Mo Amer in Abu Dhabi: Comedy That Grills Politics

Mo Amer brought his comedy to Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena on Friday evening as part of this year’s Abu Dhabi Comedy Season, and the evening’s most pointed material turned on public life rather than private anecdote: the US midterm elections, the politics of his Texas neighbourhood, and the lingering weight of Islamophobia.

It was a timely subject. That same week, Democrats won control of the House and Senate, and Abdul El Sayed became the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. Amer worked the results into his set, using them as a springboard for reflections on his experience as an Arab Muslim man in Houston, Texas, living beside Republican neighbours who wanted to ban halal meat and sharia law. The remark that landed hardest was also the bleakest: “Absolute craziness what’s happening with islamophobia. I wish things had changed. They haven’t.”

The electoral material was woven into a broader hour of storytelling rather than delivered as a standalone segment. Amer, born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents and raised in the US, is a frequent visitor to the UAE, and his show is built on narrative. He moves between farcical stories from his own life, gentle mockery of the accents and customs of Arab countries he has visited, and ad-libs that kept the arena giggling throughout. One high point was his account of a taxi driver in Egypt who, over a lifetime in the trade, had supposedly ferried Saddam Hussein and Mariah Carey. The audience met the claim with disbelief. Amer insisted, repeatedly, that none of it was invented.

Meanwhile, the political jokes sat alongside material about his own career. At several points Amer teased the idea of a third season of Mo, his popular Netflix comedy-drama, musing aloud about how he might promote it as “a very important part of history”. One suggested strategy was deliberately outrageous: pretending to be a security threat on a flight back to the US simply by speaking Arabic on the phone with his mother, until cameras captured his detention, which he called “outside the box” marketing. He was careful to promise the marketing scheme was a joke. Whether the third season itself is one, he would not say, only that he is cooking up something “very special” soon.

Beyond Mo, which is loosely based on his life, Amer has three Netflix comedy specials: Mo Amer: The Vagabond, Mo Amer: Mohammed in Texas and Mo Amer: Wild World.

Friday’s audience reflected his standing in the region. Long queues formed of people wearing embroidered Palestinian thobes and keffiyehs, a familiar sight at his Gulf shows.

The night was also shaped by its supporting lineup. Ahmed Taher, a Palestinian comedian based in Dubai, opened, followed by Adi Khalefa, another Palestinian comedian who had opened for Amer at Dubai Opera in October last year and appeared in Mo. American comedian and actor Azhar Osman, best known from the stand-up troupe Allah Made Me Funny, came next, and the final act before Amer was American comedian and actress Zainab Johnson, whose 25-minute special bridged romantic relationships and race.

By contrast with the evening’s political material, Amer closed on a personal register, returning from politics and career teasing to something quieter. Finding joy, he told the audience, had been difficult over the years, and his focus now was his son. “My sole purpose is to put all my energy into my son after putting so much energy into the show,” he said. “It means the world to me.” He promised to be back soon, and the crowd, which had not once gone quiet across the hour, sent him off warmly.