It’s hard to be out with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. Neither blends in. They are hugely recognizable, both appearing on television five nights a week, and when they’re spotted together, people stop in their tracks. Throughout a recent lunch at Cafe Cluny, they were approached by fans of “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen,” his talk show on Bravo; the actress Julianne Moore; and a woman thanking Mr. Cooper for a hurricane relief segment on “Anderson Cooper 360,” his CNN show.

“I paid her to do that,” Mr. Cooper said. “We’ve produced this entire afternoon.”

In their less famous days, a high school friend of Mr. Cooper’s tried to set them up on a blind date. It was 1995, and Mr. Cooper had recently moved from Los Angeles back to New York for a job at ABC News, and Mr. Cohen was a producer at “CBS This Morning.” The date never happened, but a friendship eventually did.

Their bond has now become a commodity. Their “AC2” tour, in which they talk about whatever they like before a paying audience, continues at the Beacon Theater in New York on Jan. 26 and 27. And on New Year’s Eve, Mr. Cohen will join Mr. Cooper to host CNN’s telecast from Times Square — replacing the comedian Kathy Griffin, who was fired in May after posing for a photograph while holding a Donald Trump mask bloodied with ketchup.

“I hope she gets back to doing what she does best,” Mr. Cooper said. “We wish her the best.”

Over tea with milk for Mr. Cohen, 49, and scrambled eggs with toast for Mr. Cooper, 50, the pair discussed first impressions, dancing at the Roxy nightclub, lost luggage and Panda Express.