Mo Gilligan on being quoted by Drake, his surprising shopping addiction, and eating fried chicken for 28 days straight

The Louis Theroux Podcast

Louis Theroux interviews comedian Mo Gilligan about his journey from viral social media creator to a major Netflix star. The conversation ex

Key takeaways

• Mo Gilligan's fame was significantly boosted when Drake quoted his 'Couple of Cans' viral video in 2017.
• His documentary 'Black, British and Funny' highlights the industry dynamics and visibility of Black comedians in the UK.

Main topics

• Black British Comedy
• Viral Social Media Success

Notable quotes

The funny just didn't exist. I couldn't find anything that was funny.

Conclusion

An insightful look at how digital-first creators navigate traditional

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:05) Hello there, welcome back to the Louis Theroux podcast. Today my guest is acclaimed British comedian and internet sensation Mo Gilligan. You may know Mo from his BAFTA winning chat show Latish with Mo Gilligan or his turn as co-host on the BAFTA winning Big Nasty Show, which I was once on. That may have helped with the BAFTA. He's got three BAFTAs. You know who else has three BAFTAs? No, I'm not going to say that. He came to fame on the internet with viral sketches on social media. Couple of cans. Which Drake quoted in 2017 and catapulted him to fame. Couple of cans, Julie. Speaker 1 (0:54) The Guys in the Club was another one. Different Types of MC was another one. They're all up and available to watch on your nearest social media device. But stand-up has always been the central part of Mo's career. There are three Netflix specials to check out. Momentum, There's Mo to Life, and In the Moment. The Times has dubbed him the funniest man in Britain. Mo is one of the biggest stars on the comedy circuit today. We always love having comedians on. Speaker 1 (1:22) I was also impressed with how well he hosted or co-hosted the Big Nasty episode I was on. You could see that, and we talk about this in the chat, how much the format relied on most professionalism and his easy way with people and his focus. And that's something that he brings to everything he does. And candidly, in an era where, you know, racial themes are part of... how we look at culture, well, how we try to create a more mature, more sensitive, more equitable media culture. I was looking forward to having a chat about comedy and black comedy specifically, which historically in the UK, I think it's been felt has maybe been either underrepresented or in some sense, not quite part of the mainstream to the extent it deserved to be. So that's part of what we talk about. We recorded this conversation in July this year while Mo was promoting his new Netflix documentary, Big Chicken, a fast food conspiracy. In a bold 28-day experiment, Mo tours the UK and US on a fried chicken diet to uncover the industry behind it. It's available from the 5th of August on Netflix. A quick warning, this conversation contains strong language and adult themes. All that as well as much else besides coming up. Speaker 1 (2:52) This episode is brought to you by Hulu on Disney+. Fans of the podcast will know I'm a big fan of television, especially TV that resonates with me emotionally, that brings out those feelings that are so essential to us as humans. This is especially true when it comes to Speaker 3 (3:10) a show like The Speaker 1 (3:11) Bear, with its... Speaker 1 (3:14) rather lovely Jeremy Allen White. Oh, with those blue eyes. Damn him. And the, well, kitchen's a great location anyway, isn't it? Everything's happening in a crucible of activity, but there's also themes of family, perfectionism, the toll that it takes on relationships, the sense of common enterprise that's at any moment at risk of being derailed. by the jealousies and the feelings that we go through and the satisfaction of people doing great work against the odds and even transcending the expectations that people put on them. I don't want to do any spoilers, but in The Bear, you see characters, working class guys, disproving the low expectation or disproving the negativity that's put on them to do amazing things. It's a very relatable and primal storyline. It makes you think of Rocky, right? That feeling of someone... actually out delivering doing something amazing and disproving all the doubters which I've kind of done with my podcast so those were the moments that got me how about you make sure you check out a lifetime of great stories with Hulu on Disney plus copyright 2026 Disney and its related entities 18 plus subscription required Speaker 1 (4:45) Did you stay up and watch the football? I Speaker 3 (4:46) watched the first half. And then after that, I was like, I can't. It's weird because I love football. That's my little escapism. Speaker 1 (4:54) Yeah. Speaker 3 (4:54) To shout for 90 minutes and be angry. And Speaker 1 (4:57) that was a big game. This is going to be completely irrelevant when this goes out. But as we speak, England's just beat Mexico. 