#BodegaHive Forever: The 5 Most Memorable ‘Desus & Mero’ Moments
Desus Nice and THE KID MERO, who grew from Black Twitter superstars into a powerhouse comedy brand, have come to an unceremonious end.
Announced overnight via their show’s official Twitter account, the vibe gave hardcore and longtime fans “irreconcilable differences” and truly shocked anyone aware of the Bronx-bred duo. From their podcast, Bodega Boys, to their stints at Complex TV (Desus vs. Mero), Viceland (Desus & Mero), to their eponymous late-night show on Showtime, Daniel Baker and Joel Martinez are arguably the biggest online to Hollywood crossovers — outside of Quinta Brunson — in the industry.
Even though the news comes abruptly, Desus and THE KID MERO indeed went out on an all-time high.
Their fourth season of Desus and Mero, which aired weekly on Showtime, had a host of highlights, beginning with an all-city, hall-of-fame-inducting interview with Denzel Washington and ending with “The Captain,” Derek Jeter. Add that since moving on from their star-turning run at Viceland in 2019, they’ve made more than 170 episodes, became best-selling authors in 2020, and gave Black women writers like Heben Nigatu and Ziwe Fumudoh opportunities to work in a Hollywood sector not known for doing so — and it’s no doubt that Desus and Mero restored the feeling in a way that’ll be sorely missed.
While it goes without saying that Desus and Mero will fine in pursuing separate creative endeavors moving forward, BET.com wants to pay tribute to the legends from Mott Haven and East Tremont by showcasing 5 of their most memorable moments.
The Incomparable Impressions By The Kid Mero
THE KID MERO’s own creations, Officer Prosciutto and Michael Sal Anthony, the latter a young Italiano who lived in his parent's basement in New Jersey, to former White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci and radio host Mike Francesca have shown just how incredible his bag of impressions was over the course of three TV shows and The Bodega Boys.
During their run, THE KID MERO was able to put characters in where it balanced Desus Nice’s direct punchlines. And now that their situation has come to an end, audiences are going to have to run The Bodega Boys back to see how innovative his style has been.
The Breakfast Club Ambush
A forever classic and indicative of what happens when you go against The Brand™, DJ Envy learned the hard way that it wasn’t wise to go against Desus Nice and THE KID MERO. In 2018, the duo was on Viceland. They appeared as guests on Power 105’s The Breakfast Club when Envy introduced them as “D**khead and P***y” and demanded they apologize for a comment made about his wife — after it became public knowledge that Envy had cheated on her.
The epic clap back from the Bronx duo, which involved everything from welcoming the fade with Envy outside the studio to introducing the #BeigeRage meter, became an instant classic and proved just how brolic the tandem was. Since then, Desus and THE KID MERO offered their own type of peace offering to Envy, which should take some of the edges off from them roasting the merde out of him.
David Letterman Co-Signs The Brand
After leaving Complex TV, the “Kings of the Bronx” only had nothing but illustrious guests whenever they went live. From sitting down with Diddy or Rachel Maddow on Viceland to having Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Spike Lee on the first season of their Showtime run, their clout levels were justified when the O.G. of Late-Night Talk Shows, David Letterman, joined them for the premiere of Season 2.
Worth the price of a Showtime subscription to rewatch Letterman, who was no stranger to having beef on television; he was so impressed with Desus and The KID MERO that he told them their show was the kind of late-night fodder he always wanted to make.
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Coining The Phrase Peak Caucacity
The internet provided us all with a new way to communicate but also opened the door to introducing new words into the human lexicon. “On Fleek,” “Periodt,” and others of its ilk had done wonders to describe what it meant to be stylish and declarative, but there was no better way to highlight “white mess” than the word “caucacity.” Coined in 2014 by Desus & THE KID MERO while on Complex TV, “caucacity” was meant to describe all the f**kery perpetrated by the un-seasoned masses.
It has since then been used to describe everything from The Whiteness Project to The Karen Debate to a person getting engaged to a chandelier and is a cherished contribution from the twosome from the BX.
Da Bogeys and The AKAs
The Legends of La Marina were always a welcomed voice beaming in live from Red Bull Studios. For early listeners of the Bodega Boys podcast — and even those who were able to see them live — their end-of-the-year awards, known as Da Bogeys, which commemorated the wildest happenings for the entire 365, and their run-through of alias were impressive highlights that showed how imaginative they were without any major co-signs.
Young Chipotle (Desus) and Donovan McDabb (THE KID MERO) gave us a plethora of names to call them whenever spotted by a bodega near you; plus, if you attended their All-City Tour back in the day, you relished the opportunity to run through the list with them.
As we celebrate Desus and THE KID MERO’s unprecedented run, surrounded by Quarter Waters and Santa Maria candles, there is no doubt that these two will have continued success. Still, we have to pour out some Hennessey for the fact that late-night will never be the same without their presence.
Kevin L. Clark is a screenwriter and entertainment director for BET Digital, who covers the intersection of music, film, pop culture, and social justice. Follow him on @IAmKevitoClark.
