Summary
Mo Gilligan adapts his trademark semi-musical stand-up style to a new topic for In the Moment, a very good special that feels satisfyingly different from his more observational, biographical Momentum.
Mo Gilligan is a very good comedian. It’s worth reminding people of this out of the gate, since when a very specific act makes their way to the mainstream — Mo has been a staple of British television for years, and isn’t a stranger to international gigs either — it can sometimes water them down. Momentum, his first Netflix release, was built on relatable, working-class anecdotes and observations that predated his success. His second, There’s Mo to Life, felt like more of that, tempered a bit by newfound accolades. But his third, In the Moment, feels like something different, more evolved.
Out of the gate, Mo says that the intention of the world tour that preceded the taping of the special, filmed at London’s sold-out O2 Arena, was to put Black British comedy on the map. And for the most part, the map is the point. Mo has gone international, and the bulk of the crisp hour is a single extended anecdote about his first trip to Hollywood. With his musical embellishments and impressive facility for accents and sound effects, the storytelling stage is set.
The key is that all of this is filtered through the lens of Mo Gilligan, from South London. There’s no artifice. The ridiculousness of the circumstances builds and builds, brought into starker relief thanks to the relatable perspective of someone who isn’t of this world suddenly finding themselves trying to navigate it. Comparisons between British and American culture are old hat, but this stretch isn’t about that, really, inasmuch as it’s about someone fairly normal trying to adapt to a deeply abnormal climate of excess and celebrity worship.
There’s a fine line to tread here. This kind of “I’ve made it” material can be off-putting, but Mo threads the needle beautifully, charting a string of escalating events brought about largely just by flippant comments. Mo mentioning that he was missing his friends gets five of his besties flown out to Hollywood within 24 hours; the suggestion of getting an Uber earns him a private driver; an offhanded mention of the VIP area not being especially roomy gets him an upgrade to a VVVIP section. Before long, he’s embroiled in a spend-off with a group of NBA players who probably worried a lot less about their bill than he did. It’s brilliantly done, and the closing credits feature a bunch of photos and videos from the night in question, for authenticity’s sake.
In the Moment is about, in large part, Mo Gilligan’s success happening to him, as opposed to his taking credit for it. The anecdotes work because he presents them in the exact same way as ones about the kind of holidays Black British kids go on, which are generally trips to see some distant relatives before they die. For him, it was a holiday to a shack in the Caribbean. There’s a recurring theme of the reality never quite matching the expectation. The perspective remains consistent all the time.
There’s some of the usual observational humour here, including a bit about the differences between men and women, and loyalty in relationships by way of binge-watch etiquette. Some of the slight issues I complained about in Momentum have been ironed out; there’s less nervous laughing at his own jokes, and the set-ups are more confident and naturalistic than repeated uses of “Have you ever seen?” or “Do you remember?”. Mo has always been funny, but working out the kinks in his stage persona creates even more engagement. He’s mastering his craft.
A big part of that craft is a musical accompaniment. There’s once again a live band here, and the swansong is a performance of reggae fairytales for a Zoom publisher meeting that is superb stuff, and shows that Mo is much more than just a comedian. He’s a multifaceted performer — “I do my own stunts,” he says at one point, after making a ridiculously accurate “sent message” noise — whose work continues to evolve and adapt. In the Moment will be difficult to top, even for him.
