Ryan Seacrest on Remembering Dick Clark on ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’s 50th Anniversary

Watching an effortless Dick Clark count down to the new year in Times Square was how many of us grew up, including Clark’s able successor, Ryan Seacrest. “I was home in Atlanta. Those were my first images of New York,” he says.

For Rockin’ Eve’s 50th anniversary, Seacrest rings in 2022 with cohosts Liza Koshy (alongside him in New York), Billy Porter (in New Orleans), Ciara (in Los Angeles) and Fantasy Island‘s Roselyn Sánchez (in Puerto Rico, a first for the show). Clips of Clark’s greatest hits will help mark the milestone on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest. Here, the host fills us in.

What’s your first memory of Dick Clark, because eventually you did meet and I know you spent a lot of time with him. What was that first meeting like or the first time doing the Rockin’ Eve? 

Ryan Seacrest: I was struck by how relaxed and how easy he made it look and how conversational he was in his presentation in live events and also on American Bandstand and how he could really talk to anybody with ease and make them feel comfortable. And that struck me, as a little baby wannabe host.

Of course, I got to meet him years later after I started hosting American Idol and he talked to me about how that’s not easy, to make it look seem easy. He had many skills, but one of his skills would be to stand there with a big live audience talking to somebody as if they’d known each other for a long time.

This is your 17th year hosting. What was it like that first time?

I was terrified! I admired him so much and looked up to him so much, I wanted his approval. I wanted him to say not, “You could have the job someday,” but I wanted him to invite me back to do it again next year. I stepped in after he had had his stroke, and I really wanted to make him happy with the decision to invite me in.

ABC

Did he give you any advice?

“Make it look easy. If everybody watching at home thinks they can do your job, you’re doing it well.”

You’ve shown classic clips of him before. How do you feel watching them?

I’ve seen so many moments with him and we’ve played back clips over the years as mile markers. It’s funny, when I see a clip and I hear his voice, I almost forget for a moment that I have to speak after the clip ends because I get caught up in it so much of nostalgia and all of the memories I had of watching him before I was there. So there are those times where I actually forget I’ve got to speak, that nothing’s going to happen at the end of that clip if we don’t move on.

Given you’re a morning show guy, do you pound coffee all night to stay awake?

These hours are pretty brutal for me. It’s definitely a challenge for me to push that late. I’ve tested this, unfortunately: If I drink too much, it’s a real pain, literally. I don’t get to go inside between 8 and 11. When the news comes on [I get a bathroom break].

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Do you get nervous at this point?

I get excited. It’s more of an adrenaline rush and I try and tap into that because that excitement conveyed on camera is good. We can’t control many things that happen in Times Square so as long as I know what’s coming up next in my head, at least I’ve got some place to go if something goes wrong.

Since weather can be unpredictable, do you favor a warmer New Year’s Eve or are you okay if it’s bitter cold?

The bitter cold’s difficult. I think it was one year not too long ago, it was subzero. And it was difficult to move your mouth to say the words that you wanted. It was like your head was speaking, but your mouth wasn’t moving as fast. However, one of the years I had the most fun was when it rained, it poured rain and I was soaking wet and it rained all night. It just gave us more to the story and more of something to talk about throughout the night. I fear the frigid, frigid temperatures more than any other element.

Any crew traditions develop over the years?

Talking somebody into serving us sushi at 2 in the morning!

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2022, Friday, December 31, 8/7c, ABC