Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 64. Mo Amer: The Creative Savings Account

Episode Date: January 24, 2022

Mo Amer started doing stand-up when he was 14, and now he's being introduced by The Rock in his latest Netflix special, Mohammed in Texas. Mike talks with Mo about that journey, growing up Palestinian in Houston and later performing in college lunchrooms. They discuss why immigrants love Nescafe, the lengths to which Mo will go to get access to a bidet, and why it's important for writers to store ideas in a "creative savings account." Please consider donating to: https://www.angelbynature.com/reliefgang

I think that it's an odd inflection point with our country right now where you have a lot of people like the redneck Scots that you talk about in your specials, your neighbor, who would say, if we were talking to them about politics or whatever it is, they'd go, I'm not racist. I'm friends with Mo. You know what I mean, right? But then what you'd say is, does does that guy believe in systemic racism? Maybe not. And so then it's like, how do you teach or try to convince redneck Scott that systemic racism is something that is everywhere in our country and needs to be addressed? Yeah, I avoided all those conversations for sure. Welcome back to a new episode of Working It Out. So glad you're joining us here. We are well into our 60s of episodes at this point. This is wild. Can't believe it. We have an exciting guest today. We have exciting announcements about the tour. I just finished up in Berkeley at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. The new show, The Old Man in

the Pool, is better than ever. It is a fascinating experience of going between the podcasts and live shows and outdoor shows and virtual shows and all this stuff. But the show is in great shape. I'm really excited about it. I'm going to be in Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Asheville, Durham, Indianapolis, Dallas, Chicago for a whole run of shows. I'm doing like four weeks there at the Steppenwolf, which is literally like a dream come true. Los Angeles, London for two shows. And then this is a new one, Paris and Iceland. I've never done shows in Paris and Iceland. We'll see if you show up. Tell your friends and enemies.

Today on the show, we have Mo Ammer. Mo is someone I've known for a few years from the club circuit. He's super, super funny and just sweet person. Actually, I think he's most well known for his Netflix special a few years ago called Mo Amr the Vagabond, where he talks a lot about how he grew up in Palestine, and he's got a really interesting personal story. His family moved to Texas, grew up in Houston, which is actually the title of his new special that you can watch right now, which is called Muhammad in Texas. You can also see him on Rami Youssef's Hulu show, Rami.

He's in two seasons of that. He will also appear in the upcoming superhero film, Black Adam, alongside The Rock. We have a great conversation. I love talking to Mo. I love his comedy, and I think you will, too. Enjoy my conversation with the great Mo Amber.

We're working it. First of all, Mo, way to go. Great special. Thank you, brother. How long have we been friends? first of all mo way to go great special thank you brother how long have we how long have we been friends i'm gonna guess four years that sounds about right about four or five years sounds about right maybe more i don't know yeah you're somebody i feel like i've known for a long time it's amazing you too you too you're you're a warm you're a warm soul and i feel like we we we're i feel like you're one of those friends where we've probably talked for 30 hours but it feels like we've talked for for 500 hours sounds right that feels yeah absolutely it feels that way too i was so happy

to hear from you i was was like, let's go. but you moved to Houston when you were young, and you make this point about how you get along with a lot of people who people wouldn't think would like Mohammed. Right, exactly. No, it was really frustrating, honestly. And that part was actually a bit, was a longer bit. It was actually a bit. It was a longer bit. And Jon Stewart came to the show at the cellar and watched the hour.

I was like, I would really love your notes if you could pop in and give me some notes. And he was so gracious. He came in and gave me some great things to think about. And that bit was the one that was kind of stewing in my head and then middle of me about to do the bit in the in this in the in the special i shifted gears in that moment i'm like no this is not what it is because he was just giving me a note about connective tissue overall connective tissue for the set and i was like you're 100 right and right in the middle of it i mean right as i started it i just shifted gears i'm like it's not this it's that and i and i changed it right as we're filming and i was real you change it in the filming yeah in the live

performance you were filming yeah yeah because in my head it was a completely different set and uzur osman was was a producer on the show i had him follow me and just like take notes for me and help me out. We had it. He was like, bro, what a great shift. Like it was an amazing, like complete shift of the situation. I'm like that's what was missing for the whole special. You know, it takes like, I don't know, hundreds of sets and then all of a sudden you get it while you're filming. I mean, go figure.

And then I just got it right the second time. I was like, look, I just need to do it again for the second show and I think this is where it needs to be because the bit was about how overly prepared he is and he is generous with what he does, but it was never made clear in the bit. So I was like, damn it. I was like, forget the bit.

I was like, forget the whole jokes part of it, like the meat of it. Just forget all that and just talk about our relationship is more significant than me trying to get laughs and just do the jokes. I'm like, you know what? This is where it belongs. And it just happened like in the middle of the set. It was awesome. I was like, I think that's it.

Wait, so like, so the whole thing you go like, you go like, you know, I grew up in houston and like you know i i know red you know this guy is like it was a redneck named scott it's like and it's like i got a generator you know it's like and it's like i'll give you mohamed i'll give you a generator whatever it is he's like yeah that wasn't the bit yeah oh that wasn't the bit no you're telling me it was it was something previously you like literally like improvise that on in the special yeah yeah yeah i did i did it was it was meant to be how he's overly prepared and he's constantly warning us and we suck at it like all the other neighbors in the cul-de-sac just don't listen to him and he's like it's coming you better be prepared and this is real this happened a couple of times with hurricanes where he's the only one with lights

and all of us don't have lights so we all just hang out at his place and he and i and before it was just like oh the driveway is his stage when the eye of the storm is passing he's all lit up and and and the driveway is his stage and he's out there smoking a cigarette like i told you dumb son bitch i told you that was the bit yeah so i took it away i was like no it's about how he's there for me and all this like the fragmented america like this whole idea of muhammad's living in texas is so absurd and they can't get along when truthfully it's one of the best relationships i have in my cul-de-sac like it's it's like really warm and loving they they sent me pictures after i dropped the special of them together it's just sweet you know because I've moved out recently from that neighborhood.

