In 2022, Joel Martinez, known as The Kid Mero, announced he was ending his business partnership with Desus Nice (real name Daniel Baker), collectively ending Desus & Mero team. The two gained popularity with their Bodega Boys podcast, which launched in 2015, and reformatted itself into the to the Showtime series Desus & Mero which abruptly ended after four seasons. Claiming it was a mutual decision, The Kid Mero stated on SiriusXM’s Basic! podcast “Desus and I had discussed pursuing separate interests over a year prior to the show coming to an end and that conversation solidified us in signing overall agreements that recognized our intent to operate independent of one another. As far back as June of last year we were both pitching or looking to join existing projects as individuals.
Since then, The Kid Mero has acted in movies, was featured in the Derek Jeter documentary The Captain, and participated in numerous podcasts while creating his own. Taking a break from his latest podcast, 7PM in Brooklyn, that he co-hosts with Carmelo Anthony, the award-winning comedian/author hosted The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) 45th Annual Sports Emmy Awards.
At The Sports Emmys, The Kid Mero spoke to The Koalition on the red carpet about going solo, balancing his podcasting needs with audience desires, how fatherhood has made him a better person, the joys of The Nutcracker and more.
“Being part of a duo is difficult. You have to you two different people, so at some point you have to compromise being in the middle [but] when you’re on your own you don’t have to do that. It takes a lot of mental math out of, ‘What are we going to do? What move are we going to make?’ There’s no ‘we,’ it’s ‘I.’ It’s like, ‘Well okay, I’m going to do this. I have a passion for this. So, I’m going to go pursue this.’ The main takeaway from coming out of a group or do anything like that, [is] you have freedom now to pursue things you weren’t able to pursue before because they didn’t fit into that duo, [that] wheelhouse or whatever you want to call it.”
While 7PM in Brooklyn is less than a year old, The Kid Mero and Anthony has found an undeniable rhythm and chemistry that showcases their personalities and pulse for the culture. The show offers a unique perspective on basketball, delving into the biggest stories in the sport, revisiting memorable moments from Melo’s career, and exploring the latest developments in sports and culture with special guests from sports, music, and entertainment. What has also shined through is The Kid Mero’s ability to listen to the audience while also remaining true to himself and the topics he and Anthony want to cover.
“At the end of the day, you got to realize especially now, with the way podcasts are, the market is super saturated. So, you have to talk about what people want to hear but at the same time spin it in a different way. You got to do something different because there’s so much of the same that you have to stand out from the crowd. If everybody’s talking about Kendrick versus Drake, how are you going to talk about Kendrick versus Drake? That’s the approach. It’s like, ‘Okay, I know people want to hear this. I know they want my take on this. How am I going to do it that’s not like this guy and that woman?’ It’s really about maintaining your own voice, maintaining your own identity and then just having filtering everything through that.”
Already an author of God-Level Knowledge Darts: Life Lessons From The Bronx, where the Bodegas Boys delivered advice on dating, having kids and being broke and being broke and having kids, this time Mero’s solo venture will be entirely about being a father to his four kids…and The Nutcracker.
“Since we’re at Lincoln Center, this is the right venue to announce I am the Prima ballerina for The Nutcracker this season,” The Kid Mero says jokingly as he dances in various ballet poses. “I will be out here with my ugly feet doing the damn thing. Spot is blown now, sorry Lincoln Center, I didn’t mean to blow it up, but I am the lead in The Nutcracker. I’m cracking all them nuts. I got a book on fatherhood coming that I’ve been working on for a little while and I’m having fun with it. I’m taking my time with it. I’m having fun. I have four kids, so I got a lot of knowledge about them. [I’m] making sure they eat enough protein and iron and things like that like. I don’t got no anemic kids.”
“[Fatherhood] really grounds you. I don’t have time. If you come to a barbecue at my house, it’s the same people. There’s no, ‘Oh there’s who’s who of whoever.’ It’s just my man, his wife…blah, the kids. I feel like maintaining that and still having to a coach third-base on a Wednesday night after I interviewed Obama. It will keep you humble. If I’m sending the kid to steal home and he gets thrown out, now it’s my fault we lost a game. They don’t care I talked to the Denzel [Washington] half an hour ago. It keeps you 10 toes down and grounded.”
7PM in Brooklyn releases every Thursday. Check out our full interview in the video above. For more footage of The Kid Mero on the red carpet, check out the video below.
