“Viceland Undervalued Us,” Desus and Mero Explain Their Network Transition to Showtime

—blogged by @lovelikejhoney

Only one month after #DesusNice and #TheKidMero earned themselves a new series on Showtime, the popular late-night show hosts spilled some news about their relationship working with their previous network, Viceland. 

“Can I just be messy off the rip right now?” Desus blurted out in an interview with Bossip. The comedic duo started by revealing the real tea with their former network and why the show ended early.

According to the Bodega Boys, the network gave them the boot after hearing about their new deal with Showtime. “Vice has us for 2 more months. We did not leave Vice, Vice ended our contract. They were in their feelings because we were leaving,” Desus said in frustration, “We could still be doing the show, and it bothers me because now people are tagging us like ‘do this, do this, what would your reactions be for this?’”

They also explained how Vice’s demands became too overwhelming to the point of exploitation almost. “Viceland wanted 160 episodes a year,” Desus revealed. “We have no writers, it’s literally me and Mero talking to one another every day. If you want us to do this for 160 episodes, pay us 160 million dollars — otherwise we would have killed each other.”

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Desus claimed that the network also wanted them to work without vacation time for fear the ratings would drop.

“We were carrying that network on our back, and we felt the weight,” Desus continued. “They were talking about, ‘do not take the weeks off because we don’t get ratings,’ and it’s like, yo, we’re just two people.” Mero chimed in, “As a dad, you wanna be around for milestones for like graduations, birthdays…and it’s obnoxious to have to be like, ‘I can’t go to my kid’s graduation because we leave the studio at 3 o’clock and the graduation is at 4.’”

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“The channel wanted us to die for this fucking network. We’re also the highest rated show on the network, put some respect on our name, have someone come massage my feet,” Desus joked.

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“We were literally the LeBron of that network,” Mero agreed. “And we are not divas, we’re flexible dudes. They kinda undervalued us a little bit.”— “Not even a little bit, straight up.” Desus interjected.

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It wasn’t just the pay increase that got Desus and Mero wanting to move onto their next chapter. The two Bronx kings thanked Viceland for “popping the cherry” after other networks (including their former home MTV2) were too apprehensive to bet on such wild cards–but the massive workload and unrealistic expectations seemed to cause some friction between the network and the talent.

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“It’s not like we ran off on the plug,” Mero added. “The very fact that we’re going to Showtime means that the show is going to get bigger and better. It’s gonna be on a bigger scale, bigger budget, more exposure, more likeliness to win a f**king Emmy.” 

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As previously reported, Desus and Mero signed a deal with Showtime to star on the network’s first weekly late-night show. The 30 minute program is expected to premiere sometime in 2019.

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The final episode of Desus & Mero aired on Viceland on June 28.