The Commercial Break - TCB Infomercial: Mo Amer

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

On this TCB Infomercial with comedian Mo Amer in a hilarious, sharp, and surprisingly heartfelt conversation about stand-up, culture, identity, and turning real life into comedy. Mo digs into his approach to storytelling, the push-and-pull of family and fame, and why the funniest moments usually come from the most complicated ones, with plenty of wild detours along the way. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, Ontario, come on down to BetMGM Casino and see what our newest exclusive the Price's Right Fortune Pick has to offer. Don't miss out. Play exciting casino games based on the iconic game show, only at BetMGM. Check out how we've reimagined three of the show's iconic games, like Plinkgo, Cliffhanger, and The Big Wheel into fun casino game features. Don't forget to download the BetmGM Casino app for exclusive access and excitement on the Price's Right Fortune Pick. Pull up a seat and experience the Price is Right Fortune Pick only available at BedmGM Casino. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly.

19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario. At 1866, 531, 2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. 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. That's scary. Yeah, people that actually believe that. And for me, like, you always knew I was 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. 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. As a kids, 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

So 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, 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 Ramey 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. See 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. 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. YouTube.com slash the commercial break. Follow us at the commercial break on Instagram so you can get all of the details, all the deets, as the kids would say.

And, uh, 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. It's Rachel, your new voice of God here on TCB. And just like you, I'm wondering, 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. Speak in a mail, get your free TCB sticker in the mail by going to TCB Podcast.com and visiting the contact us page. You can also find the entire commercial break library, audio and video, just in case you want to look at Chrissy, at TCB Podcast.com. Want your voice to be on an episode of the show? Leave us a message at 212-333-3-3-TCB.

That's 212. 433-3822. Tell us how much you love us, and we'll be sure to let the world know on a future episode. Or you can make fun of us. That'd be fine, too. 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 Moe 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. But tell, uh, you have, 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.

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. You, we, Christy and I were. just talking about the television show, which did win a Peabody Award. And, I mean, could you have ever imagined this, like?

Yeah, from Houston. Or did you, did you imagine? Like, were you, is this where you wanted, yeah, this is this where you wanted to go? Yes. Yes, I did. No, I did, I did, you know, I'm a dreamer. You know, I do, I did have like a vision for myself at a very early age of what I wanted to do with my life and, and what kind of stories I wanted to tell.

And it's never, you know, you don't ever expect anything, you know. So it's, it's extremely flattering, rewarding, rewarding, and it feels energizing to get, of course, a Peabody or Gotham or, you know, to be honored in the AFI, for instance, which I just didn't know how extraordinarily special that is. Wow. 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 a once and it's Spielberg and James Cameron you're like what's what am I doing? You're right. You know? That's crazy. Yeah, you do pinch yourself in that situation. You're like, oh cool, I mean you get a letter from Spielberg saying like how much he loves

the show. Oh my God. You got to like I quit. I quit. Yeah, yeah, you quit. Yeah. How can I do that? How can I do better than this? I'm out. I've done it. Mike drop mom? Yeah. No, it's cool. It's definitely, it's affirming, but it's, you know, this business sucks, man, because once you're, 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? So 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. I feel like I'm built for making film and television. So it wasn't necessarily like, oh, that, it was emotionally very, very difficult. and heavy 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.

It's just very, very happy about that. But then you're like so exhausted, emotionally and mentally. Like, okay. 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 as 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. it again. You have to go do the next thing. Exactly. 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 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, like regarding the stand-up and how many hours you come up with and this. And I think every person is different. It just depends on what you're trying to say, what you do, or you just, 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 or what kind of stories are you telling? And who's going to be able to like 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 ever 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. So it's like, yeah, understanding how to do that. I don't even know how to like vacation. I really don't. Like my wife is the one that really just taught me how to do that. I don't know even know how to do that. It was really weird. Like just to sit around and just do what? What are we doing? You know what I mean? Like yeah, it just felt odd space for me. So you try to read, you try to, you know, just 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? And that's, and that's what gets me going. And stand up is one thing. And, you know, 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 and just bringing that chapter to a close so I can move on and do the next thing. You know,

you know, 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. He's calling me out right now. Welcome to the show, my little buddy. Yeah, sorry, guys. No, you're, don't be sorry. Okay, as long as you're okay with it, I'm fine with it. We have a dog that barked every episode.

