August 29, 2024 1:53 pm• Last Updated: August 29, 2024 1:53 pm
By Nate Jackson, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles — Shortly after becoming the youngest stand-up comedian in history to sell out the Hollywood Bowl during the second installment of Netflix is a Joke in May, Matt Rife’s tireless pursuit of success finally caught up to him.
His performance schedule clocking 40 to 50 shows a month led to a stretch of consecutive days without sleep as he stayed up prepping for shows, editing social videos and barreling from city to city. Though his body and mind were getting shaky on tour, he fought through it.
Finally, just before a recent pair of shows in Indiana, he said he almost collapsed while leaving his hotel room and was forced to cancel the gigs just hours before showtime. Suffering blurred vision and painful ringing in his ears, he could barely walk or talk and had to be taken to the emergency room.
“I felt like I was legitimately dying,” Rife said during an interview at the Kookaburra Lounge in Hollywood. “It’s embarrassing, man, because everybody around me saw this coming.” His piercing blue eyes cast down briefly at the floor as he thought about the moment he almost pushed himself past his limits. “Everybody’s only response was, ‘Can’t believe this didn’t happen sooner.’”
Since that episode, Rife said he’s spent considerable time finding a balance that allows him to sleep and to pursue his dreams.
His latest project, “Lucid: A Crowd Work Special,” which recently premiered on Netflix, is a new hour where he interacts directly with his fans, talking to them about their own dreams, fears and future aspirations. Though the goal of course is laughter, Rife said the special is about finding ways to relate to his fans through dialogue in a real, meaningful way and also remind himself to appreciate his own success.
“The concept of dreams in general was just something that was so special to me, because I am so lucky that I get to finally live my biggest dream, being this moment that I’m having right now,” he said. “And I know so many other people strive for that, not necessarily in comedy specifically, but everybody has something that they’re chasing.”
During the special, he singles out members of the audience to talk about where they were in chasing their dream gigs or analyzing their goals — and yes, crack jokes and roast them a bit for our enjoyment.
Though this isn’t his first crowd-work special (see 2023’s “Walking Red Flag”), it’s a definite budget upgrade from a single camera set-up. The new Netflix production shows Rife at the peak of his powers, sparking spontaneous humor out of the fans who packed into the Comedy Zone in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Rife is known for crowd work, and he thinks he does it at a higher level. “It’s something that’s just fun and exciting for me,” he said. “These are moments that are never going to be duplicated at any other show I ever do. … When you’re rehearsing your set, building the material on a show for an hourlong, material special, you can definitely get tired of telling your own jokes.”
For a comic who once struggled to sell tickets for weeknight shows at big-city comedy clubs, the rush of fame over the last couple of years feels surreal. “When I started doing comedy, this was never even a dream of mine to be at this level. I was just like, if I could ever sell out a comedy club one time ever, that’s the epitome of what I think a comedian probably could be,” he said.
Humility aside, there’s no shortage of both love and hate on the internet for Rife. Since going viral on TikTok in 2022, he’s has become a fixture in pop culture, frequently making headlines for whom he’s dating, what house he’s buying or whatever backlash he’s stirred up for jokes that strike some as sexist and misogynistic.
But negative feedback hasn’t had much of an effect on his tour numbers. To date, he and Taylor Swift are the only two artists who command enough of a feeding frenzy to break Ticketmaster when announcing a tour. The argument over whether his fame is a result of his movie-star looks or his talent is well worn at this point, yet few seem to factor in the breakneck pace at which Rife and his team operate to keep his momentum going.
Fellow comedian Erik Griffin, who directed “Lucid” as well as Rife’s previous specials including 2023’s “Matthew Steven Rife” and his Netflix debut, “Natural Selection,” has worked with the young star since Rife was just a teen who was hitting Griffin up online looking for a chance to open for the veteran comic onstage.
“What I admire about him is his work ethic,” Griffin said. “Nothing was handed to him. He’s been working hard for 12 years now, the fan base has just caught up with it, and they’ve made him super famous.”
