There's nothing fluffy about Wilmer Valderrama's probing new podcast.
In E! News' exclusive first trailer released on Tuesday, July 20, the 41-year-old NCIS star explains why he is hosting Essential Voices. The previously announced podcast, which is a part of iHeartMedia's My Cultura and produced by Clamor Media, focuses on interviews with the essential workers who have been vital in keeping the country afloat amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, in addition to looking at how their roles continue to shift. This iHeartMedia project, which was also produced by WV Entertainment, launches Tuesday, July 27, and new episodes can be heard on subsequent Tuesdays.
"Hola, I'm Wilmer Valderrama, and I'm excited to share with you my new podcast, Essential Voices," the That '70s Show alum says. "Each week on Essential Voices, we'll talk with an essential worker. We'll talk with truck drivers, teachers, mental health professionals, grocery store workers—folks who have kept society going during COVID and will keep it going long after."
He adds, "How can we continue supporting these folks as the nature of the pandemic continues shifting? After we hear their story, our team digs a little deeper through a roundtable discussion between thought leaders."
One individual tells the host, "Normally, EMS in New York City does 3,500 runs a day. Last year, it was like a bomb hit. It went to 7,000 runs a day. Thirty-five-year-old people who couldn't breathe—you feel like you can save them, they went into cardiac arrest. And then we started to get sick, and we started to die. I've had 10 medics and EMTs pass away from COVID. I've also had four of them commit suicide."
Check out the exclusive preview in the above video, and catch the first Essential Voices episode on Tuesday, July 27.