Yeah. But he's my guy. Like for 15 years, that was my guy. Like I love them. That's a hard thing I have explaining to people who say to me like, oh, you travel to every state in the country and is in the middle of the country. Is it, you know, or crowd's not as good or whatever. I'm like, no, no, the middle of the country is amazing.

I mean, Texas is amazing. All these places, the people are great. I think that there's a stratification that happens that you talk about in your special where people pick a team. Yeah. But it doesn't mean that they're all one team or all another team or that given the choice to be kind or not be kind, that they wouldn't be kind just because they're on that one team. Yeah, absolutely. And if they

did pick teams in the moment of, because your neighbor is always about neighborliness, right? It's about being aware of who your neighbors are and being there for them. And I've had neighbors who've had emergencies and we step up. If they were on a team, if they never – they could have not shared that with me, right? They might have been on a team, and they were nice when we were hanging out. They probably were, by the way, just to be clear. But over time, it's just that whatever ice was there, whatever reasons, whatever projections they had upon what a muhammad would be like

um it just melted away pretty quickly and constantly my my doorbell would ring or you know what i mean they would come in check out whether kids boy scouts or girl scouts or cheerleading or whatever you're supporting at that time i'm like yeah yeah just just do the yeah just here's the check do the you know we're always there for each other. So yeah, I think it did a lot of good more than harm. That's for sure. And I think that's more common. It is for sure. I know it is a lot more common than people think.

And it's just this idea of what it looks like. It looks better for us to be divided versus when we're actually galvanized. We're there for each other, specifically when, you know, a hurricane comes through and you see the neighbors all come out helping each other. They don't care. They don't look about what color or background you are. I know it sounds cheesy or whatever, but it's true. I mean, it's like in these moments, people step up and we're there for each other. At least that's what my neighborhood is like. I think that it's an odd inflection point with our country right now where you have a lot of people

like the redneck scots that you talk about in your special who's your neighbor who who would say if we were talking to them about politics or whatever it is they go i'm not racist i'm friends with mo you know what i mean right but then but then what you'd say is, does that guy believe in systemic racism? Maybe not. And so then it's like, how do you teach or try to convince Redneck Scott that systemic racism is something that is everywhere in our country and needs to be addressed? Yeah, I avoided all those conversations for sure. I'm putting you in charge. avoided all those conversations for sure I think yeah I'm putting you in charge yeah I'm not gonna walk up to

Scott as he's like you know barbecuing and be like look we have a real serious talk about systemic racism like that's not what's popping off I think it's about just the relationships and just continuing to grow together is where it's at I think everything else is just you know I think it's just engineered in a particular way where they have to think that way.

If somebody only watches Fox News their whole life, I would hate me too. Sure. I don't blame them. I toured the South. I started comedy in the mid-'90s as a 14-year-old kid and I started touring in the late-'s early 2000s pre 9-11 and i had a you know it was a great time they never seen anybody like me and then post 9-11 it was a completely different situation obviously yeah but still the same result they still were glad they still love me they still sat down with me afterwards it was it was you know it wasn't like very different from what it was

before 9-11 obviously there was a lot of a lot to get over in the first few minutes, but it made me a stronger comedian for it, and I like to think that it made some kind of difference too. You have this great joke about how after 9-11 you thought your career was over and your brother goes to you, you know, Mo, your career's over. No one's going to want to hear a guy named muhammad telling jokes on stage and you go uh omar you're a pilot that's a hundred percent true story

by the way that's absurd i came back from like the worst open mic i was like 19 it was like the worst open mic ever i was like oh, oh, shit, I'm exhausted. And I walk in and my brother just stares me down. And I was like, bro, you're a pilot. What the hell are you talking about? You were in the Marine Corps. They're about to call you up, buddy. You're going to Iraq.

It's going to happen. He was like, nah, what do they want with me? I was like, I've been out of the Marines two years. I'm like, bro, you speak fluent Arabic. You know all the dialects. You have like two bachelor's degrees at this point. You're going to get the call. I don't want you to get the call. Are you talking about me?

It's like focus on yourself. Sure enough, he got a letter a week later. I was like, I told you, buddy. I told you. Thankfully, he's okay and came back. Shoot. Oh, man. Yeah, it took a dark turn.

I think it's like an interesting cultural shift that's happened because you were like, you thought your career was going to end in 2001, you know, after 9-11. And then, of course, it went the other way. It skyrocketed. You know, you're starring in huge movies with The Rock. You know, you shot multiple comedy specials for netflix i mean you're you're blowing up and it's like what what do you think happened in culture and where do you see it

going well this is something that i saw from an early age you know i noticed that there was arab culture middle eastern culture starting to creep into the West. And it's just natural, right? Whenever you invade a country, you start exporting its goods, right? It just happens. That's why I do that bit in my special talking about walking around during World War II era with sushi, offering random American sushi. They wouldn't know what that is.