3-2, well it was in the 90 minutes wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And people got up at 3 in the morning to watch it. I know, it started at 2am. Speaker 3 (5:16) It's weird watching football at that time. How could you Speaker 1 (5:19) stop at Speaker 3 (5:19) half time because it was all hanging on a thread? I know, but I was so tired, Louis. It just was like, I love football but also I'm more of a passionate Arsenal fan here, I'm Speaker 1 (5:28) an Speaker 3 (5:28) England fan. Speaker 1 (5:29) Oh no. So Speaker 3 (5:30) I'm more club over country. Not Speaker 1 (5:32) Arsenal. Speaker 1 (5:36) Yes. When Arsenal won the Prem, you went bazonkas. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaker 3 (5:42) Because I think that's different because I go week in, week out. And when I'm away, I watch the games and it can change my mood. If we've won, I'm like, wow, great. And if we've lost, I'm like, ugh. Came back to the drawing board. You Speaker 1 (5:56) grew up in Peckham. So what are you doing supporting a North London club? Well, Speaker 3 (6:00) Ian Wright was like the reason why I started supporting Arsenal. So I watched Match of the Day once. And it's weird. I lived in an area where like everybody supported a different club. So you had some people supporting Man United, a few people supporting Liverpool, a lot of people supporting Millwall as well. And this was like a stage where I was like, what team do I kind of support? And then I watched Match of the Day. And I seen Ian Wright score a goal. And I remember just watching him. He looked so happy. But I remember he had a gold tooth. And I had an uncle who had a gold tooth as well. And I was like, bro, I feel like I know this guy. And he scored. He looked so happy. And I was like, I'm supporting him and whatever team he plays for. And that's it. It started from there. Speaker 1 (6:44) Really? Speaker 3 (6:45) Yeah, yeah, yeah. It started from there. Who's Speaker 1 (6:47) your team? Do you support football? QPR, yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. Why QPR? Is that... That way you live or based or what? I live in West London. Basically, I've got three boys and when they were at a certain age, I thought, you know what, I better start taking them to games and be interested in football so that when they start to hate me when they're teenagers, we'll still have something to talk about. Yeah, yeah, of course. And actually, from one documentary maker to another, if you're in a tight spot abroad, football's also useful. If you were, say, in... Croatia and you were taken hostage. I'm not sure why you would be, but you'd say, oh, Luka Modric, number one. Right. And then you'd get a conversation going and talking about, or, or, or indeed, like if you were in Norway, you'd say, uh, Harland, Erling Harland, I love him so much. And, and, and so on and so forth. Yeah. It's, it's a, it's a, it's a fast track, uh, bonding moment, but you need, you have to have one in your pocket for every country that you might be in. That and Speaker 3 (7:43) the weather. And the weather. The weather, and I think sometimes travelling. But I think travelling is more for, I don't know, whenever I meet people that are really, maybe they're uber famous or they are super wealthy, I feel like travelling, it's like, oh, when did you touch down? They're like, yeah, you know, the jet lag and stuff. I'm like, oh, seven hour flight, right? He's like, yeah, man, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's such a long flight. But I've always find it's either that, the weather, or sometimes sport. They're like the three things. you can just have a conversation about. Speaker 1 (8:13) If you're taken hostage in Croatia though, you saying I had a tough flight and I'm a bit jet lagged isn't going to help. Yeah. You can talk about the weather. Even that might be a struggle. You know, a bit chilly for this time of year, isn't it? Shut up. So you've got a documentary coming out. which I very much enjoyed. You've got various things on Netflix, which we can talk about, your three specials. And also a documentary which I found interesting. I don't know where it would have originally gone out, maybe Channel 4, about black British comedy. Yes. When Speaker 3 (8:52) did you make that? That Speaker 1 (8:53) was black British and funny. Speaker 3 (8:55) I think that might have aired maybe 2020, 2021, I think, Speaker 1 (8:59) on Channel 4. Speaker 3 (9:01) Yeah. Channel 4. 