Desus Is Risen

EPISODE 31: The most absurd résumé in show business, explained.

I loved Desus and Mero. We should probably start there.

No podcast made me laugh as much, dating back to when they were screwing around at Complex. And I relished visiting their Viceland studio in Williamsburg, around 2016, back when their (incredible) talk show was EP’d by Erik Rydholm (the man behind PTI, Around The Horn, Highly Questionable, and High Noon).

Desus and Mero were fellow native New Yorkers (and my friends).

Then Desus & Mero moved to Showtime. And then the show ended, last year, amid all sorts of relentless gossip. Which was predictable: a special duo — admired for their chemistry — had split.

I’d seen Desus a couple times since all this happened, before he moved out to Los Angeles. He hadn’t said much, publicly. But recently (as is my wont) I randomly ran into him on the street, in the Lower East Side, the week he was hosting The Daily Show.

At which point I guilted him into coming over to the PTFO studio, to talk about how he got here.

Because you should also know that I believe that Desus’ résumé is unlike any other C.V. in media or entertainment. And so I wanted to find out, on the record, about all the jobs he used to do around this city, long before becoming famous. And I also wanted to find out about therapy. And Eric Adams. And Hollywood. And why New Yorkers have to ball up money and throw it at strippers “like Mariano Rivera.” And life as a new solo act. (I could relate.)

And a lot more.

DKN/YOUTUBE SPOILER ALERT:

YKTFV,

Pablo