They'd be like, what the hell is that? So it's just now it's the thing, right? If you don't eat sushi, you're like an asshole if you don't like sushi and it's yeah and it's just something that i saw a long time ago like oh it's just natural that export's going to start coming here and and also there's the curiosity of people um what is this what is that you know the the military men that are you know now stationed abroad because there wasn't any military bases pre-1990 in the Middle Eastern region where you had U.S. military bases throughout the rest of the world, throughout Europe still to this day. There's over 800, 900 military bases worldwide with the exception of the Middle East. into Kuwait in the Gulf War, therefore had American soldiers now in Bahrain, in Saudi Arabia,

in the UAE, in Kuwait, in Iraq, and throughout other countries, I believe maybe Syria at this point, I'm not sure about Syria. But, you know, therefore, it's just going to be a natural progression, right, where that people's curiosity and also the soldiers bringing things back. And it's just about a matter of time where things catch up. And I feel like it's time. People really want to know about it and are very curious about it, but want to know from the actual source. They don't want to hear it through the news. They don't want to hear it through non-Arab people. I think it's, I think it's, you know, important for that.

And I always saw that and I, and I was just patient enough just to wait, wait, wait. And whenever the time comes to cash in on it, like as far as like my saving, I call everything I write is in my savings account. So whether it be a TV show, that's what I mean by cash in. Oh, that's beautiful. You know, and I've, you know, like the opening, I filmed, I just finished filming my series for Netflix, a scripted series. I just wrapped a week ago. And the opening to that series I wrote seven years ago, you know, the flashback. And that was the only thing that wasn't rewritten throughout the whole season

because it was so balanced and smart and just the way it was to shape out the whole story, it was so important. But like that. So now I'm just reaching into this to this really deep well that i knew eventually i was going to cash in on i mean artistically cash in on monetarily it's great i would love to i want to make money of course but it's like for me it's like accomplishing that feat was a huge wow it's in the can we're editing it talking about a palestinian family living in houston it's the first ever narrative TV show to ever be filmed in Houston.

So it's, yeah, it's very exciting, you know. You know, there's a lot of creatives who listen to this show. And I always try to point out to creatives who maybe are trying to work professionally but aren't yet that these projects that we all work on, they take years. It took years and years and years. When I did Sleepwalk with me, I worked on it for like seven or eight years before it was a show off Broadway. Refining it, refining it. One of my favorite movies of all time is Squid and the Whale by Noah Baumbach. And it's like, I think he was working on that for like nine years before it was made. And what you're talking about is like years and years of things that you're describing

as your savings account, which I love. I feel like I'm going to steal that just casually. Yeah, please. It's so good. It's such a good way of thinking about it for all creatives, I think, which is like everything we're experiencing, whether it's hardship, whether it's like we're writing something that's not quite there yet, or we don't have access to making it, it's all in your savings account. Exactly.

No, I've thought about that for a long time. And I've been really fortunate to have great mentors in my life that taught me that early on. So I took that really personally. And I was just like, oh, okay. It's just part of my overall autistic strategy long term. It's like it starts happening it's like they're gonna ask you what do you got oh well shit what do you want it's like it's like it's like that for me I mean honestly I've got several movies of you know that I've been working on and playing with uh you know that eventually that I want to make and I know that I'm gonna get to make it's gonna's going to happen. So it's just like, it's just about persistence and waiting.

I mean, what it mean, like Inception, it took Nolan like 10 years. He wrote that 10 years before he did it, like something like that. You know, there's a lot of stories like this. Squid Game, the guy wrote it 10 years ago. You know, I think it helps you. You know, I think it actually, the more time you take with it, some people get really impatient and just, I got to put it out now. And I think just really being patient with it and focusing on punching above your weight class is, is, is really a worthy track. You know, you, uh, it's a sad thing you talk about in your special, but, uh, you got divorced during the pandemic and, uh, or I shouldn't say it's sad, it's challenging. It's a challenging life event.

What is your turnaround typically on tragedy becoming comedy on stage? Like what kind of a bereavement period before you throw it on stage? I'm pretty much immediately. I mean, immediately. It's what I put out. What I actually put out is like, you know, I've been really I'm setting it up basically for the next special to talk about it with the with the one liner just to kind of discuss how sad I felt about it. But yeah, it's really therapeutic for me. I need to take it up on stage almost immediately. uh it's just one of those things that i i really have to do it asap and it helps me out uh but also i'm really thoughtful too about what i say about her because we're married for quite some time so i don't have any ill feelings towards her

whatsoever it's just a thing that happened in the middle of pandemic you know so i'm just collecting but i've learned a lot i've learned a lot. I've learned a lot. Fucking therapy, you know. A lot of times people ask me, like, where's the line between what's therapy and what's entertainment? And I think, I mean, I don't know about you, but I feel like it's if you can make people laugh with what happened to you, then it's entertainment. And if they're not laughing and they're not feeling anything, then it's not really meant for the stage. Well, I mean, sometimes the audience being uncomfortable is my therapy too. Sometimes for them to just be like, cringe with me, like, oh, I feel you on that.

We came here to laugh. I'm like, yeah, it's coming. Just shut up and feel it for a second. And I think that's also part of it as well for me. with me like oh i feel you on that we came here to laugh i'm like yeah it's coming just just shut up and feel it for a second and i think that's also part of it as well for me it's like being you know it's like really crucial for comedians to be okay with silence i think a lot of especially young comedians just rush through joke to joke thinking it's just how many laughs i can get per minute is really what it's about and it's like that's easy it's just how many laughs I can get per minute is really what it's about. And it's like, that's easy. It's just sitting in it is where it's at for me. And I found that to be the

best writing tool because I don't really write anything. I just take everything on stage. And that's how I work. I'm just too ADHD maybe. I don't know. I've never been officially diagnosed, but I get bored and I just want to take it on stage. And I'm really too ADHD maybe. I don't know. I've never been officially diagnosed. But I just – I get bored and I just want to take it on stage and I'm really inspired by the audience's reaction. That's how I get – that's how I write is to hear their reaction. I'm inspired by a line that otherwise I would have never thought of if I was just sitting in front of a computer. So – but yeah. But I do enjoy that too. And yeah, sometimes it's cringy.