10 o'clock. Speaker 1 (9:03) It's felt, the subtext to the documentary seemed to be that, maybe it's actually not the subtext, it was like explicitly stated that the comedy establishment in the UK sort of has a one-in-one-out policy with black British comedians. And it's felt for a while, like you were kind of owning the airwaves, weren't you? You had like multiple things on TV. But it's almost as though like, oh, well, we've got a black British comedian. We don't really need another one. That seemed to be what you were suggesting might be. kind of the unstated rule of British comedy. Can I tell you what I was struck by watching it? Well, many things, but one of them was, as a fellow of older generation growing up in the 70s and 80s, I'm thinking like Lenny Henry's going to get a shout out any minute, and it's 25 minutes before Lenny gets a mention. Richard Blackwood pays tribute to him. Although, in fact, it's actually Lenny's briefly in frame, because what kicks off the whole documentary is Ricky Gervais saying, you know, why don't we have more... like British comedians. In America, they've got so many, David Chappelle, Chris Rock, and so on and so on. And then in the background is a picture of Lenny Henry. Speaker 3 (10:10) So it's a scene from Extras, and then they kind of all look, and there's a picture of Lenny. And that was like our, I don't know if you want to call it, like a cold open, almost, to the doc. I always had the vision of making this almost as like a... passion project as well. Speaker 1 (10:27) I Speaker 3 (10:28) was quite fortunate to have my own show and that was great and doing stuff on social media and you know you kind of get these nice articles and maybe in a newspaper and you know one of them was from the Times that was like funniest guy in Britain and there was this little in quotation marks who still lives with his mum but everyone kept saying every time I was on an interview this is the funny the Times have called him the funniest guy in Britain so um I think with this piece, it was definitely, I was like, I really want to showcase what Black British comedy is because I know what it is, it's all I've ever done, but I don't know if everyone outside of the realm of, I guess, British comedy knows that there's this huge scene that has shows at Hackney Empire, you know, the O2, and I'm quite fortunate enough that there's a whole generation before me that are huge and massive within our scene and they need to get the light shone on them. a little bit as well. It was great. It was definitely one of the things I got to do that it wasn't really about it going, I guess, viral because my success was always based on a viral success of the videos done well. And then someone might say, oh, you know, Drake followed you and this happened where this really felt like a piece that, fingers crossed, that that might be something that they get to show in schools one day, university. So you see yourself as a product of a scene. Yeah, most Speaker 1 (11:48) definitely. Someone Speaker 3 (11:48) who benefited from Speaker 1 (11:50) a black comedy circuit in the UK and who paved the way somewhat for what you were doing. And is it that Lenny wasn't really on that Speaker 3 (11:59) circuit? Like he was on a different circuit? I wouldn't say he wasn't on that circuit. I just think it was really to shine the light on these amazing comics that I'd got to share the stage with, that everybody got to know about. People like Slim, who was the first comic that I went to see at a real comedy show at the Albany Theatre in Deptford. you know then sharing the stage with him but knowing that he'd been in the in the game as such for like 30 years and uh you know rudy liquid there were so many comics and people that i was just like you know i remember slim saying that funny is funny you know it doesn't matter like what you say when funny is just Speaker 1 (12:35) funny and he talks about he's he's done edinburgh he's done glastonbury he's done reading he's sold out various big venues but feels maybe he hasn't been given the shot he deserved. Yeah, you know, whenever I hear the previous Speaker 3 (12:49) generation, you see a lot of shows that would come and then they would quickly go. And there is this, even when I got my own show on Channel 4, and it's a show at 10 o'clock, it was like, oh, this might just be a one-time thing. Same with doing a big, nasty show. Because you're so used to just seeing a show come, and that's it. It just, you don't ever see it again. And also... We're also a generation of Black British comics that grew up with watching the Royal McCoy. That helped a whole generation in terms of seeing ourself on screen. I would wait, like, I'm talking like, I don't know, sometimes like 10, 11 to watch it as like an eight-year-old because my mum Speaker 1 (13:30) would