Mo Amer in Abu Dhabi review: Smart quips on Arab world, Texas turning blue and a potential season 3 of Mo

Comedian Mo Amer took the Etihad Arena stage in Abu Dhabi on Friday evening, bringing his usual wit and narrative routines on living a cross-cultural life to this year's Abu Dhabi Comedy Season.

His opening line — "it's good to be here ... where people speak Arabic" — brought cheers from the audience.

Amer is not new to the Gulf, having been born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents and raised in the US. But the UAE has become a frequent destination for the Palestinian-American comedian, whose shows often bring long queues of people clad in embroidered Palestinian thobes and keffiyehs.

With Amer, stories are the building blocks of his eclectic comedy; he expertly jumps between farcical anecdotes about his personal life, humorous jabs at accents and customs of Arab countries he's travelled to, and ad-libs that have the arena in giggles.

One of the highlights of the show was a story about the famous passengers that his taxi driver in Egypt had over the course of his life — namely Saddam Hussein and Mariah Carey — which left the audience in absolute disbelief. But Amer swore up and down that none of it was fabricated.

It felt like there were no moments in the show when the audience died down as Amer belted one clever remark after another. It was clear he'd put an immense amount of effort into delivering his stories with impeccable comedic timing, while also acting out scenarios and voicing characters.

There were several opening acts for Amer's show, starting with Ahmed Taher, a Palestinian comedian based in Dubai, followed by Adi Khalefa, a Palestinian comedian who also opened for Amer at his Dubai Opera show in October last year and was featured in his show Mo.

American comedian and actress Zainab Johnson took the stage shortly after for a 25-minute special bridging romantic relationships and race. The last short act before Amer came on was American comedian and actor Azhar Osman, best known as part of the stand-up comedy troupe Allah Made Me Funny.

One of the biggest news highlights of this week is the US midterm elections, from popular Arab candidate Abdul El Sayed becoming the first Muslim to be elected to the US Senate, to Democrats winning control of the House and Senate.

Amer made a timely reference to that and used it to share the cultural differences he experienced in Houston, Texas, as an Arab Muslim man living next to Republican neighbours who want to ban 'halal meat' and 'sharia law'.

At several points in the show, Amer joked about releasing a third season of his popular comedy-drama Netflix series Mo, contemplating the various PR strategies he would use to promote it, as a "very important part of history". He suggested a scenario in which he pretends to be a threat on a flight back to the US just by speaking in Arabic on the phone with his mother, until he is filmed being detained in what he called 'outside the box' marketing.

The marketing scenario was definitely a joke, he promised, but whether the third season was a joke or not, Amer says he is cooking up something "very special" soon.

Alongside his hit drama show Mo based loosely on his life, Mo Amer also has three Netflix comedy specials, Mo Amer: The Vagabond, Mo Amer: Mohammed in Texas and Mo Amer: Wild World.

Over the span of an hour, Amer touched on many topics, expertly weaving them together into what felt like chapters of his life. His presence on stage, coupled with his comic charm, ensured there was not a dull moment the entire night.

He ended the show on a heartfelt note, finding joy in having his son and performing, before promising to be back soon.

"It's been very difficult in all the years that passed to find joy," he said. "My sole purpose is to put all my energy into my son after putting so much energy into the show ... it means the world to me."