Mohammed Amer

Mohammed Mustafa Amer (محمد عامر) is a Palestinian American stand-up comedian.

He is best known for his Netflix comedy special Mo Amer: The Vagabond, and his role as one third of the comedy trio Allah Made Me Funny.

He also starred for two seasons, alongside comedian Ramy Youssef, in the Hulu sitcom Ramy as Ramy's cousin Mo, who owns a diner.

He stars in the film Black Adam.

He also created and stars in a Netflix TV show called Mo.

The show is loosely based on his own experience growing up as a Palestinian refugee and was released in August 2022.

Amer hosted the 2023 season of Doha Debates' flagship series, filmed before a live audience in Qatar's Education City.

Amer is of Palestinian descent, and the youngest of six children.

Amer's father worked as an engineer for the Kuwait Oil Company.

He attended a British school in Kuwait where he learned English and spoke it in a British accent.

When he was 9, he, his sister Haifa, his brother, and his mother fled

Kuwait during the Gulf War.

They immigrated to the United States and settled in Houston, Texas.

He was placed in an ESL class where he was the only student who spoke English.

Two years later, in 1992, Amer's father, a telecom engineer, joined them in the United States.

Amer attended school at Piney Point Elementary while his older brothers studied overseas.

His brother Omar is a pilot; another brother has a PhD in biochemistry.

In 1995, when Amer was 14 years old, his father died.

Amer's elder brother took him to see Bill Cosby perform at the Houston Astrodome when he was 10 years old.

At age 14, Amer discovered stand-up comedy at a Texas rodeo.

After the death of his father, Amer started being truant and taking unsanctioned trips to Mexico with his friends.

An English teacher made a deal with Amer that if he performed a monologue from William Shakespeare in front of her class, she would reinstate his grade before his truancy began and allow him to try comedy in front of the class every Friday.

Amer graduated and focused on his passion.

He then participated in and had leading roles in high school theatre, and started performing stand-up comedy by impersonating family members and developed it over a few years in the comedy club scene.

Amer performed at Houston's comedy clubs as often as possible to refine his act while working a day job at a flag manufacturing company owned by a family friend.

In June 1999, Amer entered Houston's Funniest Person Contest and made the finals.

There another comedian directed him to The Comedy Showcase as the best guided comedy room.

The owner of The Comedy Showcase, Danny Martinez, mentored and taught him about stand-up.

At age 19, he was being flown out to play to US troops stationed abroad.

becoming the first and only Arab-American refugee comic to perform for US and coalition troops overseas.

In 2004, he performed at The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas.

Amer has performed tours in over 27 countries on five continents, including Germany, Italy, Sicily, Japan, South Korea, and Bahrain, as well as with other Muslim comedians Preacher Moss and Azhar Usman in the Allah Made Me Funny comedy tour since 2006.

In April 2007, he performed at the Islamic Relief Evening of Inspiration event at the Royal Albert Hall organised by Islamic Relief.

In July 2008, he performed at the Islam Expo in Olympia, London.

In October 2008, he performed at the Global Peace and Unity event in the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London organised by Islam Channel.

As well as with Allah Made Me Funny, Amer has performed at sold-out shows worldwide, including Royal Albert Hall and Hammersmith Apollo (London), Acer Arena (Sydney), Nelson Mandela Theatre (Johannesburg), Shrine Auditorium (Los Angeles), as well as the Malmö Arts Festival (Sweden), the Amman Stand-up Comedy Festival (Jordan), and the World's Funniest Island Festival (Australia).

Amer has been interviewed on television and radio, including on NPR, BBC, and CNN.

He has appeared on television, starred in an independent films, and has been interviewed by over 100 major world media outlets, including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian.

He was also featured on Al-Bernameg with Bassem Youssef (The Daily Show of Egypt) as the only Arab-American comedian to appear on the show.

In June 2013, Amer featured on an interfaith special, What's So Funny About Religion?, which was broadcast on the CBS Television Network.