NEW YORK, January 15 —CBS News and Simon & Schuster announced a joint podcast/book project by popular CBS Sunday Morning correspondent, humorist, and history buff Mo Rocca. Rocca’s long love of obituaries has led him to Mobituaries, an irreverent but deeply researched appreciation of the people (and things) of the past who have long intrigued him—from an unsung Founding Father to the first Chinese-American superstar, from Neanderthals to the station wagon.

The Mobituaries podcast premieres January 17^th with eight weekly episodes in the first season. Each episode, in the tradition of Sunday Morning, is richly produced, consisting of Rocca’s narrated storytelling combined with his original interviews (e.g., President Bill Clinton, whose inauguration pushed Audrey Hepburn’s obit off the front page) and some never-before-heard voices from the past, courtesy of the CBS News archives.

The Mobituaries book will be published in November 2019, to coincide with the second season, and will offer new, original stories combined with expanded “Mobits” from the podcast.

“Why should it be only the rich and famous who get obits? With Mobituaries we’re celebrating extraordinary people whose names you may not remember,” Rocca said. “Plus sitcom characters, historical epochs and even snack foods that have all bitten the dust. Oh, and we’re also including rich and famous people because, come on, who doesn’t love Audrey Hepburn?”

“Who better to take CBS Sunday Morning to a new place than our resident humorist/historian Mo Rocca? Mobituaries has been a delight for us to work on – Sunday Morning story-telling in a longer form – with rich never-before-told yarns,” said Rand Morrison, executive producer of CBS Sunday Morning.

“Mo Rocca has a flair for storytelling with an abundance of humor, history, and heart,” said Jonathan Karp, president and publisher of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing. “Our hope is that Mobituaries will be an extremely pleasurable matter of life and death for podcast listeners and readers. We’re looking forward to sharing it with the world.”

Mo Rocca is a Correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning, host of The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation, and host and creator of the Cooking Channel’s My Grandmother’s Ravioli, in which he learns to cook from grandmothers and grandfathers across the country. He is also a frequent panelist on NPR’s hit weekly quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! Mo spent four seasons as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Listen to Mobituaries on:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Play Podcasts
Stitcher

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CBS News is the news and information division of CBS Corporation, dedicated to providing the highest quality journalism under standards it pioneered and continues to set in today’s digital age. Headquartered in the famed CBS Broadcast Center in New York, CBS News has bureaus across the globe and produces influential, critically acclaimed programs providing original reporting, interviews, investigations, analysis and breaking news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. CBS News provides news and information for the CBS Television Network, CBSN, CBSNews.com, CBS News Radio and CBS Mobile. CBS News is home to the nation’s #1 news program, 60 Minutes, CBSN, the 24/7 digital streaming news network, and the award-winning broadcasts CBS This Morning, Co-Hosted by John Dickerson, Norah O’Donnell, Gayle King and Bianna Golodryga, The CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor, CBS Sunday Morning, 48 Hours and Face the Nation.

 

Simon & Schuster, a part of CBS Corporation, is a global leader in general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for readers of all ages, and in all printed, digital and audio formats. Its distinguished roster of authors includes many of the world’s most popular and widely recognized writers, and winners of the most prestigious literary honors and awards. It is home to numerous well-known imprints and divisions such as Simon & Schuster, Scribner, Atria Books, Gallery Books, Pocket Books, Touchstone, Adams Media, Threshold Editions, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing and Simon & Schuster Audio and international companies in Australia, Canada, India and the United Kingdom, and proudly brings the works of its authors to readers in more than 200 countries and territories. For more information visit our website at www.simonandschuster.com

 

Contacts:
Cary Goldstein
VP/Executive Director of Publicity
212-698-1122
Cary.Goldstein@simonandschuster.com

Larry Hughes
Associate Director of Publicity
212-632-4992
Larry.Hughes@simonandschuster.com