Comedian Matt Rife went from being a “I’ve seen that guy” TV personality to streaming stand-up royalty in recent years, thanks in part to his massive TikTok popularity and his reputation as a politically incorrect comic. (Not to mention for being Kate Beckinsale’s smack-talking younger paramour for a bit.) His latest streaming release, Matt Rife: Lucid - A Crowd Work Special, is already wildly popular for fans with Netflix subscriptions, but he’s aware of those who are most critical of his past efforts, and has at least two words to say to them.
Speaking with THR about his biggest critics and that most controversial of audiences members, the heckler, Rife didn’t exactly hold back in sharing thoughts about others’ negativity. As he put it:
OK, boom, here’s your headline: Fuck the Haters. (Laughs.) Like, I hear about what [they] say, and I think it’s so funny — and it’s pretty obvious the stereotypes of people who don’t like me, and that’s totally fine. I have no problem with people not liking me. Cool. Stay as far away from me as possible because I make a lot of people very happy, and that means the world to me, and you don’t know how badly those people need to be made happy. So, yeah, for me, it was just an opportunity to comedically and creatively take a jab back because it doesn’t matter how good Lucid is, I could win an Emmy for it, and they’d still say it’s trash. And I try not to give haters the time of day, but I was like, OK, here’s one little opportunity to get in my licks, I suppose.
For clarity, it’s not as if stand-up comedy audiences suddenly started spewing vitriol apropos of nothing, as Matt Rife caught flak after his 2023 special Natural Selection for jokes about domestic violence and other controversial topics. He drew more of a backlash after responding to the initial criticisms with a fake apology that made light of those with disabilities. So it’s not as if he’s been blindsided by those wishing for more politically correct jokes.
But as it goes with the vast majority of stand-up comics, Rife has found an audience that thrives on his off-the-cuff and often dark humor, as it’s one that doesn’t take everything he says at face value. And he’d obviously much rather cater to that crowd than attempt to win over those whom he thinks would hate on him even if he was responsible for all of Netflix’s funniest stand up comedy specials.
That said, even those who willingly shell out money to attend his live shows can be less than ideal, and heckling has always been an unpredictable hassle for those taking the stage. Which is how a special like Lucid even came about, with Rife sharing the spotlight with those in the audience as a way to ward off random comments hollered out at inopportune times. But even though he's still a young talent without decades of experience under his belt, he's as quick as can be when it comes to flipping a random outburst into a laugh.
Below, he explains his thought process for handling hecklers:
People do yell out sometimes because they expect or want to be the person who gets spoken to, and then I’m kind of forced to entertain it. And this is the thing: People will disrupt a show, which is a bad thing, but then because I’m good at it, I turn it into a good thing, and then they’re rewarded for doing a bad thing. But if I just scold them or I don’t turn it into something funny, then I look like I can’t handle a heckler or I can’t think quickly on my feet. So, I’m kind of forced to rise to each occasion, and most of the time it ends up being something wonderful, and we get a good moment out of it for the show, and the whole audience appreciates it. But I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times that people do ruin a moment of the show.
While heckling can be one of the most annoying elements of any live performance, someone yelling is obviously a lot less dangerous than anyone trying to run up on the stage for any reason. And the practice of banning cell phone use at comedy shows has hopefully thrwarted many would-be interrupters from acting out, without any way to publicize their disruptive behavior online.
For those who haven't yet watched, Matt Rife: Lucid - A Crowd Work Special is available to stream along with Natural Selection, and fans can look forward to even more big stand-up shows hitting the rest of Netflix's 2024 schedule.
