We are back! In this week’s episode, we chat about what we’ve been up to this summer! Erika tells us about all the newfound adventures in cake making and starting a business that has surprisingly taken off in 2023 and Luci has some big news to share! We have missed chatting all things Lucy but will be resuming episodes every other week! Thank you for sticking with us and let us know what you’d love to hear from us!

Hey, Lucy fans! We are back this week with another I Love Lucy inspiration episode of 'My Favorite Husband", Liz Changes Her Mind"... and if this sounds familiar, it is! This script is what inspired the 'Lucy Changes Her Mind' episode from Season 2 (our next recap). Luci explains what this episode is about and we get to travel back in time and listen to the original broadcast from June 24, 1949.

She went one "I dare you" too far This week, we chat about’The Black Eye”- the infamous black eye that everyone seems to get in this episode! We discuss all the misunderstandings and underlying serious issues surrounding them. We have some trivia, too!

Hello, Having a Ball listeners! This week, Luci discusses an episode of ‘My Favorite Husband’ - chatting about some interesting facts about the show and cast members. You will then hear the episode as it was played in 1951. Next week we will compare this episode and ‘The Black Eye’ on I Love Lucy!

Movie Review! This week, we review the 1942 film, ‘The Big Street’ starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. Director Irving Reis Writers Leonard Spigelgass(screenplay) Damon Runyon(from the Collier's Magazine story "Little Pinks"

This week, we recap Season 2, Episode 18: "Inferiority Complex". As Lucy struggles to feel good about herself, her loved ones certainly don't help with criticisms of her. We chat about the real life issue of depression, psychiatry, family support and how it was handled in the 1950's. Our hearts were with poor Lucy in this episode! Let us know what you think of this recap and please rate and review our podcast.

A HANDY DANDY NEW EPISODE! A message from our host this week, Luci: “Hello everyone and welcome back to Having a Ball podcast! Please don't mind my voice I'm getting over a bought of bronchitis. I'm so glad to be back with this week's episode, ‘Sales Resistance’ In another flashback episode- Ricky, Fred and Ethel start reminiscing about the Handy Dandy company and how Lucy has no sales resistance. I discuss fun facts from this episode including vacuum brands, plays, and guest stars! Next week we will be back to our normal scheduled episodes and I thank you all for giving us some time.

The time has come! Go! Little Ricky is finally born! This week, Erika is joined once again by Michael Mooney of 'Papermoon Loves Lucy'- one of our favorite sources for all things Lucy! We chat about the history-making episode 'Lucy Goes to the Hospital'- Desi Arnaz, Jr and Little Ricky being born the same day, the massive number of viewers that tuned in, and what President was overshadowed by this birth?!

“Such form! Such rhythm! Such movement!” Erika here, today I’m flying solo while Luci takes a break. But, the reviews continue! This week we review “Lucy Becomes A Sculptress”- where she essentially panics at the notion that she needs to become a world famous artist overnight for the sake of their baby’s future! We chat all things impending baby panics, fun trivia about the guest stars in this episode and the absolute brilliance of Lucy’s facial physical comedy!

A STAG PARTY?! This week we recap :'Ricky Has Labor Pains'. We chat about all the feelings Ricky suddenly gets once Lucy focuses more on their baby's impending birth. So many ways to discuss the dynamics of men and women and how they handle a marriage once a baby is involved. We also chat the "medicine" used to make Ricky feel better and of course, the crazy pregnancy cravings are back!

AY-EE-EYE-OH-YOU! This week we chat about Lucy hiring a tutor! Not just any tutor- a walking thesaurus of a man who also sings about tippy-toeing through his garden! The tutor is played by Hans Conrad- who also had a career history with Lucille Ball. We chat about Lucy’s pregnancy cravings, our own cravings and raising kids with “perfect” English! Thank you for listening!

This week we discuss ‘Lucy's Showbiz Swan Song‘ Season 2, episode 12. Ricky needs an act for his ‘Gay 90's’ revue, and Lucy decides this will be her last hurrah before having her baby. Pepito Pérez AKA Pepito the Clown makes an appearance and we discuss some of the fun ways wardrobe tried to hide Lucy's baby belly. We discuss a lot of songs and barbershop quartets, we even read a fun quote from Vivian Vance that gives us a look into how the cast thinks and interacts with each other! Thanks again for listening and as always, please leave a review and if you have any questions or thoughts leave them in the comments or email us!

Happy New Year! We are back continuing Season 2 recaps and this week we chat about ‘Pregnant Women are Unpredictable’. Oh, the names they go through to end up at Ricky Ricardo, Jr! We chat about choosing baby names, breakfast in bed and how Lucille dealt with pregnancy all together!

We are near the end of 2022 and we have had a ton of fun on Having A Ball Podcast this year! This week, we are throwing it back a year and Erika has chosen her favorite episode from December 2021 - interview with George Pennacchio of ABC7, Los Angeles. (Description from December 20, 2021): As the streaming premiere date on Amazon Prime of ‘Being The Ricardos’ approaches, Erika of Having A Ball Podcast chats with ABC7 News (Los Angeles) Entertainment reporter, George Pennacchio. Not only does George have an extensive career in Los Angeles covering and Interviewing Hollywood’s A-list celebrities, he is a huge Lucille Ball fan with an enviable collection of Lucy memorabilia. We chat about what how his love of Lucy began, some of the items he has collected for many years and his thoughts on the newly released ‘Being The Ricardos’,. He tells us about interviewing Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem and the extensive research they did to capture the essence of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

Lucy Is Enceinte! (En-chant? En-sient?) We are finally entering the Ricardo pregnancy episodes! Here, we discuss Season 2, Episode 10, Lucy is excited to find out they are expecting a baby and finding the perfect way and time to let Ricky know. We chat about our own pregnancy stories, how Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz showed genuine and true feelings throughout this announcement and how this made television history! There is much history and trivia behind this episode alone and it is right up there with one of the most popular episodes of 'I Love Lucy'.

This week we had the pleasure of speaking with the authors of ‘Bob Crane: The Definitive Biography’, Carol M. Ford and Linda Groundwater. As a follow-up to our podcast episode last summer about Bob Crane, we finally connected with these fabulous ladies! To say this is an extensive look at the life, legacy and mysterious death of Bob Crane is an understatement. They tell us of the 12-year journey they were on to finally have the book published- which included: countless hours, extensive interviews (over 200!) and an obvious labor of love, yhisb was a fun and educational conversation.

This week's episode recap is Season 2, Episode 9: 'Ricky Loses His Voice'. As we dive into the episode, we see Ricky unable to stage a show due to losing his voice from what seems like a cold or flu of some kind. Lucy sees this as an opportunity to put on a vaudevillian review using the same dancers from 1927 (it's now 1952). The episode focuses on the difference between men and women when bedridden with a cold or other ailments. We chat about the dancers, who are familiar 'I Love Lucy' background stand-ins. This is a fun Charleston-esque episode. How do you handle being sick?