The Hollywood Reporter - 31.07.2019

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THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 78 JULY 31, 2019

MICAIAH CARTER/SHOWTIME

Awards

Preview

D

esus Nice and The Kid Mero, promot-

ing their aptly titled Showtime series

Desus & Mero in January, did the

impossible: They won over the stony, often

despondent members of the Television

Critics Association at the biannual

press tour. So, when the time came

to tap emcees for the TCA’s summer

awards ceremony, the Bronx-bred pair

proved an obvious choice. Hitting Los Angeles

for that and two shows at The Ace just as their

talk show crosses the six-month mark, Desus,

38, and Mero, 36, caught up with THR to talk

about growing pains, finding their groove and

the excitement and fatigue of covering their

first election on TV.

The show looks different since it premiered.

What’s been the biggest change?

THE KID MERO The only thing we really

changed was the intimacy level. When we

debuted, it was a full-on audience in bleach-

ers. It took away from the intimacy we’d

cultivated. We shrunk the audience down, and

now they sit on the floor like two feet away

from us.

DESUS NICE We let things breathe now. Some

segments ended too quickly, or the changes

were too abrupt. The biggest change was really

going from once a week to twice a week.

MERO Going twice a week gives us the ability to

cover so much more and follow up on stories

that have legs — rather than be late. Now we’re

actually early on stuff.

You got to where you are because of your pod-

cast. What’s your take on all these trend pieces

about the “podcast saturation point”?

DESUS For every podcast that’s created, a

podcast dies. I don’t think there’ll ever be a

point where there’s too many of them. People

look at us, like, “Yo, they got on TV because of a

podcast. Let’s start a podcast!” And then after

a little while of the grueling cycle of actually

producing a podcast, they’re like, “Fuck this!”

MERO You could say the market is saturated,

but there’s so much niche stuff, you can find

what you want. You can have your entertain-

ment a la carte.

DESUS If you want a podcast about medieval

sword-making, you can have that.

What’s appealing and what’s annoying about

covering the 2020 presidential election?

MERO I’m just looking forward to approach-

ing interviews and segments from angles

that people aren’t expecting. We try to pres-

ent presidential candidates as people.

You’ve seen them on 15 different shows. You

know their policies. You get a robotic spiel

on health care and jobs, but who are you as

a person?

DESUS It’s boring! There are so many candi-

dates. It’s just so taxing! I’m not going to lie,

I’ll be happy when this election is over. Who

knows, maybe we’ll end up doing a post-

election special of Day 50 of Donald Trump

refusing to leave the White House.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

‘ So Far, It’s Been All Sunshine

and Daisies’ TCA Awards

hosts Desus and Mero on unlikely

late night camaraderie By Michael O’Connell

People get very hung up on format, especially

in late night.

DESUS The late night game reminds me of

MLB right now. There’s all these unwritten

rules. You have to have a monologue.

You have to wear a suit. We’re that

new generation, flipping the bat and

standing in the box after a home run.

There’s no predicting how our show

will go. Just because we start talking about

Tr u m p doesn’t mean we aren’t going to end

with a video of two anteaters having sex.

What’s the best advice you’ve gotten?

MERO To follow our instincts. What we did got

us here, so we’re just going to keep doing it.

And so far, it’s been all sunshine and daisies

and shit — so shout-out to Showtime.

DESUS For a guy like [Jimmy] Fallon, who inher-

ited this legacy, to tell us what we’re doing is

innovative — that’s a real boost of confidence

that you cannot quantify.

There seems to be more camaraderie in late

night now.

DESUS You’d hear stories about Johnny Carson

or people banning guests from shows because

they appeared on another one beforehand.

We’ve encountered nothing but love. We’ve

gone out to dinner with Hasan Minhaj. We

hang with Fallon and Seth Meyers. We’re all

affected by the same issues. We all have to

figure out the balance of Trump jokes. It’s a

godsend to be able to pick each other’s brains.

“We’re the new kids on the block,” says Desus Nice (left)

of his show with The Kid Mero that debuted Feb. 21

on Showtime.

The streamer’s

new series

Russian Doll

tied FX’s Pose

with four

nominations

each. And

Netflix

nearly swept

the reality

category,

taking four of

the six slots.

NETFLIX

14

The network’s

tally was

bolstered by

Pose’s haul

along with

critics’ love

for Fosse/

Verdon’s

Michelle

Williams and

for the comedy

What We Do in

the Shadows.

FX

8

NETWORK NOMINATION TALLY

As with the Emmys, HBO edged out

Netflix in TCA nods

TCA Awards

Aug. 3

Beverly Hilton

HBO

15

Game of

Thrones and

limited series

Chernobyl

were

nominated for

program of

the year, while

Succession

landed

drama and

new program

mentions.