It’s been a big year for Ryan Seacrest, whose 2024 career highlights have included his 22nd season as the host of American Idol (which will return on the 2025 TV schedule) and taking over for Pat Sajak — one of the best game show hosts of all time — on Wheel of Fortune. The celebrations aren’t over yet, though, and come December 31, he’ll reach one more big milestone — two decades of hosting Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. Seacrest marked the upcoming occasion with a social media montage, and good gravy, has it really been 20 years?
Dick Clark was a huge figure in pop culture as a radio personality, game show host and, of course, American Bandstand. New Year’s Rockin’ Eve is a big part of his legacy, too, allowing people to watch the ball drop in New York City’s Times Square since he first produced the music special in 1972. Everything changed in 2004, when Clark suffered a stroke and was no longer able to host on his own. Ryan Seacrest has been there ever since, as you can see in the Instagram video below:
While it is kind of hard to remember a time when Ryan Seacrest didn’t hold every single hosting job available (that’s only a slight exaggeration), it’s also pretty unbelievable that for two whole decades the American Idol host has been leading us in “Auld Lang Syne.” I’m afraid when I wake up tomorrow, Pat Sajak will have been off of Wheel of Fortune for six years rather than six months.
Speaking of the passage of time not making any sense whatsoever, did someone forget to start the clock on Ryan Seacrest’s aging process? I know Paul Rudd is the quintessential example of never aging, but how many people could you show a montage of like the one above — with a photo from each of the last 20 years — and have them look astoundingly the same? It wouldn’t work for me, that’s for sure. The nerve of this guy to have all these jobs and still find time to drink from the fountain of youth!
I say this all in jest, of course, because you have to respect how much work Ryan Seacrest has put in to get such esteemed positions in the entertainment industry, and it would be hard to deny that he’s one of the best at what he does. That fact has never been more apparent than earlier this year when he was able to win over Wheel of Fortune audiences pretty handily when he started hosting one of America’s favorite game shows.
One thing for viewers to be on the lookout for this year when they gather to watch the end-of-year celebrations is if and how Ryan Seacrest’s mini-New Year's feud with Andy Cohen will continue. This fall, the two hosts agreed to end their rivalry, but you never know when the excitement of the holiday might get the better of them.
If you want to see Ryan Seacrest’s 20th year as the host of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, tune in starting at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, December 31, on ABC.