Whenever you get around to listening to an episode of the commercial break, you'll hear kids, dogs, lawnmores, vacuums. Great. Vacuums. Yeah, it's all. I feel great. No, no, no, 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.

It's just 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 tour. 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 you put yourself and everybody else around you in a slight panic attack. But when you're done, it's tremendous, you know, and that's how I feel about it. Do you find those moments of inspiration or some of your best? Like, I think. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they are because, you know, 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. 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. Yeah. TV set. You know, it just causes a tremendous domino effect. So you have to really be on top of it and really understand, like, what story you're trying to tell and really believe in those instincts and know how to execute. And I find myself, I'm really great at it. Like, this is actually the thing I work best with my under pressure.

Yeah. Yeah. I get bored. I get bored if it's, there's no, I'm like, ah, whatever. later. Yeah, I feel that sense of urgency, too, is that when there's a fire under my ass, I get, there's motivation there. And I find what I call, you know, moments of creativity, I think are just moments of God, right? It's just like, you're shutting off. Something's allowing you to just like channel whatever's coming through. And I don't find those in moments of like, you know, just

sitting around thinking about it. I find it when it happens in the moment, when the pressure's on, there he comes, there he or she comes, right? Well, I think it's a combo. I think it's a I think it's a combination of all those things. I think it's all those hours you spent before that moment, 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, 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, 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 you, you go to shut up. You're like, this sucks. You got to cut this. 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? Like, 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 that could tell right away, you know? I could tell if this is good or not. Because I'm a big believer in like necessarily notes but first reactions right yeah and then i 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'd 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 like i'm just me and my editors were just from episode to episode we just flip, you know, we swap back and forth.

And, you know, every second is accounted for, every, everything. Even when we were scoring the show, I'd go and score the show with the band and sit together. Like, ah, this didn't sound right and switch this, do that, go faster here, you know. And I don't know, I don't know anything about scoring show, but I can feel it and I can know it. And you see it and just make adjustments. So there's every part of it, like I was meticulously involved with. There's not a, literally, there's not a second that's not accounted for. or maybe like the opening of season two,

I spent like 100 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.

They're still walking through Washington, D.C. of 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. Like, not the, like, you know, every single minute of, you know, being in with the band. You, the band stuff was awesome. Yeah, the band stuff is awesome. Music is everything you can 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, you know, 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, editing every minute. Going over a particular, not to edit, but like if you're focusing on a particular montasers thing, you just,

you know, it just sucks. It's not fun. At some point, you want to just pull your ears off your face, you know, like your head, you know,

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, but like,

but like, but like when you put it together, and everything is there. It's extremely rewarding, obviously. 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, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, it was so cool to see that, you know. Yeah, I think that would be, uh, like, when you do a podcast, and you know this too, because you've, you've been a part of one, like, when you do a podcast, you're talking to know, Mike,

phone, it goes into the void, right? You never see anybody's reaction. Maybe somebody writes or calls or texts or whatever. But it goes into a void. And I think what would feel gratifying to me is to see people react to the work that you put out there in real time. Yeah, in real time. That to me would be like the ultimate, you know, just. That's why stand up is so, you know, rewarding, but also like you get your response right away. They'll tell you if it sucks, it doesn't immediately. Or if it's interesting though you could tell they're with you you know what i mean like when you're talking about they're still engaged there's like an energy in the room you're yeah yeah yeah the energy right yeah exactly exactly exactly you could tell as long as you keep them interested that's all that really

matters you always find the joke and you find the thing um but if you're just wandering around then they'll start wandering if you don't have like if you don't have them captivated then it's just like stop listening. Do you, I'm interested to know, do those moments still happen to you often? Because you're, because you mentioned that a lot of what you do is improvised, right? And you're doing it on the flyer,

you're finding inspiration moments before, a day before, whatever. Do you find that there are moments when you throw something out there, the audience doesn't react, and you're feeling some, like, I don't know, I don't feel anything inside.

