Mo Amer Launching a New Podcast — Joking Not Joking — Coming to Luminary June 22nd
Following the first season of his Peabody Award-winning Netflix show “Mo,” his recent roles in DC Extended Universe film “Black Adam” and Award-Winning Comedy “Ramy,” Palestinian-American comedian Mo Amer is bringing his unique comedic voice to Luminary’s slate of original audio shows with his long-time collaborator and co-host, comedian Azhar Usman.
New York, NYLuminary, the leading subscription-based podcast and audio entertainment network, announced today it is releasing a new Luminary Original podcast in partnership with comedians and good friends Mo Amer and Azhar Usman.
Amer is known for his brilliant and comedic approach to revealing the triumph and tragedy of the human experience across cultures, told from his perspective as an Arab-American whose family relocated to Houston, TX, from Kuwait seeking political asylum. Amer’s Netflix show Mo instantly became a critic- and fan-favorite, receiving a Peabody Award, an Academy Honor, and a Gotham Award for “Breakthrough Television Under 40 Minutes.” He can be seen in the DC Extended Universe Film Black Adam, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and on Ramy, the Emmy-nominated, Golden Globe and Peabody award-winning comedy on Hulu.
Amer’s new Luminary show will be co-hosted by comedian Azhar Usman, his longtime comedy touring partner and creative collaborator. Usman, a lawyer-turned-comedian, rose to fame two decades ago with the Allah Made Me Funny comedy tour before serving as a writer and co-executive producer on both Ramy and Mo. His acting credits include the Amazon original series Patriot, as well as Disney+’s award-winning and critically-acclaimed Ms. Marvel. Usman’s work has endeavored to build a more nuanced understanding of Islam and American Muslims for American audiences.
“You can’t have humor without truth...If you can get them to laugh and have them think at the same time, then you got something.”
The new Luminary show with Mo Amer and Azhar Usman asks the big questions the modern world makes you forget. Are we living in a simulation? What is money? What is life after death? They get real when it gets uncomfortable, and funny when it gets serious. Are they joking… or not?
Through comedic and smart commentary, interviews, and sketches, Amer and Usman get really real on one central theme per episode.
“You can’t have humor without truth. This Luminary show will poke at our natural inclinations to remain in denial even when faced with undeniable realities. I'm a comedian, and my most important goal is to get people laughing. If you can get them to laugh and have them think at the same time, then you got something,” said Amer.
Amer and Usman have both toured extensively with Dave Chappelle. Amer has identified Chappelle as his mentor, and Chappelle has described Amer as “hilarious, thought-provoking and inspiring.” Amer and Usman join Chappelle at Luminary, home to Chappelle’s award-winning show The Midnight Miracle with co-hosts yasiin bey and Talib Kweli. Together, bey and Kweli comprise the groundbreaking hip-hop duo Black Star, and after a 24-year recording hiatus, Black Star launched their second album No Fear of Time exclusively on Luminary in April 2022. Last year, Chappelle, through his company Pilot Boy Productions, joined Luminary as an investor and member of its Board of Directors.
Listeners can find Joking Not Joking at https://luminary.link/jnjpod
About Mo Amer
Mohammed "Mo" Mustafa Amer is a Palestinian-American stand-up comedian and award winning writer. He can currently be seen in the Netflix series Mo, a semi-autobiographical series. Amer plays Mo Najjar, a Palestinian refugee seeking asylum while living in Texas most of his life. Mo is a man in limbo, who's never able to hold down a job or get health care because of his immigration status, and the way he casually flits through his life is reflective of that reality. Amer mines great comedy from this unique situation, and he surrounds himself with a strong and charming supporting cast. The show was rated “Certified Fresh” by Rotten Tomatoes with a 100% from critics, and was named one of the best for 2022 from The New York Times and New York Magazine. Amer won a 2022 Gotham Award, an AFI Award, a 2023 Peabody Award, and a 2023 Television Academy Honor. He was also nominated for a 2023 Film Independent Award for “Lead Actor in a Special Series.” Mo is currently in prep for its second season. Amer was also named by GQ Middle East “Man of the Year” for 2022.
Mo was also seen co-starring alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the DC Extended Universe superhero film Black Adam. The film, in which Mo was the scene-stealing comedic relief to “The Rock,” grossed more than 393 million dollars globally.
Since 2006, Amer has performed tours in over 27 countries on five continents, including Germany, Italy, Sicily, Japan, Korea, and Bahrain, as well as with other Muslim comedians Preacher Moss and Azhar Usman in the Allah Made Me Funny comedy tour. Recently Mo has had two Netflix comedy specials: Mo Amer: The Vagabond and Mo Amer: Mohammed in Texas.
