Desus Nice Says He's Looking Forward to 'All These New Projects in 2024' After the SAG-AFTRA Strike Ended

Desus Nice is gearing up for the abundance of opportunities surrounding him in 2024, but like many Hollywood professionals, the podcaster was greatly impacted by the SAG-AFTRA strike. Despite the industry pause, Nice stayed positive and built a community amongst his fellow entertainers.

"It was actually a struggle to try to stay positive with the strike and everything going on," Nice exclusively tells OK! while discussing his partnership with TUMS. "I think the best part of the strike was getting to meet other people in entertainment — and not in a context where you're competing against them."

Amid the walkout, the comedian focused on developing authentic relationships with his peers.

"I have great friends in this industry and just being able to talk to them, bounce ideas off of them and learn from their lived experiences helps you move forward," he admits. "The strike is up, and now we have all these new projects in 2024."

Aside from advocating for labor rights alongside his peers, the Guy Code alum is hopeful that he will help facilitate thought-provoking dialogue through his work.

"I love seeing non-traditional questions where people take a deep dive and ask things that aren't just talking points, and it's not a facade," the creative explains. "You can see someone asking people what doubts they have in their career or what missteps have they made in the past that they wish they could go back to and change."

"Not everything is positive like that," he continues. "I just enjoy getting a chance to be intimate with people and get to know who they are deep down."

Before Nice was hosting talk shows — such as The Daily Show — and dominating the podcasting charts, he was a literature student at the University of Mount Saint Vincent. To this day, his background in English continues to influence him.

"Growing up my mother was a librarian, so we always had of voracious appetite for reading," he shares. "Literature just seemed second nature."

"Taking the written word and then transferring it to spoken word, it's it's a lot easier for me than it should be because I kind of just grew up reading, reading and reading," Nice adds.

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With years of interviewing cultural figures under his belt, Nice learned a thing or two from the country's most beloved athletes, and now, he is teaming up with TUMS and Draft Kings to celebrate the upcoming Super Bowl with some friendly sports betting.

"It's a little thing called TUMS Prop Bites, and it's free to play," Nice shares. "It's a game you play during the big game."

"You go in there for the commercial just to know what's going on," he notes. "With this game, you get to gamble, but not real money. You can just like kind of gamble about snacks, like 'Are people going to eat more chicken than tacos?'"