It's just like, you know, whenever you're starting at zero, like I am after the special release, you're just, I like to get back in the swing of things. And the way I do that is, it's just being as natural as possible, which means that there's nothing prepared. I'm going up on stage. I'm going to be in the moment. The audience will inspire something or not. And then I'll figure it out, you know? Wow. And then you end up, like, on stage, like, in the last three days, I did like, you're not this past week.

I did like six hours of stand-up in three days. We were just on stage for two hours, two-and-a-half, two-twenty. Wow, where do you do that? We don't even know. I was doing them in Houston in my hometown with this small room called The Box inside the secret group. It's like a music, like rock venue. It's fun.

It's really, really fun. So you just do these pop-ups in Houston. And I just like doing it. It's just so much fun. And it's like the pure stand-up of it all. I really, really enjoy it. But that's how I'll do it. And then you'll find stuff and you'll build stuff

from there and then, you know, you just keep doing that over and over again. And somebody will tell you or like, oh, the thing you did. I was like, oh, yeah, that's a good one. I should work on that. Yeah. Remind me of what I said? Yeah, exactly, exactly. That's why I film everything.

So that's the process, though. Everything is completely just freestyle and, you know, and just very natural and organic and in the moment. And then you'll run into stuff that you wouldn't think about. And sometimes I'll do this where I'm like, before the show even starts, this is just like in the building stage. I'd be like, hey, write down like a subject and they'll put it in a bucket for him and have it on the side.

And after like an hour, hour and a half of being on stage, I'm like, all, let's see what's in the bucket. And I'll reach in the bucket. And there'll be a topic and people that you can just tell what's, it's almost like having a focus group. Yeah. And you can see what's on people's minds. Yeah.

And some of it's silly. Some of it's topical. Some of it's political. It just depends. Everyone's different. Some of it is just outright silly and gross, you know, like people are gross sometimes, which is fun. You know, it's also fun. Yeah. But it's a nice mix up, but that's, I think that spontaneity is very important in stand-up,

at least for me, just to keep that, like, organic, natural feel to it. And you're asking the audience to get involved. You're reacting to it instantaneously. That takes an immense amount of, I think, presence and talent. That's not the easiest thing in the world to do. There are so many stand-up comics, and we've talked to so many of them. And you know that, and it's okay too.

You know, they build this set meticulously, word for word, over and over again, rinse and repeat, until they get it to a place where they feel like the audience is going to react the way that they want them to react. And that's okay. That's essentially. No, that's, no, that's, so I'm telling, we're talking about different stages, right? Yeah. Yeah. So in the early on, on the reconstruction stage, I will do that.

I will be completely freestyle. everything there. And then you'll start building, building, building, refinement, refinement, and then you build out from there. You go from like, for me, I'll do like an 80-seater, a hundred-seater and just do like 30 of them, you know, 30 of these shows, pop-ups, maybe same-day pop-ups. I'm like, oh, I feel like doing something today. Let's put a post to see who shows up and let's have a good time. And, you know, and then that's how I build it. And then you'll build the actual set, and then you'll go to bigger venues, you'll go to comedy clubs,

You're working 500 theaters, you know, for a whole week, doing six, seven shows a week. And then from there, you'll go, okay, now it's ready. Let's go on the theater. You've got your beat. You know where you're going to happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you still hit it. When you do those big theaters, do you also leave, I mean, I'm just curious if you leave that

room for the inspiration for the improvisation in those big. Always. Yeah, I don't do like the bucket thing or anything like that. People usually, when they want to come out to the theater, they expect a show, right? So you just like, you got to give them a show. And that's why it's like I did that for the last, you know, year straight. And, you know, it's fun. It's incredible.

