Carrie Keagan

Carrie Keagan
Keagan at the 38th People's Choice Awards in 2012
Carrie Keagan
Born	7/4/1980
Birthplace	Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television personality, actress, writer, producer
Employer	VH1, NGTV
Known for	Up Close with Carrie Keagan; Big Morning Buzz Live

Carrie Keagan (born July 4, 1980) is an American television personality, actress, writer, and producer. She came to prominence as the host of the long-running celebrity interview program Up Close with Carrie Keagan on the digital network NGTV, where her uncensored style of conversation with film, music, and television guests helped distinguish the show from more conventional entertainment news programming. From 2011 onward she served as the host of VH1's morning program Big Morning Buzz Live, a role that elevated her national profile within the entertainment-news landscape. Keagan has also worked as a panelist on Fox News Channel's Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld, the E! talk show Chelsea Lately hosted by Chelsea Handler, and VH1 Classic's Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp, in addition to hosting duties for E!, VH1, and G4's Attack of the Show!. In 2016 she joined the cast of NBC's The New Celebrity Apprentice, and she has since taken on red carpet hosting duties for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. She is the author of the 2016 memoir Everybody Curses, I Swear!

Early Life

Keagan was born on July 4, 1980, and was raised in Buffalo, New York. Profiles in local press have emphasized her Buffalo upbringing as a defining element of her identity, with media coverage from her hometown frequently noting her rise from western New York to national television. After establishing herself in entertainment media, Keagan continued to be identified in interviews and feature stories as a Buffalo native, and she has spoken publicly about her connection to the city in print and broadcast appearances.

Career

Up Close with Carrie Keagan and NGTV

Keagan's signature project is Up Close with Carrie Keagan, a celebrity interview program that aired on NGTV, an independent digital entertainment network. The show's format featured Keagan conducting long-form, uncensored interviews with actors, musicians, and other public figures, often during promotional press junkets. The program built a substantial online following through video clips posted on YouTube and other platforms, and the show's irreverent tone — distinct from the standard scripted nature of broadcast entertainment news — became Keagan's calling card within the industry.

Her work on Up Close positioned Keagan as an interviewer willing to ask questions and elicit responses that more traditional outlets typically avoided. The show's catalog grew to include thousands of celebrity interviews over the course of its run, and Keagan continued to operate the brand alongside her broadcast work.

Big Morning Buzz Live on VH1

In 2011, Keagan was named the host of VH1's daily morning program Big Morning Buzz Live. The program aired live from New York City and combined celebrity interviews, music performances, and pop-culture commentary in a format intended to bring a morning-show structure to a cable music network. Her hiring was covered in industry trade press as a notable transition from digital-first programming to mainstream cable television.

Keagan hosted Big Morning Buzz Live through multiple seasons, with VH1 publicizing her continued role in the program alongside companion series such as The Gossip Table. A December 2012 Grub Street feature profiling Keagan during her tenure described her as the "host of VH1's Big Morning Buzz Live" and chronicled her daily routine in New York City during the show's production.

Other television work

In addition to her hosting roles, Keagan has worked extensively as a panelist and guest contributor across cable television. She appeared as a recurring panelist on Fox News Channel's Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld, hosted by Greg Gutfeld, and made appearances on Chelsea Lately, the E! late-night talk show. She was also featured on VH1 Classic's Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp and hosted segments for E!, VH1, and G4's Attack of the Show!.

The New Celebrity Apprentice

In late 2016 and early 2017, Keagan joined the cast of NBC's The New Celebrity Apprentice, the rebooted version of the reality competition franchise hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Coverage of the season highlighted Keagan's existing television experience and her transition from interviewer to reality competitor.

In the weeks leading up to the season's premiere, Keagan publicly criticized Donald Trump's continued executive producer role on the program following his election as President of the United States, telling BuzzFeed News that the arrangement was problematic. In a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter published around the same time, Keagan stated that she had previously declined an offer from Trump to campaign on his behalf during the 2016 election cycle.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame red carpet

In 2018, Keagan was selected to host the first live-streamed red carpet broadcast of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, an exclusive announced by Billboard in April of that year. The assignment marked the first time the institution had offered a dedicated live red carpet stream for the induction ceremony.

Keagan returned to host the red carpet again for the 34th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2019, an event whose inductees included Def Leppard, Stevie Nicks, Radiohead, Janet Jackson, The Cure, Roxy Music, and The Zombies. Billboard announced her return to the role in a March 2019 exclusive.

Acting work

Alongside her hosting career, Keagan has worked as an actress in film and television. Her filmography includes the 2019 television movie A Beauty & The Beast Christmas, in which she appeared alongside Donna Mills, Stephen Nichols, and Dylan Vox. Her overall acting and television credits are catalogued through her professional industry profile.

Writing

In 2016, Keagan published a memoir titled Everybody Curses, I Swear!, which drew on her experience as a celebrity interviewer and her career in entertainment media. She discussed the book in a January 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter that coincided with her appearance on The New Celebrity Apprentice. Promotional material for the book characterized it as a memoir of her unconventional path through Hollywood interview culture.

Personal Life

Keagan has generally kept the details of her personal life out of the press, though she has discussed elements of her daily routine and tastes in lifestyle features. In a December 2012 Grub Street "New York Diet" interview, she described herself as "all over the place" with food and discussed favorite restaurants and dishes she frequented while hosting Big Morning Buzz Live in New York City.

In interviews around the time of her appearance on The New Celebrity Apprentice, Keagan also spoke about political subjects, including her decision not to campaign for Donald Trump during the 2016 election and her objections to his continued involvement with the Apprentice franchise after the election.

Recognition

Keagan's profile within the entertainment-news industry has been chronicled in trade and consumer press throughout her career. Trade outlet Adweek covered her transition from independent digital programming on NGTV to a network hosting role with VH1, framing her career as an example of crossover success between online and traditional television formats. Hometown coverage in The Buffalo News similarly profiled her national rise from a Buffalo background.

Her selection in 2018 as the inaugural host of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's live-streamed red carpet broadcast represented an industry recognition of her experience conducting music-oriented celebrity interviews, and her return engagement in 2019 indicated the continuation of that role. Coverage of her selection in Billboard described her as bringing an established interviewing style to the Hall of Fame's expanded digital programming.

Keagan's identity as an interviewer has also been formalized through library and authority records: she is catalogued in the Library of Congress Name Authority File and the Virtual International Authority File.