At the wheel of his black Mercedes, Mohammed Amer, 42, drives towards the places of his youth. We soon see the immense water tower which announces in green letters “Alief”, the working-class neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Houston, where he grew up. A corner of the city where Chinese, Pakistani, Egyptian, Mexican and Nigerian businesses line up one after the other and where those who have the least live, a majority Latino and black population.
It was there, at Alief Middle School, in this vast brick complex surrounded by lawns, that Mohammed Amer spent his first day of school in the United States. Aged 9, he comes straight from Kuwait, where he was born in 1981 to Palestinian parents. For his return to school, they made him put on an impossible outfit, like at the English school he went to in his native country: shirt, waistcoat and bow tie. The kids in jeans, sneakers and caps rush at him, laughing: what is this weird guy with the British accent? He watches dumbfounded battles jokes during recess and the insults that fly.
This scene, Mohammed Amer replayed it in his series Mo, broadcast since 2022 on Netflix. This comic and touching autofiction recounts the tribulations of the Najjars, a family of Palestinian refugees exiled in Houston who struggle to obtain asylum and American citizenship. Without a passport here, without a passport there, they don’t exist anywhere. A theme that was already at the heart of The Vagabond (2018) and Mohammed in Texas (2021), his acclaimed stand-ups, also available on the platform.
Little known in France, Mohammed Amer has, for several years, been one of the rising sensations of the American comedy scene. He became known at the end of the 2000s as part of the trio of comedians Allah Made Me Funny, formed with Azhar Usman and Preacher Moss. Three Muslims who make you laugh, “an Indian, a black and an Arab”. Unheard of in the United States. Their stand-up fills theaters, before touring in twenty-two other countries. “It was great. We traveled around the world without a manager or big resources,” remembers the actor. One of the biggest stars in the industry, Dave Chappelle, spotted him and asked him to join his gang – comedians that he had in succession during his shows. Amer recounts his life, makes people laugh about his struggles and his neuroses, his chaotic journey, the life of his family impacted by the story.
Doubt and tears
The exercise is perilous, it has become more so since the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7 and Israel’s reprisals in Gaza. Mohammed Amer admits: he has trouble joking. “I wake up every day with a knot in my stomach and throat. What is happening right now is breaking my heart,” he said. He takes out a tissue to dry his face. He is crying. Not a muffled sob or discreet tears, but a flood of pain: “What are we allowed to say? We have the right to say “ceasefire” but we do not have the right to say: “Stop killing women! Stop killing children! Stop bombing hospitals! Stop killing!” No, we don’t have the right. We have the right to take a position on everything but we do not have the right to shout “Free Palestine”! »
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