Ryan Seacrest and Liza Koshy discuss hosting Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve

Saturday, December 31, 2022
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- There's a stacked cast of performers and personalities for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve with Ryan Seacrest.

Duran Duran and New Edition will perform along with some of the latest global stars, like the K-pop star J-Hope and Tik-Tok sensation Jax.

Performers across all genres and generations will take the stage in LA, New Orleans, and Puerto Rico but the festivities will be led, as always, from Times Square.

Tens of millions of people will gather to ring in the new year in their own special way.

"It's like the one moment that it seems everybody in this country is on the same page," Ryan Seacrest said. "Yeah it's the one moment we all seem aligned in saying 'Happy New Year.'"

Seacrest and co-host Liza Koshy will join revelers again in Times Square.

"This man is an athlete," Koshy quipped. "He is America's most valuable player. What he does is a sport. He's narrating. He's running across town. The amount of steps. I was trying to convince him to put a pedometer on his ankle because the amount of steps that he takes is insane. All across Times Square."

They passed the hours last year in the freezing cold and got soaking wet talking to die-hard fans of the New Year's celebration.

Good practice for this year when rain is in the forecast again.

"It will change a little bit of the story that we tell, but it really won't," Seacrest said. "It doesn't really affect me."

The crossroads of the world will look like it did before the pandemic caused officials to restrict the size of the crowd in previous years.

The show will also take place at other locations across the country including Disneyland for the first time with Ciara hosting from just outside of Sleeping Beauty's castle.

"Lots of performances, so two west coast parties, and then all of the time zone parties," Seacrest said. "We could do a seven-hour show, but it's only six and a half."

The show is called Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in memory of the man who led this celebration for so long.

"It looked so easy, and now that we're there, we kinda know it's not," Seacrest said recalling his time as co-host with Clark. "But man did he pull it off and I do think about that. Yeah."

The celebration is also a chance to give back with select organizations being featured throughout the program as "Catalysts for Compassion."

These are non-profits that fight for equity, help those facing mental health or substance abuse issues, rescue abused animals, and support LGBTQ+ people nationwide. The charities were chosen by the co-hosts of the show.

Even with some new locations and new faces joining the celebration this year, the program remains a yearly tradition for many households across the country.

"It is a tradition to tune in to ABC," Seacrest said. "It's a tradition I grew up with. It's a tradition that people say they're teaching their kids to grow up with."

Watch Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest live on Saturday, December 31, beginning at 8/7c on ABC.
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