When Felix Lobrecht takes a stage, political correctness is over: the 34-year-old regularly polarizes and divides the internet. While crowds of fans hang on his every word, others would like to ban him from speaking. Lobrecht has chosen the contradiction of the art form — and in the process has become a brand himself.
Lobrecht is regularly on the big stage, it quickly becomes clear that he doesn’t like giving interviews: «The media tends to break you down to a punchline,» he explains, looking down.
The comedian grew up in Berlin-Neukölln – a district that is considered “crime-ridden”. “I never had the need to hide my Neukölln origins,” explains Lobrecht when asked. He regularly tells in podcasts or his gags how he grew up as the son of a single father under Hartz IV in Berlin’s hotspot district, received funding for learning materials and was excluded from high school. Where there was perhaps a lack of financial capital, there was a surplus of cultural and social capital: “I was really lucky with my father – he read to us and played music to us while others my age were parked in front of the television,” says Lobrecht.
The 34-year-old comedian achieved his high school diploma self-taught, through a non-student exam. In his twenties, he says, he felt like he took every low-wage job — whether it was a waiter in a restaurant, a sushi delivery person, a retail salesperson or a receptionist at a gym. When Lobrecht moved to Marburg to study in 2012, he began to make a name for himself as a poetry slammer before finally making his comedy breakthrough in 2016 with his stage program “Kenn ick”. “I just experimented and didn’t do anything that I didn’t really enjoy. There was no Felix Lobrecht master plan,” he explains and begins to roll a cigarette. Today, Lobrecht is a millionaire and is so popular as a comedian that his shows are sold out after just a few hours. Since he didn’t have the money for concert tickets as a 23-year-old, he now gives away tickets to fans from precarious circumstances before every show.
According to Focus magazine, Lobrecht currently receives an average salary of €40,000, which means he is not in the same league as US comedy greats like Kevin Hart (US$1 million) or Amy Schumer (US$500,000). In addition to the show income, he and his colleague Tommi Schmitt earn €12,000 a month with their podcast “Gemischtes Hack”.
To this day, Lobrecht avoids looking at his account balance and leaves his finances entirely to his accountant. Every extra cent goes either to charitable projects or to his father’s account. Although he receives a new car from Mercedes every six months, he has long since sworn off “luxury for the sake of luxury”. Does he see his story as a fairytale success story? “This ‘Anyone can make it if they work hard enough!’ story is complete nonsense. My story is only exciting because I am an exception and not the rule,” he says and begins to roll another cigarette.
Unlike some other comedians, Lobrecht doesn’t hide behind the facade of an alter ego. This is particularly popular with younger people: he already has a million followers on Instagram and his weekly podcast “Gemischtes Hack”, in which he and his comedian Tommi Schmitt talk about everyday banalities, is now one of the most popular podcasts in Germany.
Anyone who listens to one of Lobrecht’s episodes or attends his performances should put their moral principles aside for a few hours — Lobrecht is generous with expletives and also likes to reach into the lowest drawers of black humor. “Comedy has to be funny first and foremost – a fact that many of my colleagues have forgotten,” he says, taking a drag on his cigarette. In the meantime, Lobrecht has wandered from the sofa to the roof terrace and is leaning quietly against the open window door for a moment.
Anyone who searches the Internet for negative headlines about the comedian will quickly find what they are looking for: he is accused of sexist and racist statements under the guise of satire. The Berliner says: “The worst thing that can happen to an artist is that everyone thinks you’re okay.”
For him, respectability and vulgarity are constantly alternating with one another. “I believe that every person has contradictions within them and that, in contrast to other people who are in the public eye, I try not to hide them at all costs and serve a one-dimensional narrative,” says Lobrecht.
Lobrecht is involved in public discourse and does not shy away from contact with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “We talk about all dimensions of discrimination such as racism, sexism and discrimination, but never feel about social origin,” explains Lobrecht.
In his book “Sun and Concrete” he takes a critical look at German class society. The book is now part of school reading in Germany. It sold over three million copies and was number one on the bestseller lists for weeks. “Sun and Concrete” has also been running as a film in German cinemas since March 2023 and has grossed €9.8 million there to date.
For over a decade, Felix Lobrecht has performed non-stop, filled halls, written programs and texts, conducted interviews, recorded podcasts and engaged in relentless verbal battles on Twitter. His statements such as “high schools are just a social demarcation” regularly heat people up and even result in countless death threats. This was not without consequences: it only recently became public that Lobrecht has been suffering from depression and attacks of panic attacks and anxiety for over two years. For the coming year, he plans to take a year off to travel the world and take care of his mental health. He doesn’t see an end to the hype surrounding him: «So far, every day I wake up, I have more fans than the day before.»