Sometimes it's like, oh, it's a little too honest. And that's something that Chappelle taught me. He goes, man, be so honest that it's hard to make eye contact with you. And that's something that I've been working on. And I think that takes time specifically about the subjects that I'm trying to bring up on stage, whatever I'm feeling. It's been really hard for me. And I think that I've had a breakthrough over the last year two years wow that's an interesting way of looking at it be so honest that it's difficult to make eye contact with you yeah it's like I always learn and relearn that yeah same

same and I never really experienced it until I shot the series. I was doing a scene that was really raw, you know, and is based off of, most of it is based off my life. Obviously fictionalized and, you know, for the story. But one particular scene was so just honest. And I remember walking off and everybody just kind of like having a hard time looking at me. And I didn't get it until my drive home. I was like, oh my God, was it terrible? You know, was it, was that a bad take? Was it just not a good scene? And then I realized, I started getting messages from everyone, like how profound everybody, you know, they were, everybody really felt it in a big way and so I was like oh that's

what the thing he was talking about oh it was just like it was such an honest scene that everybody else struggled on how to act after you know it's just one of those like what do we do like that's a lot that's pretty cool you know it was just one of those things yeah sometimes it's sometimes I'll say something on stage like in my girlfriend's boyfriend I have a scene where I say, when I went on my first date with my now wife, Jen, and I said, I love you. It was on our first date. I was like, I love you. She goes, you love me? I go, I mean, you seem cool.

I pulled it back and I went on too strong. And then what's so funny is sometimes I look back and I just go, what was that? I can't believe I lay it on too strong. And then like what's so funny is like sometimes I look back and I just go like, what was that? I can't believe I even said that on stage. It's so embarrassing. But it's like that's what we committed to. That's what our job is, is this weird confession thing that in the moment seems like a good idea. Even in hindsight, I'm like, what was I doing telling people that? It's so funny yeah i've

had several of those i'm trying to remember which one it's just too many i've done i've done that pretty often where i just catch myself like did i just do that sorry guys it just happened let's keep it going yeah it's weird because i get that people message me sometimes on instagram and they'll ask like you know like I'm trying I'm experimenting with this confessional comedy that kind of thing and it's like what's too much to say and I'm like I mean there is not too much to say it's just the fee all of it's too much to say yeah yeah all of it all of it and none of it you know it's like that's what it is yeah I'm a little skeptical of that like how

to how that question is framed even like confessional comedy like what is you just be honest and funny you just gotta be funny sometimes young comedians are just like confessing things with no punchlines i'm like bro this is just yeah fucking awkward bro you have nothing yeah that's to me that's just that's, that's just a setup. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course it is. It's a setup with no left turn. Right.

I think you've got to bring a left turn or else you're not a comedian. You're just someone talking. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, I have a beef with that. I'm like, man, I don't know. I have a beef with that. I'm like, man, I don't know.

I think a lot of comedians are – I see this happen a lot where they build up bad habits and nobody teaches them otherwise. Where they just want to stand in one spot and just speak in the same tone throughout the whole – it's like, no, that's not great stand-up like a few guys have ever pulled that off in a way where they've become legends they're like two that i could think of um and it's just like great stand-up as being a well-rounded performer like being able to use all of your voice i could sit down on a stool and talk for hours too but i could also move around and bring stories to life i can you know what i mean like i think a lot of comedians get in their head like oh that's this is oh this is hacky or this is that or this is it's like no to me all of you sound the same that's hacky

like that to me is the same and what is hacky like it's like we gotta we have to like define it within our own community like i think hacky is somebody who's doing an actual bit that belongs to somebody else. That's a hack. That to me is that. It's not like we're all inspired by people that came before us. I mean, anybody says they're not. They're just full of shit. I know that I have top five comedians that I know that I grew up with that I absolutely admire and look up to in a big way.

And just like, yeah, of course you're influenced by them. And it takes like your whole career to shed that. You spend your entire lifetime shedding those influences and becoming your own. So we do this thing on the show called the slow round, and a lot of it's just memories. Do you have a memory of a smell from childhood that you think about sometimes? Nescafe. Oh, yeah?

Nescafe. My aunt and my grandmother. A few memories that I have of my grandmother. Nescafe, yeah. And sometimes I'll just be walking around, and I'll just smell Nescafe. Wait, hold on. Nescafe. Yeah, and sometimes I'll just be walking around and I'll just smell Nescafe. Wait, hold on. Nescafe is just the type of coffee?

Yeah, but it's like, you know, immigrants know what I'm talking about here. It's like these little packets. It's like these little packets of Nescafe. And that's how you just get a bunch of hot water and you drop them in there. And it has like a specific aroma. Why do immigrants know what that is immigrants think that's the best coffee it's like

the quick easiest nescafe that's the go-to it's like packets of like creamer mixed into it and seven pounds of sugar it's like horrible but it's but it's like it's a scent that just pops every once in a while i'll smell it it'll be like a year or two apart or something, and all of a sudden, I'm just walking around like, my grandmother's here? What's up? You know, like that. Do you have a memory from your life where you felt like you're an inauthentic version of yourself, and you look back and you sort of cringe? Yeah. Right after 9-11, I was Italian for three months for sure.

I'm not even kidding. I'd walk right here. I was just like, yeah, I'm not. I'm Italian. What are you talking about? Yeah, fuck yeah. Hated myself. Because it was so scary, man.