It was really a pretty special experience post season two leading up to the special Wild World that's on Netflix. Now, no streaming. Now streaming. Link in the show. It's in the bio. That's right. It was really extraordinary to go around the world with my family and my kiddo.

and like just to just to have that shared experience with the audience and how special that was to hit up like 30 countries in a very short period of time and and to do all these theaters was really, really cool. And to be honest, he was really draining because of the subject matter because of what I felt and what was going on and what's still happening. That's why I'm going back to these like small rooms and trying to find myself again, trying to find like some joy in it again because the stakes feel so high, you know? They are. Yeah, they are. They absolutely are. They are. You are, have not, I believe in your, at least since I've been aware of you, have not shied away from speaking up and speaking out about things you feel very strongly about as you should. It's important, right? And, but that raises the stakes in the room. It raises the stakes with you. And I mean, this is a conscious choice you're making from a, I'm sure, from a deep place of, of,

empathy and want for the world to understand the perspective that you bring is that that must be like emotionally taxing you just said 30 30 countries you know and however many bring going all around the world traveling and then getting up and talking about the subject matter night after night while the world is literally crumbling around you that must be very tough yes yes Oprah thank you about to make me cry here right now yeah got job got you got a moment yeah Oh, it's so hard. Help. Oh, my God.

We love you, Mo. We love you. We love you. It did different places react differently. I'm sure they do. Yeah. I think it's for, I mean, it's been pretty universal, to be honest with you. I haven't had any issues.

I think everyone feels pretty clear that you shouldn't, you know, obliterate another country. Abliterate an entire civilized population. I think that's totally okay. say all loud. Yeah. Which is nuts to say about the world today that is that it's controversial to say. It is nuts to say. And I have to think that we as human beings are at a point when we can agree that this kind of absolute, and I'm just going to say it like I see it tyranny is fucked up. It's just fucked up. And it took two years, almost, year and a half, almost for the world to rally and say, okay, enough is enough. Something needs to be done. And in that,

time so many lives lost the complete decimation of a people of a country that wasn't doing all that well in the first place because of more tyranny is just insane to think that anybody would disagree with that but there are i mean you know listen there are there's always contrarians i guess in the group i watched yeah there's devils there's devils out there yeah there's devils that don't really feel like we should all get along and have uh everyone has a right to exist and have right to food water and shelter you there's people that actually believe that. Do you have that any? That's scary.

Yeah. People that actually believe that. And for me, like, I always knew I was 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 this what matters most. But I didn't think it was going to be under these type of circumstances. I certainly didn't think I was going to be meeting a lot of these children. And I didn't feel, you know, I never thought I'd imagine I'd meet these doctors over there on the ground.

So there is an immense responsibility, you know. Everyone that I've ever looked up to before in my entire life has spoken up, you know, especially when it pertains to their people. When it matters. Like, you know, some that don't. Some that don't is like just, you know, it doesn't matter if there's their people or not. But again, who's their people? It's just human beings on this earth.

We come from different walks of life. We come from different backgrounds. We can learn from each other and respect or love it. And once you see other than other people as a lower, then we're done for it. We're toast. So it's just like, hey, there is a absolute human responsibility, not even like me as a Palestinian responsible. No, as a human being to say this is wrong. That's the very, that's the most basic bare minimum thing you could do. So I would do that for any other people.

I would do that for any situation that I feel like it's absolutely wrong and I know it's wrong. And I'm seeing it with my own eyes and I've held these kids. Like I've, they've come to my shows. I've taken a picture of them. They've given me like this, you know, when you're getting squeezed by a kid that's like lost. their mom and dad and they're like missing a limb you're like I don't know you're like I quit you know what I mean like this is nothing else matters like of course I have to you know um you know amplify this you know there's no other way and you know again this is part of the beauty of stand up and making television and I was in a unique situation where I had a TV show where it's a Palestinian family that's living in Houston and you know that that you get to tell this type

of story and the stand up of it all it's what makes makes, you know, the art fun or interesting or challenging is that you're able to, like, walk this tightrope while people are shooting lasers at you and you get to the other side. You're like, whoa, that was intense. We did that. Yeah, we did that, yeah. We did that, yeah, you know. Do you have any optimism?

