‘Awards Chatter’ Podcast — Mo Amer (‘Mo’)

Scott Feinberg
·1 min read
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Mo Amer, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, which was recorded via Zoom in front of students at Chapman University, is a Kuwait-born Palestinian standup comedian, writer, producer and actor. His semi-autobiographical rookie comedy series Mo — which was produced by A24 and streamed by Netflix, which he co-created with Ramy Youssef, for which he wrote the pilot and on which he stars — is the first ever Palestinian-American sitcom, and is currently generating Emmy buzz.

The New Yorker has described Mo’s depiction of an undocumented immigrant’s life in Houston as “delivered with a warmth, confidence, and localism that evokes Spike Lee’s Brooklyn, E-40’s Bay Area or the Philadelphia that Sylvester Stallone memorialized in Rocky.” Since the show first dropped last August 24, it has accumulated rave reviews leading to a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, fans like Steven Spielberg and widespread industry recognition including an AFI Award for being one of the top 10 TV shows of 2022, a Gotham Award for best breakthrough series 40 minutes or less, a Spirit Award nomination for best lead performance in a new scripted series and, most recently, a Peabody Award.

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Over the course of this episode, Amer, 41, reflects on his and his family’s real journey to America and, after two decades, to citizenship; how he discovered comedy and honed his comedic skills, while accumulating mentors including Dave Chappelle; what it has been like developing Mo, with Youssef, and acting on both Hulu’s Ramy and his own show; plus much more.

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