The Comics Unseen
Press Kit
Bilingual Stand-up · Comedy Writer · Voice Artist
Manu Maciel
She was born, she says, into a room full of people laughing uncontrollably. Years later a cassette tape pulled her through a dark period — and only much later did she learn the voice on it was Dave Chappelle’s.
From
Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil
Works in
Stand-up in English and Portuguese · Comedy writing · Voice-over
Known for
Every edition of Netflix Is A Joke Festival · Brazilian voice of Judy Carter
Online
Portal dos Mundos sketch series
Interview
Written interview · hopforpop.com
“A weak punchline is a crime, but a strong setup is what makes the punchline almost inevitable in retrospect.”
Manu Maciel — The Comics Unseen
Ready-to-use copy
Biography
244 words — lift as-is, no rewriting required
Manu Maciel is a Brazilian stand-up, comedy writer and voice artist who works in both English and Portuguese. She was born in Campos dos Goytacazes, surrounded by sugarcane plantations, where television was her only window on the world — and her origin story starts earlier still: a difficult delivery that only got moving when the doctor had the staff tickle her mother, so that she was born into a room full of people laughing.
Stand-up had not taken hold in Brazil when she was growing up. What shaped her was Jô Soares, the late-night host she describes as Johnny Carson crossed with Mel Brooks, whom she followed so devotedly she switched to an afternoon school to keep watching. Later, during a dark period, she kept returning to a cassette of a man telling a funny story. Years afterwards, studying comedy, she discovered it was Dave Chappelle.
She is the only Brazilian comedian to perform her own show at every edition of the Netflix Is A Joke Festival, carrying the Brazilian flag on stage. She studied under Judy Carter and became the Brazilian voice of Judy’s work in Portuguese. She also writes for other comics, and her Portal dos Mundos videos give voices to planets — Mercury on retrograde, Pluto still sore about losing planet status.
The part other press kits leave out
What you should know before you book her
Manu Maciel is a structural thinker about jokes who also happens to be very silly, and she works across two languages without translating herself.
Genuinely bilingual, not translated
She rarely translates a joke. Premises arrive already in the language they will be built in, so each set is native rather than converted.
The setup is the whole building
Her theory of the joke: get the setup airtight and you can keep stacking punches. Compensating for a weak setup with the punchline is building a skyscraper on a swamp.
A writer for other comics
She fully channels the other comic’s persona and point of view, and describes herself as a surrogate: she nurtures the premise, then hands it back.
Built for international rooms
Every Netflix Is A Joke edition with her own show. She plays to Brazilian audiences abroad and to English-speaking rooms alike.
Pathological empathy
Her phrase for compulsively seeing other points of view — which is how a planet ends up with opinions and yesterday’s avocado ends up judging her.
Backlash is an occupational hazard
Her advice is to check who the criticism is coming from before you worry about what is being said.
For press · cleared for use with attribution
Quotable
01
“That’s the moment I was born: into a room full of people laughing uncontrollably. Laughter was the first sound I heard.”02
“Moral of the story: I’m always positioned incorrectly.”03
“That was the first time I understood comedy could help with healing.”04
“Thanks for the save, Mr. GOAT!”05
“He was like Johnny Carson had a baby with Mel Brooks, born in Brazil.”06
“Seeing Brazilians in the crowd applauding our flag, it feels like the Olympics — except I’m terrible at sports, so this is the only way I can represent my people.”07
“When you make something people truly love, you have to be okay with the fact that others will hate it.”08
“We all have haters, so the real question is: who are yours?”09
“Before caring about what’s being said, it’s worth checking who’s saying it.”10
“I rarely translate jokes. The premise usually comes to mind already in the language the joke is going to be developed in.”11
“The setup. Always the setup.”12
“A weak punchline is a crime, but a strong setup is what makes the punchline almost inevitable in retrospect.”13
“Getting a weak setup and trying to compensate on the punchline is like building a skyscraper on a swamp.”14
“I think of myself as a surrogate: I receive a premise embryo, nurture it, grow it, and when it’s fully formed, I give it back.”15
“Bombing is part of the job. It doesn’t make me question being a comic, it makes me question how I can be a better one.”16
“I have what I like to call “pathological empathy”: I’m compulsively thinking in different points of view.”17
“In my mind, Mercury had something to say, so I gave him a voice.”
Attribution: Manu Maciel, in conversation with The Comics Unseen. Read the interview.
Career
Selected credits
Stand-up
- Netflix Is A Joke Festival — her own show at every edition; the only Brazilian comedian to do so
- Stand-up in English and Portuguese on international stages
Writing & voice
- Brazilian Portuguese voice of Judy Carter’s comedy teaching
- Comedy writer for other comics
- Portal dos Mundos — social-media sketch series
- Voice-over artist
Influences
Jô Soares, Lenny Bruce, Phyllis Diller, Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor, Paul Mooney, Robin Williams, Dave Chappelle, Ricky Gervais, Jimmy Carr and Tig Notaro.
This kit was produced by The Comics Unseen. The interview and quotes are drawn from Life’s Too Weird Not to Joke About It: An Interview With Manu Maciel, published on hopforpop.com. Manu Maciel and their representatives are free to use any part of this document — the biography, the quotes — for booking, press and promotion, with credit to The Comics Unseen for the interview material.
The Comics Unseen shines a light on stand-up artists and spreads comedy across the world. Follow at instagram.com/hopforpop.
Message us at instagram.com/hopforpop to get your interview and press kit with us.