Matt Rife is an esteemed comedian with a distinct talent. Throughout his career in comedy he has amassed an enormous fanbase.
His love for animals has also contributed to his success in the entertainment industry.
His Personal Life
Matt Rife quickly gained popularity on TikTok and quickly attracted attention from women wanting to date him. Currently he is dating English actress and dancer Jessica Lord; however he prefers not to disclose much information regarding their relationship.
Rife first attracted attention in 2017 by dating Kate Beckinsale despite the significant age difference between them.
Matt Rife remains grounded and humble despite his newfound fame, maintaining an online website to document his tours as well as sell merchandise featuring his name.
Though Rife has found it challenging to sustain his comedy specials, he remains dedicated to his craft. Citing comedy great Dave Chappelle as his source of inspiration and upholding free speech as his fundamental right, Rife also advocates that the line between offensive and funny is subjective and that comedians who apologize for offending others may simply be covering up who they truly are in public feeds and hiding behind sanitization or hiding their true selves from view.
His Comedy
Rife has found success as a stand-up comedian by using social media as his platform of choice to build his popularity and develop his crowd work skills. His special, Natural Selection, is similar to this theme as he spends much of the hour playing off of his audience members’ reactions and interactions with them.
Not to say there aren’t some laugh-out-loud moments within this special. Unfortunately, too much of it plays like setups with overstated words and no clear progression between jokes.
Rife’s exploration of serious topics such as race and sexuality often includes an intense defensiveness that feels inherent to its subject matter.
His Controversy
Rife has never shied away from making controversial jokes and has often been criticized for his dark sense of humor, with accusations ranging from being misogynist, racist, ableist and more being levelled against him in his jokes.
After going viral in 2022 due to his crowdwork video going viral on TikTok, the comedian rose to national attention and eventually produced a Netflix special which premiered Nov. 15. However, some critics took issue with its opening joke which referenced domestic violence as such an inappropriate subject matter for inclusion.
Rife told a story during his special about being at a restaurant with his friend when they noticed the hostess’ black eye, leading him to dream that one day he could punch someone in the face for no discernible reason.
Hedaya said that Rife needs to take a step back and examine why such offensive jokes keep cropping up; she added that Rife appears too fragile when dealing with criticism, needing to “take some hits” as a comedian.
His Audience
Rife has been performing as a standup comedian for several years and has shared the stage with some of the industry’s biggest comedians. Additionally, he has appeared on various TV shows and is working on creating his own Netflix comedy special.
Uncertain reasons exist for his decision to offend his core audience by making jokes about domestic violence and related topics in his Netflix special, perhaps because of an insecurity about having predominantly female fans.
No matter the case may be, it was evident that his jokes were found offensive by his audience. Ironically, they happened at a time when global dialogue has focused on tolerance and acceptance – yet his remarks came as yet another example of “red pill” teenage boys who believe their humor only counts when it makes sexist or derogatory comments against vulnerable groups.