Viceland hosts Desus and Mero bring the Bronx to JFL
Bronx-bred Desus and Mero have Montreal link thanks to their unparalleled talk show
They are late-night talk-show hosts unlike any others in the business. They didn’t graduate from an established communications school; in fact, they have no formal TV training at all. They eschew suits and ties in favour of T-shirts and sneakers. Their set is not some handsomely appointed collection of designer desks and couches; nah, they hold court in a room where a most menacing, taxidermied bear looks ready to spring on them and their guests.
They are Desus Nice and the Kid Mero, better known as the Bodega Boys (also the title of their popular podcast), and they are the hosts of Viceland’s first daily, late-night show, Desus and Mero. They hail from the gritty streets of the Bronx, where they met in high school and mastered the fine art of bants — an exchange of mocking comments.
And the bants will doubtless fly Saturday at Maison Théâtre when the guys hit Just for Laughs in The Bodega Boys Live With Desus Nice and the Kid Mero.
They will also host and perform in Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch, Friday at Monument National.
On their talk show, Desus and Mero (as they prefer to be called) engage in all manner of political, social, cultural and sports bantering. They are also quick to admit that they know very little about some of these subjects.
Regardless, this has not been a deterrent for a slew of A-listers to be on the show. Among their guests have been renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and renowned astro-rapper Sean (P. Diddy) Combs.
“We’re not seeking people out for the most part,” Mero says. “It’s funny, because a lot of people now are seeking us out on their own. They’re coming to us and asking if they can be on, and a lot of them are fans of the show. It’s crazy.”
“We have the most diverse latenight audience, too,” Desus says.
“We’re big in the 21- to 34-yearold group. So people know if they want to reach out to that audience, they have to come on to our show. They’re not going to reach out to that audience on Jimmy Fallon or those other shows.
“So now people who were skeptical about coming on our show are basically begging to be on it.”
It certainly was a coup landing super-mensa deGrasse Tyson, whom they describe as the “most notable astrophysicist from the Bronx.” If not the only astrophysicist from the Bronx, deGrasse Tyson hastened to add on the show. The episode was classic, with deGrasse Tyson trying to teach them about the cosmos, telling them how he wrestled in high school with dreams of becoming the next Bruce Lee, and then conceding that Desus and Mero would be better off with Science Guy Bill Nye than him if marooned on Gilligan’s Island.
“(Nye) would know how to make a coconut radio and save us all, and I would just be there saying: ‘Look at that pretty star.’ ”
High on their wish list for guests is Barack Obama. “He’s funny and he’d be a little more free to speak his mind now,” Desus says.
The guys aren’t reluctant about taking liberties with their current president. “It’s generally normal to make fun of any president, but this dude is just on another level of idiocy that we’ve never witnessed before,” Mero says.
“Every day he says something that’s more and more ridiculous, so we can’t even avoid talking about it. Sometimes we ask ourselves if we’re going to get burned out on this and if it’s going to get boring, but every day he comes out with something new and we’re going: ‘What the f--- is going on here?’ ”
Adds Desus: “At first it was like we were all sitting around watching a train wreck. But now it’s like we’re all sitting around watching a reality-TV series that doesn’t end. It’s like watching the country burning.”
“A lot of people are very scared now, thinking that the country is crumbling. But to immigrants and people of colour, this is old news for us,” Mero says.
All the same, Desus and Mero feel they will have to alter their game plan in Montreal this weekend.
“We’re going to adapt our act with a lot of Canadian references, like poutine and the CN Tower,” Desus says.
The guys might want to check out Montreal’s dépanneurs, which bear a certain similarity to their bodegas. “There’s actually a place called Dépanneur in Brooklyn, where you can get beef jerky and stuff — so that’s what it means,” Mero says.
They are aware that the Vice empire has its roots in Montreal, having been founded in 1994 by Suroosh Alvi, Gavin McInnes and Shane Smith as a DIY mag called Voice of Montreal.
“I used to go to a record store on Broadway and pick up a bunch of copies of their paper for me and my friends, and I remember it was called Voice of Montreal,” Mero says.
“We went to Vegas with Shane,
and I remember the Canadian anthem came on, and he was singing with all this passion I had never seen before,” Desus says.
“It’s nice to have that kind of national pride.”
Their path to success wasn’t paved with the right showbiz connections. It was against all odds that Desus (with family roots in Jamaica) and Mero (whose kin came from the Dominican Republic) made it.
“I guess it’s some luck and talent,” Mero says. “It’s about knowing and sticking to what you’re doing and having the right chemistry. We’ve also stayed who we are, and resisted change, while maintaining our sense of humour and not trying to acquiesce to the (wishes of other people).
“Also, let’s not forget that when you have crippling debt and you have to pay dues, it’s a lot easier to be funny,” Desus explains.
“Telling jokes for a living is also a lot easier for me than trying to get a job on a forklift.”
Desus recalls keeping a landlord at bay for rent by keeping him giggling. “Listen, when you owe someone three months’ rent and you can keep him laughing when he comes in to collect, you’ll be all right.”
We’re going to adapt our act with a lot of Canadian references, like poutine and the CN Tower.