Desus & Mero, the celebrated late night Showtime series hosted by Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, has officially come to an end. A spokesperson for Showtime confirmed the news to Vanity Fair Monday, noting that the show’s final episode aired Thursday, June 23.
“SHOWTIME’s late-night talk show DESUS & MERO will not be returning for a fifth season. Its final episode aired Thursday, June 23,” the statement reads. “Desus Nice and The Kid Mero will be pursuing separate creative endeavors moving forward.”
Desus confirmed the news on Twitter, thanking fans, known as the Bodegahive, for “being part of the journey.”
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The news broke a few hours after rumors spread that Desus and The Kid Mero had parted ways. For years, the duo cohosted a podcast called the Bodega Boys, but had stopped uploading new episodes. Mero appeared to confirm that the podcast was officially a wrap in a pointed Reddit thread. Desus confirmed the news on Friday, tweeting that “the hive deserved better than this ending. Reddit can slander my name but when the truth comes out…..actually just wait.”
Desus & Mero premiered on Showtime in 2019, platforming the cohosts as two of the freshest new voices in the late night space. Though it began as a nightly series, Desus & Mero evolved into a weekly show, drawing high-profile guests like David Letterman, Michelle Yeoh, and former president Barack Obama. The show, a critical favorite, finally broke into the awards circuit in 2021, winning won a Writers Guild Award for comedy/variety talk series. The move brought them one step closer to the Emmys, which is dominated by shows like Late Night, The Late Show and Last Week Tonight.
Desus and Mero originally met via Twitter, brought together by their shared sense of humor and the fact that they were both natives of the Bronx. They cycled through a few iterations of their show, including a short-lived series on Complex and a series on Viceland, before eventually landing on Showtime. They also, through it all, had their podcast, in which the duo riffed freely about pop culture without any of the censors or constraints of broadcast television.
“It’s kind of a miracle that it lasted this long,” says a staffer who wished to remain anonymous. “[These are] two people who were not friends before they were put together as co-hosts.”
The staffer says that the duo seemed to get along previously, making it work on set. However, the main issue, before whatever personal rift may have occurred, appeared to be the show’s lack of direction by a single voice. “It was never clear who was in charge,” the staffer says. “Obviously, the two guys did that intentionally.” Neither, in other words, wanted to overshadow the other, which is laudable, but led to confusion. “I feel like there was frustration for a lot of people who were working really hard, who wanted answers, and wouldn’t get answers from any of the executives or the team themselves.”
The show was home to a lot of established and burgeoning talent, including alums like former staff writer Ziwe, who now hosts her own series on Showtime. “It’s a shame that it didn’t work out because there were a lot of people who worked really hard at the show to make it the best they could,” says the staffer. “There are people who felt like that show could have lasted forever.”
