Chapter 1: What themes does Mo Amer explore in his comedy?
On this episode of the commercial break. Everyone has a right to exist and have right to food, water and shelter. You know, there's people that actually believe that. That's scary. People actually believe that. And for me, like, I always knew I was going to make it. I always knew I was like, you asked me this question before. Did you really imagine for yourself?
And I do sometimes want to be like, yeah, I never did, but I saw it. No, I did. I did. And I'm grateful that I did. I'm grateful that I felt that in my gut and I followed my gut, which is a big gut. But it has, you know, and it was right. That's what matters most. The next episode of the commercial break starts now.
Oh, yeah, cats and kittens. Welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green and welcome to a DCB infomercial Wednesday. That's right. Our new schedule is Wednesday and Fridays. You can also catch us recording the episodes live on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That'll start after January 1st as Chrissy and I are out of town on our holiday break. Well-deserved, I think you can tell us.
DCB Infomercial Wednesday with Mr. Mo Amir. It is not often or ever when I can say that we are entertaining. a Peabody award-winning comedian and artist, director, actor, writer. But we are today, Mo Amir. He has made quite the splash into Hollywood over the last couple of years.
If you have watched his award-winning television show, Mo, then you will know that he is not only creative, he is politically active, he is outspoken, he is motivated, he is kind, he is gentle, he is all those things. And this is one of the conversations that I enjoyed most in 2025. Happy to present this episode to you. He's also been in Crashing. He has Netflix specials, Mo Amir, The Vagabond.
He was in Raimi on, I think it was on Hulu. Yes, Hulu. All those things you can check out. I put a couple of the links in the show notes so that you can look for yourself. But I imagine if you see a picture of him, then you will instantaneously recognize him. Mo was everywhere.
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Chapter 2: How does Mo Amer describe his journey in the entertainment industry?
It was everywhere for a couple of years there. And super happy to have him with us today. Chrissy was here for the recording of the episode. But like we've been doing the last couple of weeks, I'm doing the intro and I'm doing the outro. Uh, because more sickness is running around. No, actually because Chrissy and I are both out of town and it just worked out that way.
So just a reminder, putting a pin on it. Wednesdays and Fridays are the new schedule for the commercial break for the foreseeable future. Uh, So we're running a TCB infomercial today, and then we will catch you live Tuesdays and Thursdays on YouTube, youtube.com slash thecommercialbreak.
Follow us at thecommercialbreak on Instagram so you can get all of the details, all the deets, as the kids would say. And yeah, so let's take a short break. And as soon as we get back. on this telepodcasting machine here in the studio. Chrissy and I will be talking to Mr. Mo Amir. And I'll talk to you on the flip side.
Hey, it's Rachel, your new voice of God here on TCB. And just like you, I'm wondering just how much longer this podcast can continue. Let's all rejoice that another episode has made it to your ears, and I'll rejoice that my check is in the mail. Speaking of mail, get your free TCB sticker in the mail by going to tcbpodcast.com and visiting the Contact Us page.
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We might not air that, but maybe. Oh, and if you're shy, that's okay. Just send a text. We'll respond. Now I'm going to go check the mailbox for payment while you check out our sponsors. And then we'll return to this episode of the commercial break.
And Mo is here with us now. Mo, I can safely say that I think you're the first Peabody Award winner to show up to the commercial break. That's incredible. Well, there's a first for everything, and your agent has led you astray.
I told them I needed a break, and they were like, we got something perfect for you. I was like, what?
We often say on this show that you show up for one of two reasons.
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Chapter 3: What challenges does Mo face as a comedian discussing serious topics?
You're on your way up or on your way down. I have a feeling you're on your way up. Oh, boy. I tell you, it's a rough room. Congratulations on all the success over the last couple of years. Chrissy and I were just talking about the television show, which did win a Peabody Award. And, I mean, could you have ever imagined this? Yeah, from Houston. Or did you imagine?
Like, were you – is this where you wanted – yeah, is this where you wanted to –
Yes, yes, I did. I'm a dreamer. I did have a vision for myself at a very early age of what I wanted to do with my life and what kind of stories I wanted to tell. It's never, you know, you don't ever expect anything, you know, so it's extremely flattering, rewarding, and it feels energizing to get, of course, a Peabody or a Gotham or something.
You know, to be honored in AFI, for instance, which I just didn't know how extraordinarily special that is. That's crazy. I didn't know that. Yeah, so you're like there in that room and it's like your show is selected from 600. There's like 10 that they select from 600 and then like...
next to you the 10 films of the year and it's everywhere all at once and it's Spielberg and James Cameron and you're like what am I doing you're right that's crazy yeah you do pinch yourself in that situation you're like oh cool and then you get a letter from Spielberg saying like how much he loves the show oh my god You're like, I quit. Spielberg?
