Desus and Mero keep it real, drop gems in literary form
Duo shares “God-Level Knowledge Darts: Life Lessons From the Bronx.”
Y’all may know Desus Nice and The Kid Mero from keeping it all the way real on their hit late-night talk show “Desus & Mero.” Now, the duo is dropping some of their gems in literary form (don’t worry they still have their Showtime series).
Desus Nice, real name Daniel Baker, and The Kid Mero, real name Joel Martinez, are releasing their debut book “God-Level Knowledge Darts: Life Lessons from the Bronx,” and it’s filled with advice, from navigating relationships to surviving while broke. Mero said delving into the book world was about giving back to their fans in a different format, and though he and Desus are good friends, they both have different lifestyles, so readers will get two views on life.
Desus, on the other hand, says the book was inspired by political tell-all books.
“Seeing all those people in the (President Donald) Trump administration cash out and grift by writing books, I was like ‘Yo, how do we cash out like this?’” Desus jokes. “We have some unreleased tapes with Bob Woodward and Trump. Apparently, Trump is the one who told Pusha T about Drake’s kid. Not only that, he was doing that while he should’ve been focusing on coronavirus, which makes it doubly worse.”
Spoiler: After reading the book, there were unfortunately no details about the Pusha T/Drake/Trump debacle. Maybe in the sequel? But if there’s one thing Desus is certain of, it’s that he doesn’t think “America could take four more years of Trump.”
“He’s made it clear he doesn’t even care if people live through the coronavirus,” Desus says, adding that 2020 and Trump’s presidency simply revealed the white supremacists that were previously in hiding. “He just emboldened people and this emboldeness could possibly lead to just very dark days for brown people and just Americans in general.”
Mero encourages people to get out and vote in 2020, noting Trump is a “terrible person” and “can’t run a business, forget a country,” citing the bankrupting of his Atlantic City casinos.
“God-Level Knowledge Darts” also touches on themes prevalent throughout the current Black Lives Matter movement, including police brutality.
In their book, both Desus and Mero recount instances where they encountered law enforcement; in short, they weren’t the most pleasant experiences (some of them were straight-up traumatic). Though now their fame has allowed them slight leeway (like not getting ticketed for an illegal U-turn), Desus and Mero are no less cautious around police.
Desus says things are actually worse now because he’s walking around New York with a mask on, so to cops, he’s just another brown person in the Bronx. “You’ll meet cops who know you’re from ‘Desus & Mero,’ and they do not care. Being a cop has a higher ranking power than being on TV and they will let you know that, so not much has changed, really.”
Mero adds the only thing that’s changed after fame when it comes to police is that now he has money to hire a lawyer instead of resorting to a courtappointed attorney with an overwhelming caseload.
“This is our lived experience,” Mero says, noting that he has hope things will change for future generations. “The younger kids now, they are more politically aware and active. You see teenagers out there and protesting, and I didn’t see a lot of that when I was growing up, so I feel like the next generation is more aware of what’s happening. The youth gives me faith that things can change.”
Desus and Mero have plenty of at best resourceful and at worst questionable tidbits of advice in their book, but if there’s one thing they each want readers to take away from “God-Level Knowledge Darts,” it’s potatoes and marriage (not together).
“Potatoes will hold you down. No matter how broke you are, if you get a bag of potatoes, you eating good for at least a month,” Desus says while listing off all the things you can do with a potato, from making french fries and soup to using them to acquire more things. “You could put the potato in a sock, rob somebody with that. Potatoes will hold you down no matter what point of life you are in, never turn your back on a potato.”
While potatoes hold a special place in Desus’ heart, Mero wants to remind folks that “marriage is not all sunshine and daisies.”
“When you get married, you are signing up to be partnered with somebody for a long time and sometimes you’re going to be like, ‘Yo, (expletive) you with a capital F, and sometimes you’re going to be like, ‘Yo, I can’t live without you,’” Mero says. “Every day is not going to be happy, and if that’s what you’re looking for don’t get married.”