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CNN Live Event/Special
New Year's Eve Live: Countdown To 2020. Aired 1-1:30a ET
Aired January 01, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, nine, eight, seven, six --
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Five, four, three, two, one. Happy New Year! Happy New Year Nashville, Tennessee. Welcome to the roaring 20s.
For auld lang syne my dear, for auld lang syne.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm loving those fireworks.
LEMON: I know. It's beautiful. Keith Urban is right. It is the roaring 20s. I think that's a good way to put it, the roaring 20s.
BALDWIN: I love that.
LEMON: This is going to be the best time of our lives, don't you think? I hope.
BALDWIN: Yes.
LEMON: Yes?
BALDWIN: Yes. I just can't believe it's a new decade.
LEMON: What are you going to do with your 20s?
BALDWIN: 20s.
LEMON: We're 20 all over again.
BALDWIN: We're so young.
LEMON: We're 20 all over again. Look at all the beautiful people here.
BALDWIN: Wow.
LEMON: An amazingly great crowd of people.
BALDWIN: It's so special just to -- just to mark the passage of time.
LEMON: It is. To mark the passage of time and I mean, think about it. Gosh.
BALDWIN: I know. I know. You're not -- I know.
LEMON: I remember the 1900s. It was the mark of the passage of time. We live in a really great, fantastic country.
BALDWIN: We do.
LEMON: We work for a great company.
BALDWIN: We do.
LEMON: We do what we love.
BALDWIN: Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude.
LEMON: So we're all loving it.
BALDWIN: Take those little moments --
LEMON: And my tattoo, my run for office in 2020. Are you excited for me?
BALDWIN: No comment.
LEMON: Who should be at the bottom of the ticket?
BALDWIN: No comment.
LEMON: Do you want to run? Would you like to be my running mate?
BALDWIN: No. I got other things I want to do.
LEMON: Like, go on.
BALDWIN: We'll see.
LEMON: Go on. Tell me.
BALDWIN: No, I mean --
LEMON: Come on. Now with our hair down, we always let our hair down all the time.
BALDWIN: I know. I know.
LEMON: What do you want to do?
BALDWIN: I don't know. I want to -- I want to do a book. I want to lift women's voices. I believe empowered women, empower women. I have -- I have things I want to -- I want to do for women in this country. I really believe strongly in that.
LEMON: Yes?
BALDWIN: Yes. I want to help be that person to help create a movement in some -- in some form or fashion. If I can just help just a little bit. That's it. That's all I need to do. But you can run for president. Don Lemon for President.
LEMON: I just want -- I just want us to come back together again as a country. I want us to stop being so insensitive. I want to get rid of the stupid, racist, and homophobes, and bigots. I'm sick of that. I'm sick of promoting that and hearing about it.
BALDWIN: I know. It's unfortunate -- they just shout it out, CNN. I love it. No, but I don't want to stop what your saying. No, I feel like you know, whatever -- listen, I'm from the south, you're from the south. We know -- we are familiar with many, many perspectives. And that's the beautiful thing about living in America.
But it just feels like living in America now, people are just so silo. They're so in their own corners and you just say dialogue.
LEMON: It's become toxic a bit. And, you know, the people I grew up with. I grew up in the south as well. I went to LSU. By the way, Go Tigers. They're doing very well this year. Joe Burrow, yes. Go Tigers. Yes. So I want to see that again. I want people to come back together. And I'm tired of people fighting and I'm tired of people like --
BALDWIN: They will. They will. The pendulum will swing back --
LEMON: -- walking through the crowd and people giving me white power signs. It's disgusting. Stop it, America. That's not what we're about. So anyway, on a positive note --
BALDWIN: Yes, I love you, man.
LEMON: I got to spend Christmas with my mom and my family and you do too.
BALDWIN: I know. You guys were all it. We were down in Patagonia, the southern tip of Chile hiking and super unplugs, far, far away. And it was absolutely some of the most beautiful part of the world I've ever been in, (INAUDIBLE) and his parents. Thank you, Chile. Thank you. Patagonia. It was absolutely beautiful. And I'm swinging on back home in New York with you in Nashville.