You seem like you might be optimistic kind of guy. Do you have optimism that things work out between, with, this current situation between Palestine and Israel? Well, it hasn't before. So it's been going on for 80-plus years. So, of course, I'm always hopeful. I never lose hope. But, you know, you could tell people's intentions are not,

haven't been right for a very long time. This is not just happened after October 7th. This is super annoying that it just keeps, this is like the thing where people look at where it's you could say 100 years it's been over a hundred years I mean since World War I since they were fleeing there as refugees to come to Palestine and they were taken in the colonization and I don't want to have a history lesson here on the show but it's been going on for quite some time and uh Palestinians have been under you know a pretty brutal occupation in the West Bank and live in an apartheid and that's not me

saying it's every single you know respected institution on planet Earth, it's saying that. So I'm not saying that. So I'm just telling you what it is. And that's what episode eight is. And in season two of Mo was really trying to just bring that home and literally bring the family home and for people to see what it's like to actually even travel there as Palestinians.

Just to see like my mom, like my own mom who's born there, who's from there, you know, and her sisters and family is there. And, you know, I was starting telling my wife yesterday. Like, I feel such a deep, like, sadness that I can't go take my son to his great-grandparents' house, who he's named after and just have a summer there, you know, and just get to see the family. There's, like, a sense of, like, I've been robbed. And I say this in my special. It's like, like, my mom says this to me. Like, I feel like I'm living the same life as my grandmothers.

And this is what inspired the time bit. It was like, time is undefeated. Time is fleeting. Time flies. And you can never go back in time. Yeah. And, you know, that's what inspired everything with the time bit itself at the end of the special. It's beautiful.

You know, my wife is Venezuelan, and we talk about this often. I can't talk to you anymore. I don't talk to Venice, but I have so many friends that are, no, I'm just teasing. Come on. You have a lot of friends. Kidding. You have friends that are married to Venezuela? Yes, I do.

I do. I have a very dear friend of him. Just six months in. Yeah. Well, congratulations. Congratulations. Welcome to the show. Welcome to the show.

A family. Yeah. And a beautiful people of the Venezuelans also. And they also robbed, I mean, in a different way, but everything's different, but kind of the same. And they are also disparate people all around the world. And we talk about this often that I now have children who the best part of them is Venezuelan. And there is little to no chance, at least not right now, that we could go back and they could go see their grandparents and their native, you know, part where their mom is. Excuse my ignorance, but why can't she go back?

She could go back, but it would put her and the children in danger because Venezuela is not necessarily, it's not as dangerous as Palestine, but there is a very oppressive government. And any time you leave and you come back, say you become a U.S. citizen and you go back, you could. But then you bring American children into the situation. It could be dangerous. And the Madurran government could at any time for any reason decide that they don't like you and you end up. somewhere disappeared. Right. And this has happened to Americans.

Actually, we just got four Americans back who spent a long time in Venezuelan prison because they said the wrong thing about the government. And I have not always, and I'm also not a hugely public figure, but I'm a public figure and said some things on the show that I feel strongly about. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could walk out. Yeah, no, not a good idea. It just puts everybody in danger for no reason, right?

I get it. Yeah, I get it. But at some point, hopefully, you know, in the near future, things change, but you remain hopeful, but you don't get yourself too excited because you never, you never know what's around the news is, it seems like the light at the end of the television say good news, but it feels like it's like you can still retain like your lands and ownership of lands and that can still be there. And then eventually when it turns around, you can just go home, right? Yes. Eventually, yes. It's different in that situation where like, you know, in Palestine,

who knows what happens. I mean, turn it into the speech resort. I mean, it's like, it's crazy. Yeah, it's disgusting. Yeah, it's happening. They're bulldozing and clearing it out right now. There's no intention. Yeah, I just saw it today this morning.

They're like bulldozing all the rubble and everything. It's clearly, it's very, very clear that the intention was is decimate, move them all out, put them in tents, you know, refugee, kill whoever you can. That's fine. Hospital, we do it. Hospitals, churches, mosques, libraries. It doesn't matter. Decimate.

eliminate history, you know, and then you can just, you know, rebuild on dead people. That's crazy. It's fucking bananas. Build Trump Palestine. It's goddamn bananas. It is goddamn bananas. And I'm, I, I, I have friends that are, um, uh, Palestinian and they have amplified

your voice by sharing your reels and talking and all this other stuff. And so I think it's, you, you met the moment, right? And I, that's amazing that you met the moment. You met the time. And I just. feel like making something that's timely and timeless, you know? And that's like talking about legacy and what you leave behind. It takes us back to what I was saying there.

