‘And Just Like That…’ Features Its Most Random Cameo Yet

There are lots of reasons HBO Max’s And Just Like That… can feel disorienting to watch. Most obviously, there’s the fact that it’s a sequel to Sex and the City, but it’s missing Samantha (Kim Cattrall), arguably its most fabulous practitioner of sex in the city. There’s the fact that the ladies we got to know when they were cutting a swath through Manhattan in their 40s look different, but maybe not as different as we would expect them to nearly 20 years after the Sex and the City series finale. 

But there are also the cameos. Some people are at an echelon where they get to play themselves — people like Gloria Steinem, Drew Barrymore and Tony Danza. Other equally or even more famous people, however, might be cast to play characters: Rosie O’Donnell played thrillseeking nun Mary in the Season Three premiere, or Patti LuPone in her multi-episode run as Gianna, mother to poet/Hot Fella Giuseppe (Sebastiano Pigazzi). In the latest episode of AJLT, we see the result of what has to be the show’s most baffling casting decision so far.

Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is on day two of a fight with Aidan (John Corbett). He’s suspicious about her thus far entirely innocent relationship with Duncan (Jonathan Cake), the basement tenant and fellow writer with whom she’s been regularly meeting to go over their literary works in progress. She’s angry about Aidan’s transparent attempts to collect intelligence on Duncan and Carrie’s friendship. When Aidan fails to apologize the morning after passive-aggressively complaining that Carrie smells like Duncan’s pipe smoke and ordering her to shower, Carrie stomps out of the house for a walk and ends up somewhere comforting and safe: the women’s shoe department at Bergdorf Goodman. 

Carrie has just picked up and set down a sequined Mary Jane flat when a familiar voice calls out to greet her by name. 

My first thought: “Of course Carrie knows Andy Cohen! In the world of the show, she’s a rich socialite, diva and fashion icon; she’s also an author who probably promoted her latest book on Watch What Happens Live.”

My second thought: “I’m not sure why Andy Cohen would be in the women’s shoe department carrying two boxes, but maybe he’s cutting through to the cash.”

My third thought, when a character with Andy Cohen’s face tells Carrie, “I am slammed, but I’m going to be right with you, okay?” and she says, “I’m just looking today, Daniel”: “OH MY GOD, THEY’VE GOT ANDY COHEN PLAYING A SHOE SALESMAN.”

There was a time when casting Bravo executive Andy Cohen as a random department store employee would have been a winky gag for viewers deep in the know. That time was before he was an on-camera host, 20-plus seasons of Watch What Happens Live and about 400 Real Housewives reunion specials ago. That time was, in fact, 2004, when Cohen originated the role of Daniel the Bergdorf’s shoe salesman in Sex and the City's final season, in what seems to be his second screen credit ever, which I didn’t know when this post was originally published, but thank you, Decider — I plead “Canadian.”

Even if I had known Cohen’s history in the franchise while watching the episode, it still seems random to me! Now, Cohen is more famous than any And Just Like That… star who wasn’t also on Sex and the City, and having him return as a department store employee instead of himself — albeit a department store employee who might make as much on commission as actual Andy Cohen does hosting a talk show — is a distracting choice.

Unless they’re setting him up as an age-appropriate post-Giuseppe love interest for Anthony (Mario Cantone), in which case… no, still weird.