From the moment Desus Nice and the Kid Mero started bouncing jokes around Twitter, they knew all they needed was a slightly bigger platform to turn their 140-character brand of humor into their very own TV show. That platform ended up being Viceland, where they now host Desus & Mero, whose viewers Desus described to their packed Vulture Fest panel audience as “the most diverse audience of any late-night show on TV. Period,” said Mero.
From the jump, Desus & Mero fashioned itself as a different type of late-night show, touting no big guests, no audience, and perhaps most specifically, no white guys. But as the pair told the audience at Vulture Festival on Saturday, not everybody was onboard for the irreverent humor in the promos. In fact, they said, “People lost it!” The hosts got plenty of emails from people saying they had the most racist show on television, but perhaps the most prolific messages were coming from “Fox News people,” who would send “five-page emails.” Not to be outdone, random trolls would tell them their kids watched the show and asked, “Mommy, are we bad because we’re white people?” (The hosts do not believe those children actually exist.)
Despite the early hoopla, Desus and Mero insist they’re not chasing any viral moments: “We’re not singing in a car with Michelle Obama.” They’re just two (not-white) guys invading your living room. As for the contents of their inbox, well, now it’s Maxine Waters hitting them up, saying she wants a guest spot.