Yeah, you quit. How can I do better than this?
I'm out.
I've done it.
Mic drop moment? Yeah. No, it's cool. It's affirming. But this business sucks, man. Because once you do that, you feel good for like two seconds. And you're like, what's next? What am I going to do next? And what am I going to tell? And then season two was a big... Heavy, heavy lift for me. And just emotionally, not creatively or anything like that.
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Chapter 4: How does Mo balance personal stories with comedy?
And I was just thrilled that. that I was able to fulfill basically everything I wanted to do with season two and then taking that into the special of Wild World. Yeah. I was just very, very happy about that. But then you're so exhausted emotionally and mentally. You're like, OK, maybe I should go raise my son for a bit.
I think that people who are creative for a living, I do think that there are these deep breaths that need to be taken. Like there's these moments... You have to recharge. You have to recharge and reflect and lean into the things that maybe you just drove on by because things were moving so fast. And I can't imagine how it must feel.
I can imagine it's hard to sit in that room, like Steven Spielberg and all these people that you were just sharing, and then go... Like really be able to suck that all in in that moment. It probably takes a moment of space when you can go, holy shit, this just all happened to me. And then you have to recharge your batteries and go do it again. You have to go do the next thing.
And that's really hard. I think I don't know who said this. Someone said this on our show. Another comedian said this on our show that. If you come up with one or two good hours, great hours of material in your life, then it used to be that you would be considered one of the greats.
But now, right, it's like you have to come up with a great hour or two every two years or you're not on top of the game. And so, you know, I think you're a little bit different in the sense that you're also – You're also speaking about stuff that is very close to your heart and is very serious. So it's emotionally taxing. It's personal to you. How are you feeling now?
How is the current climate feeling to you right now?
Well, you touched upon a few things. First of all, regarding the stand-up and how many hours you come up with and this and that, I think every person is different. It just depends on what you're trying to say, what you do, or is there any meaning behind your work? And I think that's something that I've always wanted.
What is the legacy you leave behind and what kind of stories are you telling and who's going to be able to carry that after you? You know, that's something that I think about pretty frequently. And also, has this been done before? Has any of this been done before? I've never heard anything like this before. That's what really gets me excited.
And yes, taking a break and taking a breath and all that is good. But also, it's a double-edged sword for me. It's like I need to get the stuff out too or else I feel restless.
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Chapter 5: What insights does Mo share about the process of creating his show?
So it's like, yeah, understanding how to do that. I don't even know how to like – I really don't. My wife is the one that really just taught me how to do that. I don't even know how to do that. It was really weird just to sit around and just do what? What are we doing? You know what I mean? It just felt odd. Uh, space for me.
So you try to read, you try to, you know, just, uh, process as much as you can and be present as much as you can in those moments. But really that's what it's about for me. It's like, what kind of stories am I telling? Have I seen anything like this before? Is it, is it going to be interesting enough for me to like to. keep my attention to be honest. Uh, and that's, and that's what gets me going.
And stand up is one thing. And, you know, I've, I'll go up on stage and I'll riff for hours, not just doing like, you know, be inspired by the audience, but that's how I write. Everything is improvised. So when you think of like constructing a particular hour, that's encapsulating something, what is it, whatever it is.
And for me with wild world is kind of buttoning up what I did with season two of Mo. Um, And just bringing that chapter to a close so I can move on and do the next thing. That's what it was for me. And I feel like I captured the time in Wild World. And that's my son letting me know that I have not done that.
Yeah.
He's calling me out right now. Welcome to the show, my little buddy. Yeah, sorry, guys. No, it's fine. Don't be sorry.
Okay, as long as you're okay with it, I'm fine with it. We have a dog that barks every episode. Whenever you get around to listening to an episode of the commercial break, you'll hear kids, dogs, lawnmowers. Great. Vacuums.
I feel great. No, no vacuums.
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Chapter 6: How does Mo Amer handle audience reactions during performances?
Vacuums got to be the worst. But no, no, genuinely, like with Wild World, I really wanted to capture the time. And that's why like the closer even of the special is all about time. How we make use of our time is kind of like this poem, this reflection, this bit, sometimes funny, sometimes mostly reflective. And I wrote that like the day before I filmed the special. Wow.
Wow.
