Desus and Mero are over

Duo Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, who established one of the top comedy brands of the decade with their podcast Bodega Boys and their eponymous show on Showtime, are well and truly done.

Desus and Mero, otherwise known as Daniel Baker and Joel Martinez, respectively, are arguably the biggest podcast to Hollywood crossovers in the industry. After breaking into podcasting with Complex TV’s Desus vs. Mero podcast and Bodega Boys, the pair had a show on Viceland from 2016 to 2018 before getting the Showtime late-night series that would take them mainstream.

“Desus Nice and The Kid Mero will be pursuing separate creative endeavors moving forward,” Showtime said in a statement Monday evening. “Showtime’s late-night talk show Desus & Mero will not be returning for a fifth season. Its final episode aired Thursday, June 23.”

Showtime’s confirmation came after days of speculation over their status. The TV series was only 15 episodes into its run before going dark (previous seasons had more than 50 episodes), and the podcast had essentially been dropped — the last episode aired in November. Last month, Desus assured the “bodegahive” that “the art is coming back.” But last week, Mero had apparently commented on a social post that it was over: “PODCAST DONE ENJOY THE BACK CATALOG MY PALS.” On Friday, Desus responded, tweeting “the hive deserved better than this ending.”

Nobody seems happy about the breakup. The bodegahive is melting down on Twitter, and Showtime just lost a big fat hit that managed to get President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden (when he was running) as guests. After such a smash run, it is unlikely the two will disappear from the public eye, but despite the duo’s catchphrase, the brand did not survive.