Mo Amer was new to America when he was nine years old and his brother took him to see his first standup show. From that point on, he knew what he wanted to do with his life. Then at age 17, he took advice that helped him map out his entire career. Mo talks with Marc about his love for Houston, its diversity, and its comedy scene. He also explains how he’s honoring his family and his Palestinian heritage in his Netflix series Mo and why the show had to be told from his personal perspective.Click here to submit a question for an upcoming Ask Marc Anything bonus episode on The Full Maron. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What inspired Mo Amer to pursue comedy?
How are you doing with the snow, the floods, the fires? How are you doing with all the insanity that's going on culturally, politically? What's happening? Are you holding it together? Are you eating correctly? Try to stay engaged in a way where you can manage it. Try and be realistic and adapt and figure out how to move forward because as old Hunter said,
In a generation of swine, the one-eyed pig is king. And that is, that's diplomatic in terms of, you know, where we're at now. But old Hunter knew what he was talking about. Gonna go back and read some of those books. So, I don't know, man. Today I'm here. I'm here. And I'm aware. And I'm trying to figure out a way through, day to day, figure out how I can help, what I can do. Who needs help?
How can I help them? That kind of stuff. Being charitable, being decent, being respectful, having tolerance, having empathy. Stay on top of it, will you? Stay on top of it. Today, actually, I get to have a real conversation about real global things with Mo Ammer. He's a comic with two stand-up specials on Netflix. He was a cast member on the series Rami.
He's got his own series on Netflix called Mo, which is now in its second season. And it's terrific. You know, I welcome and I completely consume and learn from television series created by artists who are of a certain background that is not necessarily contextualized culturally. Good examples are Sterling Harjo and Rami Youssef. These are things, the world of The Reservation,
You know, I knew nothing about. I just didn't. And maybe that's on me. And Rami's experience as an Arab Muslim here in the States was unique to me in terms of what that community was like, what that what that the struggles within the community, his struggles with Islam, all that stuff. in terms of how these communities live in this country.
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Chapter 2: How does Mo Amer honor his Palestinian heritage?
And with Mo's series, he's a Palestinian-American and comedian and his family is Palestinian. And what they've lived with and been through and what they hold on to historically, traditionally and familially in terms of being in this country is was an eye-opening, mind-blowing experience.
And we were able to really kind of have a discussion about that, about his life, about Palestine, about American Palestinians and, you know, I as a Jew and Mo as a Palestinian. But the bottom line is, and oddly the most important thing about the conversation, is that we're both comedians. And we both love comedy and have a personal history with comedy and some heroes in common.
But we are able to talk about the other stuff. Look, I talk about things. I talk about my fears. I talk about the politics of this country. Look, I knew and know what's going on in Gaza is awful. And I've stated that. But I do get a little preoccupied with what's in my own backyard in terms of
The ongoing shift from democracy into some sort of competitive authoritarianism, which is a documented term that you should probably look up. There's been some articles about it. It's sort of what Hungary is and what Hungary became through that autocrat, Viktor Orban. Damn, dude. Damn. Well, you know, Tesla has an iron lung available.
It's pretty, you know, it's kind of weird looking, but it's bulletproof. That's good. And wait a couple of years. So how was Paris? You know, I haven't been there since it's been part of Russia. Yeah, these are all possible questions. Have you gone to Canada lately? Yeah, they won't let Americans in. I guess rightfully so. Yeah, it's all gonna get more and more exciting.
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Chapter 3: What makes Houston's comedy scene unique?
But the bottom line is, for me, it's understanding, you know, what is happening to the best of my ability with real facts and adjusting to that. And then hopefully... As we move into this, figure out how we can resist in a way that's not just personal or self-centered or self-righteous in terms of the small things you can do in your life to push back.
Because I don't know how much that really affects anything. I got a friend of mine who's boycotting Amazon. All right, well, good luck with that. Good luck with it. Boykotting Whole Foods. Good luck with it. I don't know if that's going to make a big difference, but if it makes you feel better, I guess that's not nothing, but actually it might be nothing.
Look, I'm in Asheville, North Carolina at the Orange Peel this Thursday, February 20th. Nashville, Tennessee at the James K. Polk Theater this Friday, February 21st. Louisville, Kentucky at the Baumhart Theater Saturday, February 22nd. And Lexington, Kentucky at the Lexington Opera House on Sunday, February 23rd. Back at Largo. Hier in Los Angeles am Dienstag, Februar 25th.
Im März werde ich in Oklahoma City am Tower Theater am Dienstag, März 6th. Dallas am Majestic Theater am Freitag, März 7th. Houston am White Oak Music Hall am Dienstag, März 8th. Und San Antonio am Empire Theater am Sonntag, März 9th, bevor ich in den Südwesten kam. Dann komme ich nach Süd-Carolina, Illinois, Michigan, Toronto, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York City.
