It’s Wildly Uncool To Not Be Excited For ‘Desus & Mero’ on Showtime

The days when you could say “Huh?” or “What’s Desus and Mero?” are officially over. It’s not cool, you’re not too busy to not know, and you’re just plain rude and ignorant if you don’t know Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, hosts of Showtime’s first late night show, Desus & Mero.

This, however, is not the first late night show for the Bronx-bred hosts and pals who got their start doing a Complex podcast, which led to their current podcast Bodega Boys, and their Viceland late night TV show, also appropriately titled Desus & Mero which ran from late 2016 until early summer of 2018. It was a surprise to most when the duo decided to leave the network (which excelled in making their clips and content available on social media) for Showtime, but if the recent aggressive marketing campaign, reduced subscription promotion, and excitement from the hosts themselves (not to mention the internet) is any indication, the new show is certainly something to be excited for.

Desus and Mero are the prime example of what happens when you add diverse, unique, and utterly hilarious voices to the late night landscape. Busy Tonight and Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj have also helped to prove this point, but neither have quite reached the following and fervor of D&M, who supplement their late night offerings with the podcast and outspoken social media posts. If you still don’t know who they are (and again, your time is up on that), they’re kind of like the loud guys sitting behind you at a Yankees game that are a thousand times more entertaining than anything that could ever happen on the field. You know, the kind of guys that should be bringing their interesting, and likely inappropriate ideas, to a national audience.

These guys know what they’re good at and where their comfort zone is (mostly riffing on pop culture, news, and social media stories of the day) and they stay there without ever getting stale. Plus, if anyone is going to have a take on a topic you’ve never heard before, especially when it comes to politics, it’s these two. It’s clear they aren’t interested in any late night traditions that have been set by previous shows and hosts, and in previous decades, as they’re exactly the type of show we’ll point to, and already do, when it comes to innovative new ways to use that TV space.

Desus and Mero aren’t trying to be the most prepared and poised interviewers in the game — it’d be inauthentic for them to sit down with a stack of index cards, armed with hours of research. Where they succeed is having the balls to ask questions that would send other late night hosts into a ball of awkwardness under their desks, while these two thrive on being messy. No celebrity, or, in the case of their first episode, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, should show up expecting to put forth a polished image. These two will cut right through that, giving both the guest and the viewers a new experience they can only get on this show.

They’ve implemented their own vernacular that has quickly caught on amongst fans, and there’s absolutely no molding these two: they are who they are, there’s no filter present, and it’s impossible not to appreciate them for that. Plus, after working together for so many years, they still crack each other up, and who doesn’t love watching that?

I’ll be the first to admit I was skeptical about this move. I find these guys highly entertaining and would happily follow them to whatever network or streaming platform they migrated to. But I also believed so strongly in the brand that I worried it would be harder for others to find them on a subscription cable channel, just as they were being exposed to the large audience they deserved (and likely for free on Twitter feeds and YouTube). Perhaps the move has only raised more awareness about these two, their talents, and the delightful disruption they’ll be bringing to TV yet again.

Desus and Mero are rambunctious and ridiculous, but they’re also influential. They’re the kind of people that keep their peers on their toes, while also earning their respect. What this new platform, with new viewers and new money, will allow and inspire them to do is going to be interesting no matter what. Because if it all ends up crashing and burning, they’ll be the first, and funniest, ones to point it out.

Desus & Mero premieres tonight at 11pm ET/PT on Showtime. 

Where to stream Desus & Mero