Mo Gilligan says his British accent has got him out of "a lot of sticky situations" in the US.
Mo Gilligan says his British accent gets him out of 'sticky situations'
The stand-up up star found fame in 2017 after his online comedy skits went viral, partly thanks to Canadian rapper Drake sharing his content.
Despite his international success, the London-born comedian admits he fears sticking out because of his British accent, but was grateful for his twang when it got him out of a potentially tough situation in Hollywood.
He told OK! magazine: “I have this fear, yeah, I don’t know why I have this fear. I have this weird fear of being successful in America one day and it goes well and something mad happens.
“When you go to the US the one privilege you have, especially being a Black person there, is your accent. It can get you out of a lot of sticky situations.
“I went out by myself once on Hollywood Boulevard and some guy said to me, ‘You look like you got money, man.’
"He looked like a real bad man, like one of the 'Grand Theft Auto' characters. I had Nike Air Jordans on and he was like, ‘Look at the homie with Nike Jordans on.’
"I have never been so British in my life. I was like, ‘Oh good evening, chaps,’ and these people were so baffled. They were like, ‘What you doing here, Harry Potter?’ ”
The 34-year-old comedian recently travelled to the US to film a pilot of a UK version of musical game show ‘That’s My Jam’.
The eight part series, which debuts on December 17 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, will follow the original format of the US show, which is presented by Jimmy Fallon.
Mo said: “It was such a thrill to work with Jimmy and his outstanding team on the pilot of this show - and now we get to do a series! This is such an exceptional format and I’m so honoured that the BBC and NBCUniversal are letting me bring it to the UK."
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