The Kid Mero: Split With Desus Nice Was in Works for a Year
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Though the breakup of Desus Nice and The Kid Mero — and the end of their Showtime late night series and Bodega Boys podcast — seemingly came out of nowhere, one-half of the duo says it had been in the works for some time.
Mero said in a podcast interview that he and Desus had been “pursuing separate interests” for a year before the July 18 announcement that Desus & Mero was finished at Showtime, leading to heavy speculation about what drove the split.
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“Desus and I had a discussion, and we had been pursuing separate interests for over a year before the show came to an end,” Mero (aka Joel Martinez), said on the Basic! podcast hosted by former Comedy Central and MTV executive Doug Herzog and Vulture TV critic Jen Chaney. “That conversation solidified for us in signing overall agreements that recognized our intent to [break out] independent of one another. So as far back as June of last year, we were both pitching or looking to join existing projects as individuals. … It was a strategy.”
Mero also said he was determined not to push for a continuation of Desus & Mero as both he and Desus (Daniel Baker) were looking for other outlets. “If you have to force a partnership that’s coming to a natural end, it’s not going to be the same,” he said. “Knowing that, we had a conversation. We had a sit-down and we were talking about it more than a year ago. The intent was to go our separate ways in a way that was supportive of each other.”
Mero declined to specify what projects he has in the works, but says he’s delving deeper into writing — “features, series, books, you name it. I want to get into all of it.”
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