It scared the shit out of us. It was like, it was horrible. I mean, it was comedians, lovely comedians that walk up to me just been in the game a long time mo you're so funny uh god i'd hate for you get passed up and stuff like that just uh just change your name you know like no yeah yeah yeah and jewish comedians that love me that cared for me that still do i talk to them occasionally, you know. But it's just like they just were worried about me. They were like, man, you should just change your name, bro.

Like, fuck it, you know. You should have changed it to Birbiglia. Birbiglia, yes. Yeah, it was a tough time, man. I was definitely Italian for a few months. It didn't feel good. What's the best piece of advice anyone's ever given you that you used? I've been given some really amazing advice by my mentor, Danny Martinez.

Shout out to Danny Martinez, who owned the Comedy Showcase in Houston for 30 years. I mean, I think this is the easy one, lowest hanging fruit. I mentioned it earlier. It could be six months too early, but you can't be six months too late. It's a really profound one to me. It's like everybody just wants to rush and get there. And he would say like fast rise, fast fall. And it's nothing more true than those words to me.

And to tell a 17-year-old kid like, hey, it's going to take you 20 years for overnight success. And I'll teach you everything you want to know, but it's going to take you 20 years. If you're in for that, then I'll teach you. Otherwise, don't waste my time. And I was like, yeah. Yeah. The best way I've heard of that same concept described is the concept of pulling the bow back. The further you pull the bow back, the farther the arrow is going to go. Beautiful. That's a great one. That's a great one. Yeah. I like that. I think that's one of the best advice I've received. What's a story that you tell your friends, but you don't really talk about on stage?

Oh, man. I just started talking about it, but how I was, my worst show ever. Yeah? Yeah, my worst show ever. And there's no good way to tell it. It's awful.

I wonder if any other comedians had a worse one. I'm sure there's some good ones out there. I could probably go head-to-head with you with this. All right, all right. Well, I was doing – you know how you do these college showcases? Yeah. So this is like 2008 maybe, and I did – I booked every – Was it like NACA?

Was it like NACA? It wasn't NACA. It was- Was it like NACA? It was, it wasn't NACA. It was the regional ones. It was the- Okay. So it was like a regional college conference where they book colleges from like the Northeast or the Midwest or the Pacific Northwest. Yeah, this was Northeast.

And the Penn State schools were the one. If you can get them, there's like 23. I booked all of them. I booked every single school. Wow. Huge. Yeah, my college agent was like, dude, booked all of them. I booked every single school. Wow. Huge. My college agent was like, dude, you rocked it. You booked every single school that was there.

It was 27. I booked them all. It was amazing. Wow. And then I, you know, some of them are nooners, right? Some of them are nooner shows. Yeah. And then you go.

They're lunch shows. I've literally talked about this on stage. Horrible. It's when you're literally booked during a college lunch, often in a cafeteria, and often the kids don't know there's going to be a show of any kind. Not only did they, in this, I'll tell you one. So, it's a commuter

campus. It's a big one. It's a huge lunchroom. And it's chaotic. The guy who's introducing me is miserable. He's just like, stuttering, saying hello. Guys, we're going to have a comedian now coming on the stage. And I'm sitting there like, just introduce me already, right?

I remember interrupting him and just walking on stage. He's like, Moe. And he was struggling with my last name, Amber. I was like, just get off. So I kick him off stage. And I was like he's struggling with my last name amber amber i was like to just get off so i kick him off stage and i was like let me do my thing i'm like cocky i'm like i got this so i grabbed the mic i'm getting them all organized it's about 300 students big lunch situation yeah they're coming in and i'm getting them organized so about four or five minutes go by i got them you know make them laugh here we. Here we go. We're cooking now. We're building up. And man, I don't know how to describe what just happens next. It's really terrible for me. of developmentally, how do you say this, developmentally delayed students that walk in.

And one of the kids that's developmentally delayed just immediately, before he even sits down, starts booing me. Just starts boo like that. And everybody just pauses like this. And then he starts applauding himself. And I'm like, oh, he's entertaining himself, obviously. And so I just, you know, I just, you know, he kept, every time I start talking, he started booing me again. Boo, like that.

I'm like, okay, nobody's talking to him. And I go, who brought this guy? You know, just like, you just like thought it was really funny. Nothing. Nothing. Just like dead silence. And for another, like, I don't know, 45 plus minutes, I'm just relentlessly getting booed by this kid. And everyone is just relentless.

And he's having a ball. He's having a ball. He's loving it. So's having a ball he's loving it so i love it that he's loving it and you know that it's like the funniest thing is to watch a comedian like die on stage one of the funniest things ever so i remember at one point i just hunched over and i started laughing so hard because i had this like out-of-body experience where i was watching myself die this miserable death on stage. And I was just dying. I was laughing uncontrollably.

Nobody knew. I was like, it's hilarious. You guys suck. That's what it is. You guys are too immature and you guys suck to understand how hilarious this is. He's obviously – this is his fun time. Nobody ever takes him seriously probably. And he's like, I'm going to a comedy show.

