National Post (National Edition)
THE BRAND IS STRONG WITH THESE ONES
DESUS AND MERO ARE NOW COOL WITH YOUNG SHELDON
— Desus (Daniel Baker) The problem is, trying anything in late-night literally means making the same show. Even us, we thought about it. Should we just do the regular late-night thing? Come out in suits, have the house band? It works. There’s definitely an audience for it. But there’s also the audience for something else, and that’s where we come in.
One morning this month, Desus Nice and the Kid Mero were in the Jam Room of Milk Studios in Manhattan, recording a new episode of their Bodega Boys podcast and riffing on everything that crossed their minds. They recapped the State of the Union address; compared God’s creation of the platypus to their own efforts at making nachos while high; and wondered whether waterboarding still takes place at CIA black sites during government shutdowns.
Imagining alternate, lowcost forms of torture, Desus said, “Strap you to a chair and make you watch Young Sheldon,” while Mero pretended to scream.
Then, affecting a tone of exaggerated seriousness, Desus added, “Ac tually, uh, Young Sheldon comes on CBS and is a wonderful show. Be sure to check it out, it’s part of the, uh, Showtime family.”
After several years of online infamy and grassroots success, Desus (the stage name of Daniel Baker) and the Kid Mero (aka Joel Martinez) are preparing for their biggest mainstream opportunity to date.
They’re about to star in their own Showtime latenight series, Desus & Mero, which has its première Thursday and which will attempt to distil their spontaneous pop-cultural outpourings and on-the-fly characters into a weekly, half-hour showcase of comedy sketches, field pieces and celebrity interviews. Showtime said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-cortez, D-N.Y., will be their first in-studio guest, and coming guests will include John Legend, Ben Stiller, Issa Rae and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
For these two Bronx-born friends and longtime collaborators, the Showtime series is a fulfilment of their trademark boast that “the brand is strong.” Their leap to premium cable comes some six years after gaining the internet’s attention with Desus vs. Mero, a podcast that became an online show on the Complex magazine website; numerous appearances on MTV programs like Guy Code and Joking Off; and the well-received run of their Viceland talk show, which came to an abrupt end this past summer.
Now they have more resources than ever at their disposal as well as more demands on their time, and they’re trying to grow a wider viewership without looking like corporate sellouts or losing the spontaneity that won them their earliest fans.
After two consecutive days of 12-hour-long shoots, Desus said, “We are exhausted. Which means the podcast is going to be extra stupid.”
Mero added that fatigue seemed to improve their extemporaneous approach to comedy. “It’s just freestyling,” he said. “The more exhausted we are, the more ridiculous and random it gets.”
Desus and Mero spoke further about their preparation for their Showtime series, their rapid ascent and their departure from Viceland. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Q:
You’re days away from the debut of your Showtime series but still recording episodes of your podcast. Do you really need to keep doing it?
Desus Nice: It doesn’t feel like an obligation. If the TV show is the actual basketball game, the podcast is like warm-ups. You toss stuff out, shoot around.
The Kid Mero: A lot of characters and ideas are born in the podcast. Desus: We’ve always done the podcast, probably always will do the podcast. We’re going to be on episode 10,468. Doing our Vegas residency. Cardi B’s daughter headlining for us. (Old man voice) “Give it up for Kulture. Y’all remember us?”
Mero: “Excuse me, my diverticulitis is acting up.” Desus: Also, we’re getting paid to do it, so it’s not hard. Mero: Thank you for helping me escape poverty. Appreciate it.
Q:
Does having all these past podcast episodes mean you’ll come into the Showtime series with a ton of material?
Desus: We haven’t really stockpiled anything for the Showtime show. Our writers might take one idea from the podcast and blow it up into a sketch. It’s like a crack house, basically. We have the writ- ers bagging up for us. “Here’s a brick — break it down.” Mero: Our writers are all sitting in a room, naked, writing sketches.
Desus: I loved Key & Peele, but that was them playing these characters. Here, it’s just us. Desus and Mero as TSA agents. Desus and Mero as the Secret Service. Mero: We’re not trying to be other people.
