THE BRAND IS STRONG WITH THESE ONES
DESUS AND MERO ARE NOW COOL WITH YOUNG SHELDON
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, “Actually, 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 writers
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.
See DESUS & MERO on B6