Joel Martinez, professionally known as The Kid Mero, is a Dominican-American writer, comedian, TV personality, voice actor, YouTube personality, music blogger and Twitter personality. He rose to prominence alongside fellow Bronx native Desus Nice with their Complex TV 46-episode podcast Desus vs. Mero, which first premiered on December 18, 2013. As of season 5, he is a cast member of Guy Code with Desus Nice. He was the co-host of Viceland's Desus & Merotalk show alongside Desus until June 2018, and currently co-hosts Desus & Mero which premiered on February 21, 2019 on Showtime.
Early life & education
Mero was born in Washington Heights, Manhattan to Dominican immigrant parents, and the family moved to the Bronx when he was young. Martinez is Afro-Latino and grew up speaking Spanish. His father and uncle wanted to name him "Romero," which is the origin of the moniker Mero. He realized he was talented at comedy from a young age but was not particularly interested in televised comedy or stand-up comedians growing up. Mero graduated from I.S. 117 in the Bronx.
Career
Mero previously worked as a teaching aide at a school in The Bronx. He later began writing for Vice's music platform Noisey in 2012. His first article for them was published online on November 14, 2012; it was a review of Canadian electronic music duo Crystal Castles's album III. In total, he wrote 69 articles for Noisey between November 2012 and March 2014, most of which were album and mixtape reviews, and all written in caps lock. Mero is a world record holder. In September 2014, Mero broke the record for kazoo solo This came to light in an exclusive interview on Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig where Mero waxed on his illustrious accomplishment. In December 2014, MTV announced that The Kid Mero and Desus Nice would be joining the cast of Guy Code for season 5, along with 11 other new cast members. They appeared on the first episode of season 5, which was originally aired on January 14, 2015. On August 30, 2016, Viceland announced Desus & Mero which premiered on October 17, 2016. The half-hour show ran Monday-Thursday, hosted by the Bronx-reared comedic duo. Its finale aired on June 28, 2018. Mero currently co-hosts Desus & Mero which premiered on February 21, 2019 on Showtime.
Personal life
He lives in Fair Lawn, New Jersey and is married to Heather Martinez, a teacher from New Jersey. The pair have four children, three boys and a baby girl.