And I think it's really important to do so. And I am looking forward to this next phase as well and just trying to see what I come up with and right next that can maybe just find some kind of, some kind of happiness and fun in it again because it's just been super, super heavy. And I think just go into like pure filmmaking. and just doing something dope and funny and thoughtful still, subversive, but in a different direction than I did before, for sure.

Like, just in this phase of, like, reinventing myself. In a way, it's like, here we go. Yeah, you're a dad now. There's a lot of material there. You would think, but the guy doesn't like me. He doesn't want me. It wants nothing to do with me. He's just still on his mother's teeth.

I mean, that's it. It's all he wants. What do you have to offer? Do you have milk in your chest? No, get out of you. You have warmth and comfort? Yeah, I don't care for your funny faces, man. It's the eye contact while he's breastfeeding is what's so concerned, you know?

Said side eye like, yeah. It is so true. It's like, bro, what are you looking at me like that boy? He does like. You know, it's very depressed. Yeah, exactly. And you try to get near it. He's like, he just smacks me right in the face.

And then I like pretend it. I've done everybody. I've done everybody. I pretend to cry. Like, you can't hit me in the face. Don't hit me the face. Like, don't do it. It's like all these levels of, hey, don't hit me in the face.

He could care less. You're moving on. Get out of here, all right? Hop along, Cassidy. You will be surprised. One day, when he's off the teeth, that little kid is going to start looking to you in a different way. And then you guys are going to be buddies forever. Best friends for life.

That's if I let him forget it. Yeah, don't let him forget it. You got to remind him when he's 20. I might be like, no. Sorry, buddy. Yeah, I try. You had your chance. You know, I'm not going to sit here and just, like, be a push over.

Yeah, you think I'm going to wait forever for you? What, you want me to raise you now? No, buddy. You got YouTube videos to show you how to be a man. They do. There's that dad. YouTube dad. That's it.

Oh, God. I would be so heartbroken. Yeah, I know. If I walk in him, my son's like, oh, I'm good. I got a YouTube father now. It's all happening. It's all happening. In some ways, I'm happy YouTube dad is out there.

I would snap the iPad and I would snap that. Yeah. Yeah. I would snap. What? I'm sorry. I'm happy. No, you're okay.

You're funny. You're right. This is really funny. In some ways, I'm happy the YouTube dad is there because I don't have some of the skills the YouTube dad has. So I'm going to go go talk to YouTube dad. Yeah. Go find out from YouTube.

Yeah. I'm the kind of crazy though. Like while YouTube dad is doing one of these videos, I would just roll up on him mid video. Yeah. but you think you better than me you think you got more skill sets than me buddy pal I don't know why I would be

speaking with Joe Patrick from Goodfellas because it's intimidating you think you could teach my kid better than me forget about it and you can do it you got to look you got to look forget about what are you doing what are you doing

come here funny man come here funny man come here you too dad my son loves you more to me I just go up and just snap on him. I got to look this guy up. I really got to look this guy. I got to be on the lookout for this. He's there. He's very popular. But I shouldn't do it. Then he'll be in the family algorithm. Yeah, he's going to be in this. That's right. He's going to get served. No, no. Can't do it. You got to go on private and then

find him. And just go out of town for a week and come back. And my wife is like content with YouTube father and dad. She's got a YouTube husband and YouTube dead. But I'm so sick as an artist. I'm like, well, I can get another like 10 minutes out of that. See, you're already thinking. Yeah. I'm so sick, though, you know. And I can write a movie about this. It's sad, but funny.

And also very in the moment. No, I'm just kidding. Very now. Very now. What? I have a question from way back in the beginning of the conversation. Sure. Look at my brain.

Oh, wow. You remember. Where do you, like, when you go on vacation, when your wife says, okay, Mo, we got to slow down. You got to take a vacation. You got to learn. Where do you guys? What's your, what's your vibe? Is it like sitting on the beach?

I don't. It's like the worst, the beach, you know? Like, who likes to swim in the beach? I do. Why? Why are you putting yourself out there like this? You're not capable to survive in the beach. Yeah, it's like, stop it.

