Matt Rife: Lucid - A Crowd Work Special

The reviews here are too negative in my opinion. It wasn't the greatest comedy special I've ever seen on netflix, but it definitely had me laughing more than most of the specials that pop up on my feed. Yes, the audience felt a little like it was hand-picked for a crowd work special, and some of the more wacky stories distract from the fact that Matt can find the humor in more mundane details, but it was still funny and Matt still managed to find humor and make quick jokes that I definitely wouldn't be able to think of. Some of the reviews here almost scared me off, so after watching it I figured I'd come add my own.

I will admit I only lasted about 15 minutes. The first bit with the mother-daughter seemed totally staged. It had to have been staged and that just seems like cheating and a gimmick. I really like him in his short videos and he does sell out. Tried to get tickets to see him while he was in Maine. They even had to add a couple of shows because they sold out so quickly. But maybe he sticks to his own material and doesn't do crowd work. There's no way you can convince me that that mother and daughter were not planted there. This just absolutely no way it's believable so for that reason I turned it off and came here to leave a review.

I went into this today ready to laugh as I usually do when watching his crowd work on the internet short videos. Of course, sometimes he makes me uncomfortable and sometimes really uncomfortable. Still, I wanted to watch and laugh. And I did a few times. And I was really uncomfortable a few times. But mainly, I was ready for it to be over because I found it very limiting. The idea of dreams as the focal point of his entire show just stifled anything that went beyond that box he put his show in. It went beyond a few times, yes. But I really think I would have enjoyed a pure stand up routine instead of all crowd work. He's funny and personable, but this time it just didn't completely work for me.

Compared to what I've seen on Tik-Tok, this crowd work special wasn't good. Many of the "jokes" weren't laughable and members of the audience seemed like they were falling asleep.

I mean, I like him as a comedian, but this special wasn't for me. Plus, wearing his own merch seemed weird to me. It seems like he's trying to hard to be liked. I'm not sure what his full show is like, but just going off of this, it seems pretty lackluster. Dry humor sometimes doesn't work for people.

My rating this a 2/5 stars is because I couldn't even make it 15 minutes into it. Plus, all of the cursing! Too much of the F-Bomb.

We've been fans of Matt for like 5 or 6 years now. He has done amazing Crowd work over the years. But the special fell flat. It was horrible crowd work I thought. I think the problem was he trying to have a theme, dreams, and it just did not work. It was not spontaneous ...it just didn't work. Crowd work has to be spontaneous. (jennifer kirson) Over the years he's done amazing crowd work. But to do a show about crowd work. With little edits, then you're put on the spot. Maybe editing would of it made a better? I don't know. But I do know we love Matt rife, we always will, he's very talented, this special just fell short I felt.