CBS News and Simon & Schuster Partner On Podcast and Book by Mo Rocca, MOBITUARIES

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 Jan. 17 with eight weekly episodes in the first season. Each episode, in the tradition of CBS 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.

Mobituaries 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 and Stitcher.