‘AirPods? I don’t even know what those are’

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!”

WE THOUGHT WE’RE GOING TO STICK OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB.