Wilmer Valderrama is doing a deep dive on the life, career and legacy of Desi Arnaz.
The veteran star has launched Starring: Desi Arnaz & Wilmer Valderrama, a 10-part podcast series from IHeartMedia and My Cultura Podcast Network. The first three episodes dropped today, a date that is no coincidence as Oct. 15 marks the 74th anniversary of the iconic sitcom I Love Lucy, which starred Arnaz as bandleader Ricky Ricardo opposite his real-life wife Lucille Ball as the zany Lucy Ricardo. Valderrama hosts and executive produces the series under his exclusive slate with My Cultura Podcast Network, which is dedicated to elevating Latino voices and stories. Journalist Erick Galindo, who created and hosts Ídolo: The Ballad of Chalino Sánchez, executive produces with Valderrama.
Starring: Desi Arnaz and Wilmer Valderrama
Courtesy of iHeart Media
Starring: Desi Arnaz & Wilmer Valderrama will guide listeners through Arnaz’s trailblazing life as one of Hollywood’s most iconic Latino performers. The Cuba-born Arnaz became a major industry player following the success of I Love Lucy, and Valderrama credits him with inspiring his own entertainment career. The podcast finds him weaving in personal reflections while exploring how Arnaz’s influence shaped his path and culture at large.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Valderrama recalled watching I Love Lucy while growing up in Venezuela where the show was dubbed in Spanish. It wasn’t until he moved to the United States and started learning English that he realized just how much of an inspiration Arnaz was for him.
“I wanted to be like him, I wanted to dress like him and be an entertainer like him. I knew I could because his name was Ricky Ricardo and he kind of looked like me,” Valderrama explained. “I became very obsessed with learning everything about I Love Lucy and everything he did professionally through his production company, Desilu Productions. Yes, he was entertaining but I gained a new level of appreciation for him because he built something and made things happen for himself at a time when others would not have been given the same opportunities to lead on an entrepreneurial level like he did.
Valderrama said it was especially inspiring to look at Arnaz’s credits on such shows as I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Mannix, The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek.
“He was an example for me to say that if I wanted to get in the game that I needed to put on my own jersey and walk on the field and start playing. I couldn’t wait for anybody to invite me to the party,” continued Valderrama, who learned more about their shared history while writing his memoir An American Story: Everyone’s Invited. “I learned from Desi — through all of the interviews, conservations, books and research that we compiled — that if you said you were going to do [a project], then do it and be intentional. He was going to hold you accountable until it got done.”
As for how they mapped out the 10 episodes, Valderrama said it’s always a “tricky” endeavor to bottle up someone’s lifetime so he leaned on a great piece of advice he once received while writing his book. “Pretend you’re on a road trip and if you only had two hours to tell somebody your life story, start there. If you get through it in two hours, then you’ve got the first section. From there, you expand it and break down the different sections of your story and keep going from the next section to the next section. That’s what we tried to do. We looked at Desi’s trajectory and leave bread crumbs about my story and the influences there and how it tracks with his. We intertwine the stories in a relatable way to get to the essence of the journey in a such a way that someone can listen, and it hopefully will be relevant to the next Desi or Wilmer tomorrow.”
The series is co-produced by Valderrama’s audio production company, WV Sound, and follows earlier podcast launches for the network like More Better with Stephanie & Melissa, Forgive Me For I Have Followed and Dos Amigos, which Valderrama co-hosts alongside Freddy Rodriguez. New episodes drop Wednesdays on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard.
“Our partnership with Wilmer and WV Sound has brought many powerful and authentic stories to the network,” explained Leo Gomez, head of iHeartMedia’s My Cultura Podcast Network. “Starring: Desi Arnaz & Wilmer Valderrama celebrates one of the most influential Latino icons and gives audiences from all walks of life incredible insight into the depth of his impact on culture and storytelling.”
The My Cultura Podcast Network’s credits include Chiquis and Chill, The Moment with Jorge Ramos and Paola Ramos, Princess of South Beach, Wrestling with Freddie, Sacred Scandal, Radio Ambulante, Magical Rewind, He Said, Ella Dijo with Eric Winter and Roselyn Sanchez, Enrique Santos Podcast, You vs You with Lex Borrero and more. Eva Longoria and her studio Hyphenate Media Group recently joined Valderrama as stakeholders. All My Cultura shows are distributed by iHeartPodcasts.