Lea Maria, the ‘bred German’, makes fun of her experiences as a foreigner in Brazil

If there’s something that many Brazilians like, it’s seeing and hearing foreigners praising the country. Even though it is full of defects, with a lack of security, violence and economic problems, people love to boast that they are the coolest and liveliest in the world. Lea Maria, 29, who describes herself as “a German by birth”, has benefited from this.

The German comedian and influencer makes videos on social media about her experience as a foreigner in Brazil for more than a million followers. She also performs comedy shows in Brazilian capitals for packed audiences. On October 10, he recorded the special “Alemã de Cria”, which will be released in December on his YouTube channel.

Lea records videos on Rio’s beaches, praising the “convenience stores” that can be found next to the sea: they have tapioca biscuits, sunscreen, mate with lemon, barbecue and whatever else you need. In São Paulo, she hangs out in the bars of Vila Madalena drinking beer from American glasses. At the Olympics, he was more excited about the Brazilian medalists than the Germans, who didn’t jump or scream after their victories.

Europe? Now just on vacation. On a trip to Spain, Portugal or Germany, Lea jokes that the clothes there are too sober and the people are too serious. At least there is no risk of theft – the biggest danger in this case is depression.

The comedian met her first Brazilian friends in New Zealand, who sparked her curiosity in getting to know the country with warm people: “At that moment, I thought: ‘I want to be part of this mess, I want to be more involved with people, living real life’.”

Seven years ago she arrived in Brazil, initially, to do an exchange at USP (University of São Paulo). There, he studied anthropology, which contributed to a theoretical basis on Brazilian culture. “I love traveling and I started to become interested in cultures. Brazil is a mix of cultures from all over the world in a single country”, he says.

It was Lea’s friends who encouraged her to tell her stories, which involved the best and worst of Brazilian experiences, in the form of jokes. She began leading a comedy club and performing at stand-up clubs. During the pandemic, it migrated to the internet. “My stand-up went viral and I needed to raise money somehow,” he said.

At first, Lea didn’t understand a word of Portuguese. Little by little, he learned to speak – not without some mistakes, which were always accompanied by a comment (like “what a cute accent”) and ended up becoming jokes in his own shows. “Over time, I began to understand: why bother with what I make mistakes? It becomes a joke.”

This is how the comedian created a relationship with the Brazilian public and learned what would be a joke for us, or not. “An example of what people always question is politics, which is very polarized here. And then, it doesn’t matter which side you make fun of, you’re quickly categorized as boring and restrict yourself. In fact, criticism should happen in at any time, on any side, with whoever is in power or not”, he says.

Relationships with Brazilians also became romantic. Lea learned that we are able to create several categories for relationships “Like, I have an affair with you, but I can have others in five other cities. Hookups, chatters, colorful friends and more”, she laughs.

The German woman said she only lost the confidence to have monogamous relationships with men from Brazil. This is due to the difficult experience of a violent relationship. Lea was married to comedian Juliano Gaspar, whom she divorced after reporting him for assault in early 2023 — he denies that this happened.

“The case is confidential, so it’s complicated, but it’s a long process in any country,” she says, who is still waiting for her ex-husband to be punished. “I’m going to have to focus, in the meantime, on my career, doing my things and, when the time is right, I’ll be able to resolve it.”

After seven years of being the “German creation”, Lea says goodbye to the current tour with shows in Sorocaba (SP), at the end of this month, and in Paraná, between the 7th and 10th of November. “From now on, I will carry out other projects, other areas that I can explore”, he adds.