This would be the funniest thing to witness at a comedy show is a comedian getting booed i'm gonna boo him so he but i 100 believe this because he was laughing so much at booing me and i was like you know what go for it buddy like have a great time yeah i don't care so it was the worst set ever i'm drenched i'm like sweating the whole time i get off stage i'm i can't wait to get to this other show like i can't wait to get to the 7 p.m show i'm like i gotta get this off of my back at another school at another at another school and my college agent calls me up and he was like hey uh got this call from uh from that school he just wrapped up they said you only did 52 minutes and i started i started no i started yelling i'm like there fuck it should be happy

i was up there for 52 minutes because you're supposed to do an hour yeah i was supposed to do an hour i was like you know what you can have the fucking money i was just so mad i'm like did you even tell you what happened do you even know what i went through there was no winning and i could see like every time i tell this story everybody tenses up you tensed up you're like i don't know where this is going. We're going to edit this out. But that's what happened. That's the worst show I've ever had. Whenever people ask me for advice on becoming a comic,

I always say, they're always like, there's no stage time. And I'm always like, well, you got to just perform wherever anyone will let you perform, even if it's bad. That's the only way to become a great comedian. Like Danny taught me this early on. He goes, you got to go do these one-nighters. Do them for as long as you can. Get your wings.

You know, like the first seven years. It's like when you go out and do these like Ramada Inns and Lanyop Music Cafes and Home of Louisiana or all these like Hole in the Walls. cafes and home of Louisiana or all these like hole in the walls. And there's these bookers that book like C.W. Kendall and Ken Muller and they book all these spots in the South and throughout the Dakotas. I did all those, you know. And yeah. And that's when you realize, oh, my hour is like 25 minutes, you know. Yeah. My you know, I don't have an hour. Whoops. OK. This is when you figure out how much time you actually have is when you go on the road and you realize this stinks. I've been getting, you know, this is an awful joke. It's been getting laughs at a comedy club because it's a comedy club.

And then you go in and real people in the Midwest or Middle America is just like, no, you know, this doesn't work here. And that's when you start learning how to write universally. And, yeah, that was it for me. I did those for like six years, maybe less. What's the strangest – who's the strangest neighbor you had growing up? That's funny. These are great questions. Strangest neighbor.

I'm not going to say his name because he might have been in the mafia. I don't know. But he was definitely the strangest neighbor I ever had. He was just an Italian guy, just got out of prison, and he was just like he didn't fit in at all, you know, into Houston A-League life. He was like Fonzie all the time, his hair. Like he's like in his 50s, you know, was in jail for 17 years and just like.

Wow. How did you know he was in jail so long? Oh, he told me. He told me he was in jail. Oh, he would talk about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he would talk about it for sure. And I was like, all right, this is fantastic. Yeah, he was talking about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he was talking about it for sure. And I was like, all right.

This is fantastic. Yeah, he was just a very odd guy. He taught me a trick shot in a pool once. I ran into him at a pool hall. And he was like, Bo, what are you doing here? I was like, well, this is the last time I come here. And he showed me a pool trick that I never forgot. But very weird, very odd guy.

I'm sure he has crazy stories but i never never really sat down with him long enough what when you were growing up like what when did you move to houston how old were you i was nine you were nine so yeah were there were there a lot of palestinian immigrants who lived in your area absolutely not i was I was like the only one. It felt like there was no other Arabs that I interacted with from then until like ninth grade is when I started running into other Arabs. It took like five years. But Houston, Aleph in particular, where I grew up, the most diverse neighborhood in America. Houston is the most diverse neighborhood in America, sorry, city in America. And that neighborhood that I grew up in has most diverse neighborhood in America. Houston is the most diverse city in America. And that neighborhood that I grew up in has 80 languages spoken alone.

So it was very diverse, really, really diverse. 80 languages? Yeah, 80 languages in a leaf. No kidding. Yeah, yeah. That's why I wanted to film my show there. I'm like, it's a no-brainer. It's the most diverse neighborhood I've ever been a part of. But, yeah, it's, it's a no brainer. It's the most diverse neighborhood I ever, I've ever been a part of, but it's, yeah, it was just an incredible, it is an incredible

neighborhood. Like Lizzo came out of there making the stallion, uh, Toby Nwegwe, a friend of mine who's an artist, uh, was blowing up right now. Um, you know, Travis Scott's like down the street from there. I mean, like it just, there's like a, there's something in the water here for sure. Um, and it was just always really fun and diverse and just like it's a great neighborhood, man. And I have friends that I've made ever since I was in seventh grade that were still very close to this day. Eight of us that grew up together. Isn't Beyonce and Solange from Houston? Yeah, yeah.

They're from Third Ward. Yep. Okay. Third Ward, even though A-Leaf still tries to claim them. But it's down the street. It's all very, very close. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

It's just so much. I mean, of course, before that, it was like Paul Wall, Bum B, Slim Thug, Lil' Kiki, all these guys. You know these songs. Wanna be a baller, shot caller. That's a Houston thing. Yeah, anyway. Wow. I have a hard time imagining you listening to that, to be honest with you, Mike.

Here's a couple of jokes that I'm working on because I work out new jokes on the show. Yeah. Sort of kick them around. Yeah, it's fun. I went for acupuncture, which is an ancient healing art where they stick needles in your body until you go, forget it, I'm fine. Have you gone for acupuncture? I love these kind of jokes, man. I live for them.

Yeah. I live for them. This guy goes to the psychiatrist, one of my favorite ones. This guy goes to the psychiatrist. He goes, hey, I'm having trouble making friends. You think you could help me, you fucking prick oh my god that's so funny that's ridiculous is that just a street joke or is that your joke no it's not my joke this is what i heard from the old timers they tell me so many well you know it's funny what i try to

do with these jokes with short jokes what i judge you with short jokes is ultimately i put them up in little note cards up on my wall and then i i try to string them together with stories so ultimately it's like joke story joke story brilliant so that you know but so a lot of these when people are listening to podcasts you know they'll come see the final show and they'll be like what about that joke what about that what about it's like, well, it just didn't fit in the show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's so funny. I like that. And then I have one about Pilates, which is, I did Pilates.

