-The last time you were here in person, in 2019, I asked you,
"Would you want to interview President Obama
when he, inevitably, wrote a book"?
You said you would, but it would tarnish his legacy.
And lo and behold, his legacy is intact...
despite the fact that he came and did your show.
How was that experience?
-It was fun, but I would --
I beg to differ about his legacy being intact
because now everyone sees the true color.
We've pulled away the veil. Obama is a Knicks hater! Okay?
A lot of people did not know that.
The White House hid that from the American public.
But now it's been revealed. This is the true scandal.
-Yes. Obama -- -It was wonderful.
It was the time of our lives interviewing him, man.
-Yeah, no. -He's the coolest person ever.
-It was wild. -He talked both about the fact,
Desus, that you don't have kids. He complimented you, Mero,
in the fact that you're raising four.
Were you surprised how much he knew about your personal lives?
-No, because he said -- he said -- He was like --
He's like, "You know, I watch your show."
-Right. -But you have to remember --
-Like, in a weird way though.
Like, in a weird, like, you know, like,
"I saw that joke you made about my jeans" way.
-Yeah, but it was also -- -And we were just like --
-It was also weird because it's just like --
I was like, "Oh, wow! He knows I don't have kids."
Then it's just like, "Wait a minute. This guy was
in charge of the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI.
How much more stuff does he know about me?"
He could've really blew it up on the spot and been like,
"Hey, what were you watching at 2:00 a.m.
back on August 26th in 2018
that you had to turn the volume all the way down?"
And I'm like, "Uh..." -"Uh, Sir -- I don't know, sir."
"Uh, uh, it was 480p. Uh, I don't know. I'm not sure."
-You had to --One of you had to ask -- I think it was Mero.
You had to ask for a bathroom break, correct?
-Yes. Because, it was like -- You know, it's Obama.
So, you know, I didn't want to go make --
you know, make anything -- hold anything up.
So I was just like, "Oh, I can make it through this.
I'm a 37-year-old man! I can hold my pee for an hour."
You know? And I could not. You know what I'm saying?
So I had to get up and go to the bathroom.
And shout-out to his security
because they just were like, "Okay, go this way."
They did not gun-bump me in the back of the head
like a Jason Bourne movie. -But you have to definitely --
That's one of those things when you interview a president.
You definitely have to announce any sudden movements you make.
You can't just get up like that and just leave the room
'cause Secret Service does not play that.
So shout-out to Mero for being smart about that.
So, I was talking to a friend of mine
who is a New Yorker, as well, and he said New Yorkers
make this mistake all the time, which is we focus so much
on the presidential election when, in reality,
what will affect our lives more is the mayoral election.
It's an incredibly crowded field.
What do you guys make of it so far?
-You said it. It's so crowded that it's, like --
You got to wait for it to thin out a little bit.
I think the guys --
"The rent is too damn high" guy is still around.
-He's your guy? -You know what I'm saying?
I don't know. Is he? We don't know.
Like, what are the Vegas odds?
I think there's like 40 people running for mayor right now?
-Yeah. Right now -- -Let's get it down to like 10.
-Right now the -- right now the New York mayor race
is like "American Idol" in the beginning when they're just
speeding through people and people get the paper.
They're like, "Oh, I'm going to LA!"
Right now, you just got to be calm,
because there's a lot of people right now
who have no policy, but they're very flashy.
You don't want to get attached to someone and know they're not
gonna make it through to the next round.
So we got to keep a close eye on it.
And some of people are a little too whimsical.
If you got pink hair and you got, like,
a talking rabbit, that's your gimmick,
We really don't need you right now.
We need an actual leader. New York, please choose right.
-Please. -Do you think it's a harder job
than being president -- being mayor of this city?
-Yeah, for sure. For sure. -Mm-hmm.
-Because everybody hates you, no matter what.
You could be the best mayor New York has ever seen,
and somebody's gonna be like, "I hate that guy!"
-Yeah. -"He's not a real New Yorker!
He doesn't eat gyr--
He doesn't even put tzatziki sauce on his gyros!"
-Yes, 'cause New Yorkers
hate the mayor in a special kind of way.
And as the president, you can stay inside the White House.
You don't have to run into anybody.
The mayor has to run into New Yorkers all the time,
and nothing -- There's no older New York tradition
than absolutely cursing out the mayor.
Just honestly. They did it to Dinkins. They did to Koch.
They did it to Giuliani, de Blasio.
I did it to de Blasio this morning.
So, you know, it's gonna continue.
-Yeah, he thought he was --
he was tall enough to not get yelled at,
and he found out the wrong way that wasn't true.
-No. -He found out the hard way.
-No. -He just found out.
When you move to New York and you're tall
and you don't play sports, people just call you Big Bird.
-Mm-hmm.
[ Laughter ]
-I didn't realize that, but that's a great --
another great thing to love about our city.
Do you guys have any guests you're excited about
coming up on this season? -Ooh, yeah!
We're coming back hard with the champion of democracy.
We got leader Stacey Abrams in the building
for our first episode back. -That's exciting.
-It's always great speaking with her.
-And I will say, Desus, seeing you in front of those shoes,
even though your interview with Obama was great,
one of my favorite political interviews
in the last five years was you guys going over
how much shoes cost with Bernie Sanders.
-With the gawd. Bernie Sanders. -Just the purest --
It boiled down the essence of all three of you.
-Yes, but how great was the look on his face
when I told him the prices? It was just seething rage.
[ Laughter ]
At that moment, I've never wanted to vote for him more.
-Yeah. -It was just like, "Wow."
-I should point out -- it wasn't like the shoes
were twice what he thought they should be.
It was, like, a factor of, like, 30.
-Like, 30. Yeah, yes.
-Exponentially more than he thought.
He's like, "These, uh, look like
they are around 45 bucks, I would say."
-When that ran, you could actually hear
everyone's head exploding when they realized
capitalism is a scam. They were like, "Whoa."
-"Whoa!"
-Hey, thanks so much for being here, guys.
I can't wait for your new season to start.
It is always nothing less than a pleasure.
This third season of "Desus & Mero" premieres
January 31st on Showtime.