Desus: We’re not good actors. But we’re probably the best actors out of the Bronx.
Q:
How will the new show be different from your Viceland series?
Desus: You don’t mess up the recipe if it’s working. We basically took that and blew it up. Production values are bigger. We’re going to leave the studio more. And I don’t want to brag but we got the best interviews in the game. Mero: Before, it was like opening up your phone: “Who do you know?” Desus: “Tonight’s guest: Papi from the bodega!” “Uh, I’m just here to deliver your sandwich.” But now, Showtime’s like, “who do you want as a guest?” That used to be a joke.
Q:
How did you go about hiring your staff for this show?
Desus: When we started, we’re sitting at a table, Googling “how to make TV show.” It’s a little intimidating.
Mero: I’m going to get super, crystal-energy stupid on you right now. It was just, how do we feel about this person? What’s our dynamic, the three of us together? Because there were people that came in with impressive resumés, and it was just like, you’ve never even heard of us.
Desus: We would be like, “The brand is — ” They would be like, “Available for purchase?”
Q:
Your Viceland TV series started in late 2016, and by summer 2018, you had your deal with Showtime. Why make the move so quickly?
Desus: The contract was just up. Then Showtime came.
Mero: It’s funny because people are trying to spin it into this really contentious, weird thing. And it’s like, no, dude, that’s just the business. The contract’s up, you renegotiate, there’s suitors. Desus: It’s Hollywood, baby. Other places would be like, “We want to make a show and put you in it.” Where Showtime was like, “We don’t want to change it up — we just want to help you elevate it.” There’s never been a moment where Showtime got in the way of anything. At the same time, they’re not stupid hands-off, like waiting for us to show up.
Mero: Here’s money, we don’t know what to do with it! Desus: The other show was so much heavy lifting that was just us. But now, having other people working around you and helping, it’s a weight off your shoulders. You’re free to move. We’re moving the ball around, they’re getting us open, we’re getting those good looks now.
WE THOUGHT WE’RE GOING TO STICK OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB.
Q:
Showtime is mostly known for dramas like Homeland and Ray Donovan, and hasn’t ever had a proper late-night series before. Were you concerned that they’d be the right fit for you?
Desus: At first, we thought we’re going to stick out like a sore thumb. Showtime’s not that well-known in the ‘hood.
Mero: “Is that where Power be at?”
Desus: But they’re definitely getting browner on that channel. They got The Chi, Black Monday with Don Cheadle, who we were just hanging with. We saw him and he was like, “Hey, coworker.”
Mero: We’re opening them up to an audience they might not reach, and they’re opening us up to an audience we might not reach.
Desus: The problem is, trying anything in late-night literally means making the same show. Even us, we thought about it. Should we just do the regular latenight thing? Come out in suits, have the house band? It works. There’s definitely an audience for it. But there’s also the audience for something else, and that’s where we come in.
Q:
You never felt you had to give up any part of your voice or identity to make the show reach a broader audience?
Mero: You’ll know when that’s us. When we’re like, “Brought to you by Clorox toilet-bowl cleanser.” Desus: This is fun because it wasn’t put together by a corporate office. We started together. When we were at Complex, the show would be done and we’d both get on that 6 train. We’re just riffing back and forth and some guy’s sitting there, listening to us, and he’s like, “You guys are funny. You guys should do something with it.” At that time, we didn’t believe in the podcast. We were like, “Ah, shut the (expletive) up. You like what you see? Clap. You don’t like what you see, don’t clap.” Mero: It was literally just supplementary income. I had two kids — he had back rent. We needed that extra couple hundred bucks to make life work.
Desus: If us right now went back and told us from Complex that we’d have a Showtime deal, we’d be like, “Get the (expletive) outta here. And empty those pockets.”
Mero: “Is that the new iphone? Oh, you got AirPods? I don’t even know what those are.”
Desus: It’s like a reflex at this point. Just put us anywhere, man. If we didn’t get a TV deal, we’d probably be in front of a bodega. “Yo, those two bums are hilarious!”