say, hey, like, you Speaker 3 (13:31) should Speaker 1 (13:31) kind of watch this. It was a sketch show on BBC, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What Speaker 3 (13:35) would Speaker 1 (13:35) it have been, like, 91 maybe, Speaker 3 (13:37) 92, something like that? Yeah, I'm not sure the time. Definitely in the 90s, though. Yeah. So, yeah, it was really important to have a piece that shines a light on a whole generation that came before me, but also this new generation that are kind of benefiting off like those Rue McCoy sketches and the comics we got to watch. Some of the comics we got to perform alongside on stage. You know, I remember doing only probably like at this time my 10th show and I'm sharing the stage with Richard Blackwood. And that for me was almost like a full circle moment because I would watch him. on TV on his show and now I'm 10 shows in and I'm on stage with him. That doesn't really happen if you're on the mainstream circuit. You don't do 10 gigs and before you know it you're sharing the stage with Ricky Gervais. That's not heard of but in the black circuit that's very common. So it was really to give people an understanding of what this scene is and how vibrant it is and how big these shows are and it isn't this underground circuit almost like oh it's a secret I've heard about there's this black seat this this but I'm like no like people doing shows at the O2 people doing shows at the Indigo Hammersmith Apollo was selling out shows on you know on a Saturday Sunday night you know and I think the position I was in of doing mainstream TV was like oh I get a nice opportunity to bring this to light so everyone gets to understand it and see it and also no I'm not I'm not the only one, do you know what I mean? It's not just like, oh, well, we've got black guys, it's Mo. And I'm like, no, no, no, guys, it's not that, you Speaker 1 (15:07) know? Reading through your story, it was striking that, and this is a theme of that documentary as well, that you kind of got your breakthrough social media, right? And maybe it wouldn't have happened the way it did if you'd just been doing the circuit or doing stand-up, but the key point was you went viral. at a critical Speaker 3 (15:27) moment. Is that fair? Yeah, I think that's fair. Yeah, I'd never disagree with that. I was definitely on the circuit for quite a long time, you know, doing stand up, hosting shows, a show that used to happen in Central and called The Sunday Show. That was almost like a variety show. I'd host it, do stand up, but you'd have comics, you'd have performers, you'd have like, I remember Ed Sheeran coming down. This is when he first started and he used to just have his loop pedal and his guitar. He performed. captivated the crowd. It was one of the coolest moments I can remember hosting that show. But you get people who just singers, poets, musicians. Were you Speaker 1 (16:02) keeping down a straight job at the same time? Yeah, so I was working in retail at the same time. You were working at Speaker 3 (16:07) Joe Malone in Westfield? I worked everywhere. Oh man, Louis, I was in, I worked at Joe Malone, Thomas Pink, the shirt shop. Speaker 1 (16:15) And so then you, and then... According to legend, you'd be going off on your break and recording a video. Yeah. This was my last retail job. So that was in Levi's. And then one Speaker 3 (16:25) in particular goes viral. Yeah. So I've done this thing. I used to do this thing on Snapchat where I'd imitate DJs or MCs and put them up. Didn't have many followers at the time. And then I had this kind of compilation of different types of MCs, like grime MCs, garage MCs, the person that misses the drop. the, you know, the MC from up north Manchester, you know, he's like, yo, blood, don't try and get cheeky, you don't know me, like, so then I put this compilation of probably like five of these different MCs, probably 10 second clips, and that video was about a minute long, I went to the cinema, and I put my phone on airplane mode, posted the video, put it on airplane mode, and then as I've gone out to the cinema, I've checked it, and the videos being shared everywhere. Like my comments, I'd never seen it before. You had this cool thing where when you go in it, it just says a hundred, a hundred likes, a hundred followers and a hundred something mentions maybe. So every time I kept clicking on it, it just says a hundred. And I was like, oh wow, this is, and then the next day it got shared by GRM Daily, LinkUp TV. They had shared it on their platforms. It hit like a million. And then I done like a part two, got more followers. Then I done a part three, part four. And all these followers and people just started really liking the content. Then I wanted to play around with ideas. So because I