No, I do like the sounds of the beach. I like the combination of like mountain beach situation. Yeah, yeah. I think I prefer that over like cold vacation. I don't want to like, I don't want to go ski. Like, what's the matter of? No, I don't know. Like, you're off there.

you're 9,000 above sea level. You can barely breathe. You're just expected to go on this little thing and then go down the slopes. Like you're out of your mind, everybody. You're going to break a leg. It's the best. Yeah. I think I did the, what do you call it?

Not a jet ski, but the snowmobile. Snowmobile, yeah, yeah. I got sick. I got sick the next day. I got sick. I got a huge, like a massive fever. Yeah, because I'm like riding in 60 miles an hour in the mountains. And 20.

Yeah, it's below zero. It was like so cold. and it was Montana. It was like five degrees. Even though I was wearing this space suit of a snow thing, I still got sick. Everyone's in the hotel's got tracking and snow everywhere. It's melting inside the hotel.

Everybody's clucking with their boots inside. I'm like, this is the worst. I'm sorry. This is like the worst vacation possible. So yes, I will take, I'm a boat guy. I like boats. I'll do a boat on the water. I'll do that.

I like lakes, probably like good lakes more than oceans because I just don't trust. I respect the ocean. I got a massive amount of respect for the ocean. It's so powerful. Like, I don't want to mess with you. Like, I don't want to, I'm a great swimmer, but not good enough to be in an ocean. Yeah.

And I could hold my breath like 45 seconds with no rehearsal, like no practice, probably like 35, 40. I can see if I'm toast, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing it. But I'll anchor somewhere and take like a, as long as I can see what's happening under there. Right. I'm okay. We went to Mexico.

I think we went to Cabo. Yeah, Cabo is beautiful, yeah. Or we went to Puerto Varta as well, and we saw all the, it was like whale season, which is my favorite. We went whale watching. That was so cool. And then he anchored and we're in the water. And I can just feel the vibrations of the whales.

There's so many whales. And then one came up probably like 20 feet away from me. Amazing. While I was in the amazing my ass. It scared the shit out of you. It just, I was just like, I'm out of here. I'm out of here. I was like, get me out of here.

I was like, I'm sitting up there. What am I doing? This guys, these things weigh tons. What am I doing myself? And my wife was, she was like paddleboarding and she had the surfboard. And she's like, I can't even see her anymore. I'm like, man, I was like, honey, what the hell are you doing? So far.

She was like, just reel me in. I was like, you're not connected to her boat. There's no rope. And she started freaking out. She's like, oh my God, I'm not going to have that. I was like, no, how long do you think this rope is? You're like two football fields away from me. Like, you think to have rope this long?

Come over. There's whales coming out of the water. Yeah, so it's a little tense, I think. I agree. But I like, I like that. I think I'm good with that. I love to swim. I do enjoy that.

So, yeah, I don't, I'm just a joke about it. But I like the ones, the ocean that has like the netting, you know, they have it blocked off for you. Yes. I'm a child. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I want to get in those. It's netted.

I'm good to go. If something gets in, it's just very tiny. I can deal with it. I agree with you. But that's it. Like Australia, I'll never swim in Australia. I have no desire. I don't have any, I like Australians, but I have zero desire to spend a lot of time

anywhere in Australia because everything can kill you. Yeah. Even Australians say it. It's not like some trouble. No, they're swimming all the time. Yeah. Bondi Beach. They're just having such a great time.

Bondi Beach. And then I saw this documentary about microscopic jellyfish. Yes. Oh, no, it's a microscopic jellyfish. You can only see it through a microscope and it can kill you like within minutes. Yeah. It's like it's it's a microscopic. I have no chance. Yeah. I have no chance. I saw this too. It's like the blue jelly, the blue finged jellyfish or something. And it's got the most, it's like the most poisonous substance known to man. And you're not aggressive. But if you happen to, you know, swat at it or. something and it attaches to you and like stings you, you're dead. There's nothing that they can do

about it. They can hope that your body survives it, but very few people do. And that's only found in Australia. It's like all the other terrible things. I love Australia, by the way. We love Australia, but... I was just in Australia. I don't care. Yeah, say what you cares. Yeah, they know. Yeah, they know. Yeah, they know. That's the thing. We'll stick to Outback Steakhouse. That's right. Yeah, Foster's Australian for beer. No, it's not. Nobody drinks Fosters in Australia. They lied to you. The good news is no one drinks it here either. So I used to drink those oil cans. And then I was like, what am I doing?