LEMON: We had a great, great time. We were hanging out with my mom at my house, the house in Long Island. We had a Christmas party. We had violins, Tim's nephew got violins. We had a choir. A Christmas carols came over. We had 90 people. My mom cater the entire thing. We had gumbo, we had crawfish bisque, we had seafood --
[01:05:01]
BALDWIN: His mom can cook.
LEMON: Everything. We had mac and cheese, we had cakes, we had other things.
BALDWIN: Hi mom! Actually, hi to both of our moms.
LEMON: Great holiday season and we're going to ring in the New Year together. We're going to be back for another round of everything from Nashville, live.
BALDWIN: So go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:05:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Everything. We had mac 'n' cheese. We had pigs (ph) we had --
(CROSSTALK)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Mom (ph).
Actually --
LEMON: -- we're going to ring in the New Year together. We're going to be back for another round of everything from Nashville.
BALDWIN: Don't go anywhere.
LEMON: Live.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
LEMON: Did you see all those beautiful pictures of people out there spending their New Year's Eve?
BALDWIN: Yes. I love it.
LEMON: Happy New Year's Eve, America.
BALDWIN: Happy New Year's Eve.
LEMON: It is now officially 2020 here in the Central Time Zone. Still partying in Nashville.
I mean come on, it's been a blast, don't you think?
BALDWIN: It's always a blast. We still have so much more to go. So hang on. We have much more partying, more performances as well, including Stevie Nicks.
LEMON: Yes.
BALDWIN: But first let's go to our girl, Stephanie Elam.
LEMON: I was trying to think of a Stevie Nicks song, lyrics.
(CROSSTALK) LEMON: Stephanie Elam, I hear music.
Were you crowdsurfing?
BALDWIN: She's with Shaq.
What's up, Stephanie?
LEMON: I don't think Stephanie can hear us. She can't hear.
BALDWIN: We know what that's like. It happens. You roll with it.
LEMON: What about Gary Tuchman?
We know he's in New York City with his daughter.
BALDWIN: Gary is in Queens.
You thought you had a big surprise. Gary's got something else going on.
LEMON: Gary is literally -- he has breaking news. He's always shot out of a cannon.
BALDWIN: Gary Tuchman.
Hey, Lindsay.
Hi, Gary.
Happy new year, you guys.
[01:10:00]
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy new year to you. We're at the Element Festival on the border of Brooklyn and Queens. This is my daughter, Lindsay Tuchman. And this is kind of like an indoor Burning Man festival. It's not just loud and wonderful techno music but also some amazing experiences.
LINDSAY TUCHMAN, GARY'S DAUGHTER: I have no idea what you're saying.
(LAUGHTER)
G. TUCHMAN: We can't hear each other.
L. TUCHMAN: It is so loud but it's really fun. There's a deejay going right now and everyone is actually facing us right now. But they're also partying and they're having a great time. There's an art installation, (INAUDIBLE) near the bounce house, which we haven't done yet.
G. TUCHMAN: What we want to show you right now, this is The Rocket.
(CROSSTALK)
G. TUCHMAN: I'm going to show you how it works. Hold my microphone.
L. TUCHMAN: He's getting in right now. It looks like a cage but it's actually a rocket ship. This is a space-themed party and that's a rocket ship.
You should get in it. Oh, boy.
I was warned that he was going to be embarrassing tonight and now it looks like he has succeeded in doing that.
G. TUCHMAN: You couldn't hear me. What I was saying was, this is a rocket. It's like a lunar module. They do acrobatic activities. The reason I was able to do somewhat of an acrobatic activity on this is because I've had no wine and no champagne tonight. And that's why I'm able to do a thing.
(INAUDIBLE) earlier (INAUDIBLE) --
Which ear should I talk in?
