Mo Amer, a Palestian-American standup comedian who is set to be among the Black Adam cast, has had an especially notable week in his career with the release of Netflix series Mo. His semi-autobiographical dramedy about a family of Palestinian refugees’ struggles as they reside in Houston, Texas has not only been trending on the Netflix Top 10 throughout the week, but it also has an amazing Rotten Tomatoes score too.
The series currently has a perfect 100% critics rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, along with a 92% audience score. Mo is riding high with seriously great ratings thus far as the series streams on Netflix all over the world. The show, which is also produced by A24, is being praised for its vulnerable and often funny approach to Amer’s immigrant story.
Mo was created by Mo Amer alongside Ramy creator Ramy Youssef, who previously received a Golden Globe win for his own honest approach to bringing Muslim American representation to television. As Amer told CinemaBlend during our interview with the comedian, there’s a blend of fact and fiction being told of his leading character. Even so, Amer put his blood, sweat, and tears into telling the story of the series, drawing on his own upbringing as a Palestinian refugee, who fled war to Houston, Texas, where he was raised.
Amer has spent his standup career making light (whilst also shedding light) on his unique experiences as an immigrant, but he has also been imagining how he could tell the story in a more grounded way since 2014. With the Netflix series, he finally can tell his story in the way he wants. As he recently told CinemaBlend:
I've just been banking all these great stories – hard, painful stories that have happened to me throughout my life and fictionalizing them to make a series like we have, they're all inspired by it. My mother, my ancestors, my brother to all have inspired this great story to tell. Yes, it's like a Palestinian refugee immigrant story of working on the table, fish-out-of-water, trying to fit in and be seen and be accepted. But it's also like a story for everyone. It's something that everyone can relate to. Everyone has felt insecure about where they are in the world either socially or what have you, or living even paycheck to paycheck and struggling to try to take care of their family.
Now that the series is out, it’s clear that it is connecting with people. It’s a step in the right direction for Muslim and Arab American representation, after many previous characters from these backgrounds have been both sidelined and stereotyped. And the actor’s next project is the upcoming DC movie, Black Adam.
Black Adam stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the DC anti-hero known as Black Adam. In the movie, coming to theaters this October, the anciently powerful being will be unleashed and bring together the Justice League of America, consisting of Dr. Fate, Hawkman, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher. You can check out Mo Amer in Black Adam on October 21.