I look like a fucking moron. Yeah. Got like a mini keg in your hand? Oh, you do it? This guy's got a problem. I look like a child. Mo's new special is available. There are links in the show notes.

And then season one, season two are available to of his award-winning, Peabody award-winning show, Mo. I thank you for coming on. Yeah, thanks for coming on. It's been great. Thank you for having me. You had a blessed. You are welcome anytime, and we're rooting for you, and we hope to see you again soon. Thanks, Mike. Thank you so much. Much love, guys.

I appreciate it. I love to you. Me too. Bye. Rachel here. While Brian takes his old man bladder to the little boys' room, let's talk turkey. TCB needs your help. If you love the show, do us all a favor and share. Sharing is caring.

And we know you care. Don't you? Well, don't you? Ooh, that was some childhood trauma. Rear in its ugly head. Do you want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at 212-433-3822, and you could be the next TCB disembodied voice.

Ooh, what'd you do today? I was a disembodied voice. You know, that sounds more dangerous than it actually is. Find us on Insta at the commercial break. On the web at TCB Podcast.com, and all the episodes on video are available the same day at YouTube.com the commercial break. I'm going to go help Brian get back up the stairs

while you listen to the sponsors and then we'll all meet back here and get back to this episode of the commercial break. I'll take a raise now. Bitches. Bye. Mr. Mo Amir,

Peabody Award winning, Mo Amir. I keep saying it as if it's a credit to the commercial break that he won a Peabody Award. Gotham Awards, Independent Spirit Award. I think he was nominated

for a couple of Emmys. A guy's got quite the resume. I do have to say, and I really enjoyed our conversation with him. It's fun to talk to all the comedians, and a lot of times it's shits and giggles. But at times, it's fun to go deeper, and Mo was the perfect candidate for that. You know, I do. I do like to read Ram Dass, in case you didn't hear. All right, Mo Amir, a bunch of stuff in the show notes.

You can go check it out. Thanks again to him and to his agent for setting that up. Great. Fantastic. All right. Here's how the rest of the week is going to roll out. You're going to check us out again on Friday. We'll have a TCB classic. And then for Christmas week, we'll have another TCB infomercial on Wednesday,

another TCB classic. And then we return live to the studio right before the new year. And then after the new year, we'll be on our regular schedule Tuesday and Thursday. recording episodes live in the studio. You can join us on YouTube.com slash the commercial break, or you can check us out on Twitch. You can get involved in the conversation. You can even join live via video.

We will start taking some folks into the room with us and having some fun. So it's a little fresh coat of paint for season number seven. Do us a favor. Follow us at the commercial break on Instagram so that you can get notified about all the comings and goings of the commercial break. You can follow me, Brian W. Green on Instagram, and then you can follow TCV Chrissy on Instagram. Also, for all of our individual shit.

What else? Oh, you can also, if you want to get a hold of us, if you want us to respond really quickly, DM us on Instagram. And I'll explain why. We have the phone, the studio phone, but it gets a little clunky and a little hard to respond to everybody on text message.

So if you've been texting us, continue to text us. Otherwise, hit us up on Instagram. TCBpodcast.com for your free sticker. We look forward to season number seven, happy holidays if I don't talk to you before then. Merry fucking Christmas. Until next. Oh, I do love you.

Best to you. And until next time, I will say, I do say, and I must say. Good fucking bye. From the creative team behind the Brutelist and starring Academy Award nominee Amanda Seifred in a career best performance. Searchlight Pictures presents The Testament of Anne Lee. With rave reviews from the Venice Film Festival,

this bold and magnetic musical epic tells the story inspired by a true legend. Anne Lee, founder of the radical religious movement, The Shakers, The Testament of Anne Lee. Exclusive Toronto engagement January 16th in theaters everywhere January 23rd.