(CROSSTALK)
G. TUCHMAN: Lindsay and I earlier, (INAUDIBLE), we roller skated around here.
L. TUCHMAN: No, no, no. I roller skated. He roller bladed with roller blades that he brought.
G. TUCHMAN: I'm an in-line skater. I've been doing it for 25 years. (INAUDIBLE) Talk about the disco, the silent disco.
L. TUCHMAN: Yes. If you guys have ever done a silent disco before, it's very fun. You put headphones on and you can listen to a deejay that no one else can hear. There's people partying over there to music we couldn't hear.
They were a little offbeat but it was fun. G. TUCHMAN: Anyway, it's been a wild rave, great time with famous deejays. (INAUDIBLE) one of the deejays is here. He's from Germany, famous in the techno world. Everyone is having a great time. This is a great way to start 2020. This is the Roaring '20s. We're back after 100 years.
LEMON: Gary, it's hard to believe -- oh, shit. Oh, I'm sorry. It's hard to believe Gary hasn't had one drink.
Sorry about that, Brooke?
BALDWIN: No. I love it, Lindsay is like, oh, my god, my dad, like I was worried I was going to be embarrassed. By the way, Gary Tuchman is the coolest dad.
LEMON: When did you ever think you'd see Gary Tuchman at a rave?
BALDWIN: I had breakfast with Gary and his wonderful wife, Kathy (ph), recently and she was like we're either going to go here or here for New Year's Eve. She was like, if it's a rave, deuces.
LEMON: Have you ever been to one of those silent discos?
BALDWIN: No, I've never even heard of it.
LEMON: It's so weird because only you can hear the music you're dancing to. So if you take it off, everyone is just like dancing around with no music.
BALDWIN: I want to share the music with everyone.
LEMON: Really, really weird. We have good music here, too.
BALDWIN: Stevie Nicks, Keith Urban, Amanda Shires, Jason Isbell.
LEMON: Why don't we listen now to Stevie Nicks and Keith Urban?
BALDWIN: Shall we?
LEMON: One of my favorite songs. I love this song.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, Stevie.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
[01:15:00]
BALDWIN: She is so everything.
LEMON: I love Keith Urban but I -- oh, my gosh.
BALDWIN: I'm not worthy, not worthy.
LEMON: Stevie Nicks is amazing. Two things before we move on.
I want to shout out Chatham Bingham (ph) and Adventure Tattoo for my tattoo earlier today. I know you don't believe. It is my tattoo. And I just want to say thank you to J. Crew. I had nothing to wear and they loaned me this fantastic outfit, so thank you, J. Crew.
BALDWIN: I just want to say again, hi, Mom. And my cute nephews, Richard and Hudson and Ryan and Renn (ph). I love you, guys.
LEMON: The Lemons and the Grimes in Louisiana, my family and my family in New York, the Malones.
Hi, fam. What's happening?
BALDWIN: Should we go to Stephanie Elam?
LEMON: No, I'm jealous. I don't want to go to Stephanie Elam. She's having way more fun than us. But I guess we can do it.
BALDWIN: Hi, Stephanie. I love the sequins.
LEMON: Hi, Elams. STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I said I would bring a little shimmy, shimmy. Hi, friends. Yes, we're having fun here in Denver. I did not know that they got down like this in Denver, with like 20,000 people here inside the convention center for two days of partying, just straight-up, EDM, electronic dance music for all of those who are not initiated.
(INAUDIBLE). But right now they're between acts. When you guys tried to come to me before, it was so loud. All I could hear was the vibration of the bass inside my body. Take a look. People are waiting for the next act. They're setting up right now for the next act.
But it is packed in here. Like as far back as you can see, there are people packed in here, ready to go, because we still have about 40 minutes until it is 2020, because, you know, right now, you guys are living in the future. Living in the future there.
But I got to tell you it's been so much fun. We were watching Shaq while he deejayed, had the crowd going. It was amped, it was live, it was a lot of fun and it was right when you guys were getting to the new year. So good time.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Can you hear me, Stephanie?
She can't hear me.
