Todd Purdum joins Zach to unpack Desi Arnaz’s wild arc: raised like a prince in Cuba, exiled at 16 by revolution, hustling in Miami, inventing the conga craze, then conquering Broadway and Hollywood with Lucille Ball. We dig into trauma that fueled his genius, the invention of the three-camera sitcom, catching "Lightning In A Bottle" with I Love Lucy, womanizing, marriage cracks and goodbyes, and the fingerprints Desi left on modern television.
Guest bio: Todd S. Purdum is a veteran journalist and author whose forty-year career has spanned The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Politico, and The Atlantic. He’s covered everything from city hall to the White House, served as diplomatic correspondent and Los Angeles bureau chief, and written definitive books on both Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution and the political drama behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He is the author of 'Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television.'
This is only the first half of the episode with Todd Purdum. To get the full episode (audio and video), subscribe to The Zach Show 2.0 today: https://thezachshow.supercast.com/
TODD PURDUM LINKS:
Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television: https://bit.ly/4opO7St
Author Page: http://bit.ly/3L0BoY6
New York Times Archive: https://www.nytimes.com/by/todd-s-purdum
All Books: http://bit.ly/3J97tMU
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