The eponymous Mo (played by Mohammed Amer) in Netflix’s new comedy series is a Palestinian American Muslim man who grew up in Kuwait. Until, that is, the Gulf war sent his family to live undocumented in Houston, Texas, where they wait for their asylum claim to be heard – 22 years and counting. His aunties have to be coached through every FaceTime session (“Hold the phone further away”) and his mother keeps the price tags on all the lamps she buys for her collection “so people know what a bargain I’ve got.” Some things are universal.
The programme entwines the specific and the universal to enrich both sides of his story. It was created by Amer and fellow comedian Ramy Youssef, who worked together on Ramy – a comedy-drama about life as a first-generation Egyptian American Muslim living in New Jersey.