ELAM: I can hear you now, yes.
LEMON: Can you hear me or no?
How long have we known each other?
Has it been 15, 20 years?
Like years, decades we've known each other.
ELAM: Back when we were both in New York City back in the day. Back on the grind.
LEMON: Back in the '90s. Now it's the roaring '20s. Thanks, Steph. Happy new year. Love you.
BALDWIN: Happy new year.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Denver, that city knows how to party.
LEMON: Stephanie Elam and I went to a friend's wedding back in 1999. Gayle King was there.
[01:20:00]
LEMON: And they started calling me the dancing anchor. I was a little kid. I weighed about 20 pounds less.
BALDWIN: Little Don.
LEMON: Big ears, big teeth. Now not so skinny anymore.
So do you have resolutions or no?
BALDWIN: This is the first year I'm like -- I really was a resolutions person. But I really just -- I want to just -- I don't know, be my best self, take a moment to breathe. I mean what we do is -- what we do is a privilege. But it's also not for the faint of heart.
And I just want to make sure I'm taking moments to just like breathe and meditate and be good on my body.
How about you?
LEMON: I'm going to lean in harder.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I'm going to lean in harder.
BALDWIN: What does that mean?
LEMON: I'm going to lean in harder. I'm sick of the craziness. So you thought I was -- I went hard in 2019. Watch 2020, baby. There's more to come. I'm a soldier. I'm ready to fight.
BALDWIN: It's a big year.
LEMON: It's a big year.
BALDWIN: For a lot of reasons.
LEMON: But I'm going to be more grateful, spend more time with my family but also lean into work harder. We got to get ready. It's an election year. We're on the grind.
BALDWIN: We are. But it truly is a privilege to do what we do.
And to all the people who say hello and thank you. It is an honor.
LEMON: It is.
BALDWIN: To sit in our seats and to have the voice we have and the platform we have.
LEMON: Have you ever had so many people come up to you and say thank you for what you do?
BALDWIN: I've never been high-fived more on a plane in my life.
LEMON: It's amazing, right?
BALDWIN: It's awesome.
So thank you so much.
And just thank you for hanging out with me one more year.
LEMON: How long have we known each other?
BALDWIN: It goes back Atlanta.
LEMON: 2008?
BALDWIN: Yes, I joined CNN in 2008. So you were one of my first favorite peeps.
LEMON: Oh, my gosh, 2008. I started there in 2006.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: -- freelance correspondent, pretty please, hire me.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I know but --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Brooke used to call me and say, how do I do this?
What do I do about this?
BALDWIN: How do I get a job? How do I get a job?
It's true.
LEMON: Now look at you. You're amazing. I love you.
BALDWIN: I love you.
LEMON: Happy new year.
Happy new year, Mom and Pugsley (ph) and Tim and James, who are hiding somewhere.
And happy new year, America.
BALDWIN: To our crew, thanks to our crew-ish. He's out but we love you, Ash (ph). Thank you so much for everything you've done and Jaymo (ph) and the whole crew. It takes a village.
LEMON: I'm sorry for ripping up the stage and jumping into the crowd, into the mosh pit.
But America and the world, we're broadcasting around the world. Enjoy the next year. Enjoy the new decade.
BALDWIN: We're right there with you. LEMON: It's going to be amazing. So goodbye, everyone.
BALDWIN: We're going to leave it with a special performance of Richard Marx.
LEMON: A beautiful song to start the new year. Good night. We love you.
BALDWIN: Good night. Good night, good night.
RICHARD MARX, COMPOSER AND PERFORMER: Hey, Brooke and Don, it's Richard. I'm here in Westbury, New York.
(APPLAUSE)
MARX: I'm so psyched to be part of this New Year's Eve special with you guys and I'm going to do this song for you, everybody out there in TV land, as well as the guys here. This is a song that I wrote with my friend, Chely Wright, and it's called "Happy New Year, Old Friend."
(MUSIC PLAYING)
[01:25:00]
MARX: Beautiful.