I do Pilates, which is, you know, where you get on these torture devices and they teach you how to use them properly. And at one point, the instructor said, it's a true story, by the way, she goes, I want you to grab this strap and reach diagonal like a Hitler salute. She said Hitler salute. And look, I know we live in polarizing times and no one can agree on anything. But I have to say that without a doubt, I do not believe in Pilates. Or Hitler.

Or Hitler. But also Pilates. Pilates. Or Hitler. Or Hitler. But also Pilates. And I feel bad judging her because she's European and there's a language barrier. But also, Europe didn't do that well in that war either. Listen, you got me a torture device.

Torture device. Good. I remember walking by one recently, like a Pilates. It was in Atlanta. And I look over and I just see all the Pilates equipment. I was like, what is that? When you see it by itself not being used, it looks like some weird sexual fantasy shit. Like I don't know.

It just looks so weird. I just can't see you got me at that. It's so funny. All right. And then I got this one. I thought of your bidet thing with this because you have this great run about bidets. But I go, one night I was driving home from a gig late at night and I had to go to the bathroom so badly. I pulled over at a gas station and I'm exhausted. And I sit down on the toilet and there's no seat on the toilet, which means I'm sitting inside the toilet. And I have washed

my butt at least 1,000 times since this incident. And I still don't think it's clean. I don't think my butt will ever be the same again. I don't think so either. You still did it though, which is – I couldn't see. It was like too dark. It was in a rush. It was like this whole deal.

But you have this thing. You got to mention that. I have to explain that. You got to explain that because I'm like, yo, hold on a second. You still did it? Why did you still do it? That's what the show – I mean that's part of what the show is in a way. I don't know about you, but I bounce jokes off friends literally for the reason you're describing,

which is like as the joke teller, the storyteller, there's an obvious piece of information often you're just not telling. Yes. That's huge. Look, you're in a rush. You're sitting there. It's dark. I sit down. Then I realize there in a rush. You're sitting there. It's dark. I sit down. Then I realize there's tea bag in the toilet.

Not a good feeling. Oh, my God. It's a horrible feeling. Yeah, I have a rule about this. I only use handicap if I'm super pressed and I'm traveling. I have to be super pressed to use the bathroom. Otherwise, I won't. I need a hotel room. I need a bidet situation. I need to take a shower after like I need to,

it's a whole thing. Wait a minute. So you talk about this in this, in this special, you have like a rant on bidets and how everyone should have a bidet and how we're doing, we're inadequately wiping, et cetera. And I agree with you and I I'm watching the thing, and I'm going, I totally agree with you, but I also feel like that there's a plumbing quandary based on your recommendation, which is, how could we possibly afford the infrastructure to bidet all of America? That couldn't be further from the truth. Ten minutes, you can install a bidet.

Ten minutes in your existing infrastructure. Not like a separate bowl. We're not talking about like a separate bowl bidet. That's a bidet. 10 minutes in your existing not like a separate bowl. We're not talking about like a separate bowl bidet. That's a whole situation. But they have contraptions many different kinds that you can use today to wash your ass. Like you can do a handheld one

which I'm a fan of. More accurate. And then there's ones that sit right on your toilet and you can adjust to temperature. You can adjust to temperature. You can adjust water temperature. You can speed. Oh, so you're saying you can turn your own personal toilet bowl into a bidet. Yes.

Let me tell you something. I've been living in a hotel for the last three months and I purchased bidets and had them installed in the hotel. No way. Yeah, of course. I'm not going to live my life. And then the hotel was like, we don't do that. I was like, damn right you do. And I called up the –

That's not how the expression goes. They were like, no. I was like, no, you do. You definitely do. I just like, oh, I'm going to deal with upper management. I'm not going to do this. So I called and said my AC wasn't working. So the AC guy came up and I was like, listen, I need you to install these.

Here's $100. And he did it. Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, this is life-changing. I'm doing this. When people watch the special, I don't want to give away what happens at the end, but it takes like a really interesting turn. And you, and you're, and you, I'm not giving any away by saying.

Go for it. You pray, you pray. Yeah. And you lead a, you, and you, I'm not giving any way by saying. Go for it. You pray, you pray. Yeah. And you lead a, you lead a prayer. Yeah. I did. I didn't lead a prayer. I just called, did the call to prayer.

Yeah. Okay. The call to prayer. Yeah. The call to prayer. Yeah. And I'm, when I was watching that, I was like, do you, are you, how, how consistent are you about praying five times a day?

I'm not great at it, but I mean, I pray today. I pray two times today. You know what I mean? Two times today. Yeah, I pray two times today. Like the morning is the one is like when I wake up. Now, because of filming the show, I just can't sleep past 5 a.m. No matter what time I wake, you know, I go to sleep, I wake up like time to go, you know.

And so like getting that in in the morning is crucial for me. It's a great meditation. And it's interesting. The way it was described for us, like, yo, this is praying five times a day has been prescribed to you. It's like a medicine. So I just feel like it's really interesting when people are like, oh, you pray five times a day. It only takes a few minutes to knock out a prayer. It doesn't take long.

Literally, it takes no more than five minutes max to pull out a prayer. And I remember one of my teachers, who's a world-renowned theologian, and he was praying at the airport. And someone tried to stop him. Someone was like, hey, you can't pray here and he and he looked over and he goes i'm doing yoga and and they and they go oh okay and they let him be oh that's funny that's really funny which is so funny i'm doing yoga that should be that that should be a bit i think you could do that as a bit 100 100%. 100%. That's got a great turn.

It's amazing that he said that. It was like just in that moment. He's like, oh, I'm doing yoga. And they were like, oh, that's perfectly okay. But like worshiping a divine – like living a divine life. Whoa, whoa, hold on a second. You can't do that here. This is a spoiler.