In 2018, Amer joined the cast of the Hulu show Ramy, starring Ramy Youssef, in which Amer plays Ramy's cousin Mo, who owns and operates a diner where many of the show's characters congregate.
Amer developed his first solo feature-length documentary-comedy special, working with long-time standup collaborator Azhar Usman. The special was co-produced through their jointly owned production entity, Kalijaga Media LLC. On May 3, 2015, Amer recorded his one-hour special, Legally Homeless, at the Warner Theatre presented by Live Nation Comedy. He became the first Arab-American to star in his own nationally televised one-hour stand-up special. The show's title is derived from the fact that Amer has traveled to more than 20 countries without a passport, and straddled multiple cultures while growing up in the U.S. Legally Homeless includes appearances by Azhar Usman, Bassem Youssef, Hasan Minhaj, Ramy Youssef, and independent rapper Brother Ali.
In June 2013, Amer featured on an interfaith special, What's So Funny About Religion?, which was broadcast on the CBS Television Network.
As well as with Allah Made Me Funny, Amer has performed at sold-out shows worldwide, including Royal Albert Hall and Hammersmith Apollo, Acer Arena, Nelson Mandela Theatre, Shrine Auditorium, as well as the Malmö Arts Festival (Sweden), the Amman Stand-up Comedy Festival, and the World's Funniest Island Festival.
Amer is of Palestinian descent, and the youngest of six children. Amer's father worked as an engineer for the Kuwait Oil Company. In October 1990, at the age of nine, Amer, his sister, Haifa, his brother, and mother fled his birth country of Kuwait during the Gulf War. They emigrated to the United States and settled in Houston, Texas.
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, Amer (who later changed the family name to Najjar), has a PhD in biochemistry. In 1995, when Amer was 14 years old, his father died.
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. He then participated, and had leading roles, in, high school theatre. Amer graduated and focused on his passion: he 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.
About Azhar Usman
Azhar Usman is an Indian-American multi-hyphenate standup comedian, actor, writer, producer from Chicago. He joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the recurring comedic role of Najaf the Gyro King in Ms. Marvel for Disney+, and previously played the recurring character Kkyman Candahar in two seasons of Steven Conrad’s Amazon original series Patriot. Additionally, Usman is a writer and co-executive producer for two critically-acclaimed, A24-produced original comedy series: Ramy for Hulu, and Mo for Netflix. He is the co-creator of Allah Made Me Funny–The Official Muslim Comedy Tour which inspired a generation of Muslim artists all over the world.
Usman has provided creative producing and consulting services to multiple standup comedians’ specials, including Hannibal Buress (Comedy Camisado, Miami Nights), Mo Amer (The Vagabond, Mohammed in Texas), Gavin Matts (Progression, 2023), and Hasan Minhaj (Homecoming King, The King’s Jester). Earlier in his career, Usman served as executive producer on MCU director Julius Onah’s short films, including The Boundary (starring Alexander Siddig) which was sold to HBO.
A paid regular at the world-famous Comedy Cellar (NYC), CNN called him “America’s Funniest Muslim,” Georgetown University (in association with the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center) named him among ”the 500 most influential Muslims in the world,” and Dave Chappelle once remarked: “Azhar Usman is untouchable; he’s like a comedian from the future.” With fellow Ms. Marvel castmates, he is the recipient of the Critics Choice Association’s Ensemble Award for Television (2022).
Usman runs a boutique creative producing and consulting firm (Numinous Company), leveraging his background in the media and entertainment industries, as well as his professional experience as an attorney and former fintech startup entrepreneur. He holds a B.A. in Communications (with a minor in Spanish) from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School.
About Luminary
Luminary is the subscription podcast network with an award-winning lineup of original shows you won’t find anywhere else. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access to the full collection of Luminary Original shows, featuring celebrated creators, diverse voices, and important stories told through a new lens from creators like Dave Chappelle, Russell Brand, Guy Raz, Corinne Fisher, Krystyna Hutchinson, yasiin bey, and Talib Kweli. You can find Luminary’s original content via the Luminary app, available on iOS, Android, and the web, and on Apple Podcasts’ Luminary channel. Driven by a love for podcasts, Matt Sacks founded Luminary in 2018 with a vision to elevate the podcasting experience for both listeners and creators. Key Luminary investors include Dave Chappelle, Richard Plepler, and global venture capital fund NEA. Luminary offers an annual subscription for $34.99, or the equivalent of about $2.99 per month. Luminary also offers a monthly subscription for $4.99. International pricing is similar to US pricing, with annual and monthly plans available in each territory.
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