, cheerful, funky confines, which lull guests into a sense of rec room slumber party security. Andy tells the paper that he knew a personal touch would make people feel at home. "The reason the set looks the way it does is because I wanted it to feel like me," he says. "The show is so much a result of my mind and sensibility, that it just seemed like it would be more comfortable if it sort of looked like me too."

The set's shelving – a key detail lifted right from Andy's compact digs – is stocked with dizzying oodles of pop-culture knick-knacks and nostalgic stuff from Andy's childhood home in St. Louis, including his rainbow-spined Childcraft encyclopedias (aw!) and Snoopy Pez dispensers. Andy's stylish, artsier impulses are on display, too, like a trio of beautiful blue glass heads and two Lite-Brite installations of NYC's and STL's skylines commissioned by Andy himself: "Years ago, I was at a friend's house who had a piece of art made out of Lite Brites and I never forgot that. Ours are sort of an ironic nod to those cityscape backdrops you see on other talk shows."

Andy loves the look and feel of the high-low aesthetic, confessing, "I know that some people think it's kitschy or tacky, but I think it's really beautiful."

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