So people want to pause it and come back, watch Mohammed in Texas and then come back. It's a spoiler. pause it and come back, watch Mohammed in Texas and then come back. It's a spoiler, but there's a point at which towards the end of the special, you think the special is over and then you say, I want to tell you this thing. I was able to finally go back to Palestine after all these years leaving when I was a kid. And you went to, you know, where your grandparents grew up. And you found out there's this amazing moment. You find out that your dad had built the PA system that they call.

Yeah. Yeah. And what I found to be particularly powerful about that moment in the special is that the whole special is a monologue. And then the final five minutes it's intercut with footage of you in Palestine and I was like wow that is really inventive and and emotional to go through something that's like a monologue the whole time and then all of a sudden it opens out into something that's visual yeah it was um again not intended uh it was one of those things where they did the second show and it was really well, you know, it just went really well.

And the audience kept applauding, kept applauding, kept applauding. And I was like, you know what, I'm going to go back out there and I'll just tell this story. Because, you know, the set itself is the walls that are in Palestine. There's a Banksy on the side and in the middle is the border wall. It's fair, it's the border wall between Texas and Mexico, but the way I did it, it's like you couldn't really tell. It was just I didn't want it to be so in your face. It's just something that's, you know.

Yeah, I love the set design, yeah. And I wanted the slogan, Houston slogan, where it says, Be Someone, which is split up in two at the top, which has become a Houston thing. And I just thought it was really powerful. I was like, you know what? I'm going to go tell this story. I probably won't have a better opportunity to do it. I'll just go back out there. Give me a mic. And I went out and told the story. Um, it was all

like unintended. And then, and then as we're editing, I was like, you know, I think I have footage of that story. Um, no way. Yeah. And I was like looking for it looking for and i couldn't find it i was like where the hell is this at you know i know it exists somewhere and then i called my friend andrea kalin who is an amazing you know jewish woman that that is a director documentarian been my friend for since 2006 love her and her family. And I was like, do you have any of this somewhere maybe with you? And she goes, I found three external hard drives that say Moe Nablus on them. I'm like, I think those are it.

And it was like I had like 24 hours to turn in the special, something crazy like that. I was like, could you please send it to me? I need to look through it. And I looked through it and then i looked through it i started weeping i was like oh my god i found the footage of the first time that i went to palestine because it was for me it wasn't even i was born i was born in kuwait i fled the war in kuwait i was never able to go back until i get my u.s citizenship um and so and so it was really powerful and then i found found it. I was like, oh, my God. So I asked the editor. I was like, can you intercut it between? And she did such an amazing job. And I looked at it.

Because at first I got a lot of resistance about it. I don't know. How's it going to look? I was like, shut up. Just let me do my thing. And it was a classic thing where it's like the artist really knows what the outcome would be. It's hard to look into your mind and figure that out. But, yeah, you know, what the outcome would be. Like, it's hard to look into your mind and figure that out. But yeah, it turned out, turned out amazing and I'm super blessed that

I, that I have that. And it became about my dad, you know, it was one of those things that unintentionally, the first one was it, it was a, you know, a love story to my mom and my family. And the second special just turned out to be that way and couldn't be happier. The final thing we do is working it out for a cause. And basically, if you have a nonprofit you're aware of that you think is doing a good job, I'll donate to them. I'll link to them in the show notes. Amazing. Relief Gang. They're here in Houston. It's by a well-known hip-hop artist from Houston called, his name is Trey the Truth. And Relief Gang is just exactly what you hear.

It's like they offer relief to underprivileged families. They, you know, for Christmas, for instance, they'll send toys everywhere. If there's a hurricane, they're there. They're present. They've rebuilt homes, people's lives, gotten them furniture, whatever they need to restart their life. And incredible organization run by an incredible guy named Trey the Truth. And I support him and everything that he does in Houston. That's great, Mo.

Well, I will donate to them. I'll link to them in the show notes and hopefully I'll make it down to Houston I would love that and do some shows there yeah come on let me know

when you're coming I'll smoke some brisket for you oh man that'd be good oh man you don't even know about this Arab and learn all these all these secrets

from Redneck Scott I got you working it out cause it's not done that's gonna do it for another episode of Working It Out with Mo Ammer I think you can get all the updates

on Mo at at on Instagram at real Mo Ammer again it, at real Moe Ammer. Again, it's at real, the word real, Moe, M-O, and then Ammer is A-M-E-R. You should watch his special Muhammad in Texas.

It's so funny. It's also just so fascinating. Couldn't recommend that more highly. Our producers of Working It Out Are Myself, along with Peter Salamone and Joseph Birbiglia. Consulting producer Seth Barish. Sound mix by Kate Balinski. Sound recordist Parker Lyons.

Associate producer Mabel Lewis. And thanks to my consigliere, Mike Berkowitz, as well as Marissa Hertwitz and Josh Upfall. Special thanks to Jack Andenhoff and Bleachers for their music. They are exploding right now. They got a new album. They got a new tour. As always, a special thanks to my wife, the poet J-Hope Stein.

Our book, The New One, is in your local bookstore, and you can follow her on Instagram at at J-Hope Stein. She posts little poetry art pieces that I think are super cool as always a special thanks to my daughter una who created a radio fort and thanks most of all to you who are listening uh tell your friends you know reach out to some of your enemies from the past uh you can skim through your high school yearbooks and see who you had bad relationships with. Just go on Facebook, say, hey, you know, there's this podcast I really like. Don't do this.

Maybe don't do that. But you know where we'll be. We'll be right here. We'll be working it out. We'll see you next time, everybody.