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🇦🇷 Argentina /Culture & Society

El Yarco, the Comedian Praised by Moria Who Left Engineering in Germany for the Stage

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Interview Named sources Context piece
  • Mauricio Nozica, known as El Yarco, left a stable engineering career in Germany to pursue stand-up comedy and theater.
  • He said theater helped him cope with bullying and difficult periods after a childhood heart infection required intensive care.
  • Nozica, now 33, is scheduled to perform his show “Hasta donde topa” at Buenos Aires’ Chacarerean.

Mauricio Nozica followed what many people considered the “correct” path. He studied food engineering, specialized, won a scholarship in Germany and found a stable job three hours from Frankfurt. But something still felt missing. He needed the theater.

The stage had helped him through adolescence, when he faced bullying, and gave him a refuge during difficult periods. As a child, Nozica had suffered endocarditis in a heart valve and spent time in intensive care at Buenos Aires’ Garrahan Hospital. He also could not play sports for a long period, so he turned toward artistic activities.

I thought: ‘What if I leave engineering?’

· Mauricio NozicaHe recalled the moment a first stand-up performance made him consider changing careers.

The decisive change came in 2024, after he had lived in Germany for five years. He attended a stand-up show and spoke with the organizer, who invited him to try three minutes onstage. Nozica had arrived without prepared material, but found that he had jokes stored in his head. “I thought: ‘What if I leave engineering?’” he told LA NACION.

There was always this idea of ‘studying to become someone,’ and I studied engineering, but I wanted to do theater.

· Mauricio NozicaHe described the family expectations behind his original career choice.

Now 33, he is part of the local Spanish-language stand-up scene in Germany and is preparing to perform “Hasta donde topa” at the Chacarerean. He has tested some monologues in German with friends, but currently performs in Spanish.

His family initially struggled with the decision. His mother had encouraged theater as a hobby rather than a career, reflecting the expectation that he should study “to become someone.” Nozica said leaving engineering felt like a grieving process and was frightening, but he chose to step away before life passed him by. His stepfather, an engineer, has still never seen him perform and continues to picture him as an engineer rather than a comedian.

When you leave a career, it is a grieving process. It is frightening, and that either paralyzes you or drives you forward. I decided to step away, because otherwise my life would pass me by.

· Mauricio NozicaHe explained why he abandoned engineering for comedy and theater.
About this summary

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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