And it was like four pages long and I was just panicking, but I was also really inspired and I had to do it. This was like something that I had to do. And you talk about like, oh, you got to take a year or two years to develop a tune. That's true.
But sometimes you got to have the guts to follow your instincts and to understand like, oh, you got to follow your inspiration and the things that you write, you got to believe in and then you push forward and And you put yourself and everybody else around you in a slight panic attack. But when you're done, it's tremendous. And that's how I feel about it.
Do you find those moments of inspiration are some of your best? Yes. Yeah.
Yeah, they are. Because I wonder how many people actually have those moments and they get too scared or their fear stops them from doing it. I think most.
Yeah.
Yeah. And I think with season two of making my show, I can't tell you how many times I rewrote stuff on set that took it from like a B plus to an A plus. There's so many moments that just elevated things or change a setup, which is, you know, not easy to do when you're under that kind of stress of finishing at a certain time.
And, you know, there's all these implications if you don't execute, you know, especially on a film set.
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Chapter 7: What role does family play in Mo's life and comedy?
You know, like you spend weeks and weeks and months and maybe years of thinking about something and then you write it out and then you go film it and then you see it and you go, wait, wait, wait, I got it now. Yeah. So you can't discount all that effort that happened before. It's really like inspired in the moment because you've spent so much time nurturing it. Yeah. So that's...
That's how it, to me, that's how it works for me at least. Like where I spend all this time and then in the moment you're like, wait, wait, this is wrong. It's not completely wrong. But if you tweak this, you'll get to something really special. And you do. Most of the time you do. And if it sucks, you got to be honest with yourself and tell your ego to shut up. Like this sucks.
You got to cut this.
Yeah. Yeah, no, that's true. I love hearing you describe your own creative process. Do you have people around you that you trust? Does this come from Mo? Are you the ultimate arbiter of what's coming out of your brain? Or are there people around you, like your wife or a friend or a producer, whoever, that goes, hey, Mo, not this, that?
I'm pretty much the first guy that will say that, to be honest. And then I'll have people that I'll show it to, and I could tell right away. I could tell if this is good or not, because I'm a big believer in necessarily notes, but first reactions. right? And then I'll see if I actually communicated what I wanted in a particular scene or in a stand-up bit or whatever.
You'll see it right away and then you'll be like, oh, I know how to fix this. I didn't do my job fully here. Let me fix that. And then you'll tweak it and then you'll get what you want out of it. That's usually how I operate. Like with the series and everything, just me and my editors, from episode to episode, we just flip, swap back and forth and Every second is accounted for, everything.
Even when we were scoring the show, I'd go and score the show with the band and sit together. I'm like, ah, this didn't sound right. Switch this, do that, go faster here. And I don't know anything about scoring a show, but I can feel it and I can know it. You see it. I believe it.
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Chapter 8: What hopes does Mo have for the future of his work and the world?
You just make adjustments. So there's every part of it. I was... meticulously involved with. There's not a, literally there's not a second that's not accounted for. Maybe like the opening of season two, I spent like a hundred hours on maybe more. Jeez. It's like the first minute. The first minute. Yeah. Even for the special, the opening shadow, I spent like 70 hours on something like that.
Just the walking through Washington, D.C. in my shadow. You love this process, huh? No, I don't. It sucks. Oh, you don't? Not this part. I mean, not that part.
No, not this part, but I'm saying the whole thing. Not every single minute of being in with the band. Yeah, the band stuff was awesome.
Yeah, the band stuff was awesome. Music is everything. It could turn you off also right away if it doesn't work well. I mean, whoever's scoring the show, they have to know what your intention is with how you're directing things, how you put it together, and how you edit it. They don't know. Yeah. I mean, you got to like help them out to do their job. Yeah.
So, you know, and I enjoyed that aspect immensely. But, you know, just spending hours and hours in a dark room, you know, going over a particular, not to edit, but like if you're particularly focusing on a particular montager's thing, you just, you know, it just sucks. It's not fun. Yeah. At some point you want to just pull your ears off your face, you know, like your head. It's like not fun.
You pull your eyelashes out. It's not good. No, no, no. It's painful. It's very painful. Oh, you have a talent for it though. I mean, there's what comes out of it. So it still sucks. It still hurts. No, no, no. But like, but like when you put it together and everything is there, it's extremely rewarding. And that's, that's cool. And you know, I, that's why I really enjoyed the premiere of, um,
of season two, like, you know, people seeing it with like, you know, 300 people in a theater.
Did you go do that? That was cool. You said you watched it with 300 people.
Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. It was so cool to see that. Yeah.
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