Dann am Ende von meinem Spezial-Taping. Geht zu WTFpod.com für alle meine Dates und Links zu Tickets. Okay? Ich sage dir, es ist lustig. Ich spreche mit Mo Ammer. Ich kannte ihn ein bisschen, aber ich kannte ihn nicht wirklich. Er ist ein Texaser. Wir konnten also in diese Geschichte hineingehen. of Texas Comedy.
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Chapter 4: How does Mo's show address cultural representation?
You know, I was sort of involved in some ways with the legacy of that through Kennison and I'm back into the original Houston Outlaws. But Hammer's been doing it a while and he's been doing it since he was a kid. So it's kind of wild to share these stories These American comedy histories about places you came up in, if they have a comedic personality or profile or backstory. So that was good.
It's all very weird entertainment business right now. I watched that SNL 50 and it's just... I don't know, man. That was quite a room full of people there. That was quite an audience outside of the people that have been on the show. Man, that just must have been a battle of the publicists to get people into those seats, the ones who wanted them. And yeah, I looked at that.
I looked at show business. I looked at all of them in one room and fucking Keith Richards was there, which always makes me happy when he's sitting anywhere, to be honest with you. But there were a lot of people in there and I'm looking at him. I'm like, oh, my God. Das ist das Gesicht der Resistenz. Wir müssen das Ding breiten. Wir müssen die Leute da rausnehmen.
Die Leute sind da rausgekommen, was ermutigend ist. Aber auch die Leute werden so alt. Es ist schwierig. Ich weiß nicht, dass ich mir alt fühle und ich werde alt. It was quite stunning that Garrett Morris got out there and sat in a chair and he almost looked like a character Garrett Morris was playing. He was playing an old Garrett Morris. And that conversation I had with him was kind of amazing.
But I do like seeing everybody in the room and having a good time. And some of the stuff was funny. But Jesus Christ, I mean, come on. Eddie Murphy doing Tracy Morgan outside of Sandler's song was really probably the high point of that thing. It's kind of incredible when you see, anytime you see Eddie Murphy choosing to turn on the juice. You know, to be funny Eddie Murphy is always a treat.
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Chapter 5: What challenges did Mo face in creating his series?
So look, Mo Ammer is here. We get into it. But more than anything else, it's two comedians talking. One a Palestinian-American. And one, a Jew. It's just people. We're just humans. And this is me talking to Mo Ammer.
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Chapter 6: How does comedy serve as a tool for dialogue?
So, I didn't realize you still live out there in Texas, in Houston.
Yeah, yeah, no, I'm in Houston. I never wanted to leave.
There's like that one place, like, when I go to Houston, I always like Houston, you know, more than the other places.
It's my favorite.
Well, there's so much fucking great art around, and then there's like this Indian place I eat at some mall.
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Chapter 7: What personal stories does Mo share about his family?
Oh, in the mall? Oh, in the strip mall? Are you talking about Agas?
No, it's in like a fancy kind of shopping area. They do kind of a hip Indian thing.
Oh man. Listen man, in Houston it's all about Agas. Agas, that's the Indian? Yeah, it's Pakistani, but same shit. It's like the greatest South Asian food you've ever had. These guys have like 13,000 Google reviews and it's 4.8 stars. Oh yeah, it's right there, Agas.
What the fuck am I thinking of?
Agnes is insanely delicious.
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Chapter 8: How do Mo and Marc discuss the impact of current events?
Now that I'm vegan, I'm always... Oh, you love it. Oh, Pondicherry, that's what I'm thinking. Pondicherry, yeah, I know Pondicherry.
That's alright, right? My wife loves Pondicherry. Yeah, it's good. It's all vegetarian, I think, right? Yeah, I think so, but it's good.
It's a little hip, it's not traditional. It's good, no, no, no.
There's also a Hindu temple up north.
That's the thing about Houston, it's so fucking huge and there's so many different kinds of people, it's crazy.
Es ist.
Es ist die verschiedenste Stadt in Amerika. Das wollte ich gerade sagen. Ich wohnte in Queens, in Astoria.
Und ich dachte, das ist ziemlich divers, aber es gibt nicht so viele Leute. Nein, nein, nicht so viele Leute, aber auch, ich denke, dass, wenn du dich an Texas denkst, denkst du an den Süden, den tiefen Süden. Das ist, was du dir vorstellst. Nein, aber Houston. Es ist die verschiedenste Stadt in Amerika. Es ist verrückt.
Und als ich mein Show präsentierte, war ich so, ja, das ist ein bisschen verrückt, dass niemand jemals eine Serie in Houston filmt.
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