Desus & Mero
Network: Showtime
No. of seasons: 4
2019-2022
After working with Desus & Mero on Viceland, I was brought on to Desus & Mero on Showtime to lead the graphics team. Early on, I designed and animated the show graphics package. Desus and Mero are from the Bronx and we wanted to match the aesthetics to their New York vibes.
My team was responsible for creating and delivering graphics for each episode. One of the unique challenges of working on Desus & Mero was that nearly all of their jokes were ad libbed. Once taping ended and the cameras cut, our writers and editors worked together quickly to assemble the episode, and the graphics department would receive graphics requests. It was a race to work and deliver the highest quality graphics in a short amount of time before the episode went out that evening.
In my time at D&M I was blessed and fortunate to work with wonderful coworkers who trusted me in a variety of roles. Aside from art direction, design and animation of show graphics, I provided technical direction for green screen shoots that required post-production compositing and visual effects, we designed prop products and labels for various products on our bodega on set, and on occasion I did some sound design and music, and when we were setting up our new bodega set, I was involved with furniture and prop arrangement.
My team worked closely with the digital department designing and animating graphics for original content and social media.
It was one of the best projects I have ever worked on with some of the best people I have ever worked with. I think that all the wonderful creativity, positive collaboration, and general good vibes within our show’s team was reflected in every great episode and all the content produced around it.
“What do you want your neon sign to say?” That was the question we asked the guests on our show.
We wanted a visual device like the guest rainbow on the previous D&M show. I concepted a few ideas and our neon sign was born.
Sometimes a traditional style cartoon was requested to accompany a joke that was made during taping. Our team was fortunate to have a very talented cartoon illustrator and animator. As these became more common, we developed a workflow to efficiently utilize all available team members to complete the animation in the allotted time.
An ongoing project we worked on was a collaboration with Showtime’s Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) division to re-design the webstore in a way that reflected the vibe of the show. Scroll through the slides below for mock-ups.
Additionally, we designed merch based on jokes from D&M. Unfortunately, Showtime shuttered their DTC department before they saw the light of day.
We collected a lot of fun, on-brand concepts referencing designs ranging from common bodega items like Arizona Green Tea to prayer candles and album covers.
Occasionally I had the opportunity to work on one of my favorite things which is music and sound design:
For the Bodega Boys production card I wanted to evoke the sounds of a chopped cheese being made in a bodega. The finishing touch was adding Desus and Mero’s signature “Yerrr!”
When the pandemic hit we quickly transitioned our show’s production format to remote tapings via Zoom. To go with our alternate show intro, I re-arranged the our regular show open song to sound like the melody was being played on a phone’s touch tone dial pad.
During our remote production season, when we had all begun working from home, I began another D&M project with our social team. Working with artists and illustrators from outside our team, we collaborated to create original works for the show’s digital/social platforms. My favorite was an illustrated series of Covid-19 PSA posters.
