Matt Rife was so desperate to prove that he’s a manly man’s comedian that he opened his Netflix special with the oldest, tiredest domestic violence joke in the book.
Predictably, many of his female fans expressed their displeasure with the joke on social media, and rather than conceding that the joke was insensitive, or simply ignoring the conversation altogether, Rife answered his critics with a dismissive joke that appeared to mock the disability community. This only incited more disgust and anger, and probably cost Rife thousands of fans in the process. I just have to laugh.
If you’d heard of Rife, 28, before this special, it’s probably because his charming crowd-work videos kept popping up on TikTok, which is where he amassed his primarily female following, who left comments like “Matt rife rizz hits different” on his videos. Eventually his social media star rose high enough to get him a special on Netflix. Matt Rife: Natural Selection premiered last week on the streaming platform and soon shot to the number one spot on the list of most-watched TV shows. But Rife is not grateful to the women whose support launched him into Netflix-special-level success. Instead he’s resentful of them for giving people the impression that he’s a comedian for girls.
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In an effort to win some of that prized masculine attention, Rife began his big set with a little old-school misogyny, a joke about a hostess with a black eye. “And my boy, who I was with, was like, ‘Yeah, I feel bad for her, man. I feel like they should put her in the kitchen or something where nobody has to see her face,’” Rife said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye.’” Guffaw, I guess.
The idea that Rife is trying to change his brand isn’t a leap, by the way. Rife has literally said he doesn’t want to make comedy for women.
