Matt Rife: Natural Selection

Okay, I have laughed too hard with this guy on TikTok too many times but this is really bad, the first 20 minutes can easily make you turn it off, and beyond that it gets better but it's still bad.

I can accept that some comedians can only shine in a smaller an warmer crowd, but I can't imagine someone writing this script and thinking "this will do well". The stories are so long, uninteresting, and barely believable, and by the time the joke hits you're just sitting there with a straight face. By the 40 minute mark you'll just be waiting for it to end.

It's better that they stop promoting this and then try a second time next year, because I don't think many people will be watching a second special if they watch this.

Having watched him on social media and seen his funny clips, I was surprised that there was a lot of backlash against this show, much of it about certain jokes that some said were misogynist. So, I decided to look and see.

The jokes many claim were misogyny were rather tame compared to much of the harder hitting comedians out there, and I'd use Dave Chapelle as a comparison as he's said way worse about practically everybody in my view, as have many British comedians.

The problem with Matt Rife's Netlfix special is it starts with a standing ovation, which is really odd and scripted it seems. Then he speaks and I didn't recognise him as the same person because he seemed to be doing an impersonation of the dudes in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, where every second word is dude and everything is rad. It's simply embarrassing to watch as he's trying to be something he's not: ghetto and hood.

The nerves were evident and he wasn't natural or relaxed and probably had too much expectation placed on him by the audience, producers and most likely himself. If he's going to recover from this, he should do what he does well and rip the hell out of himself for this dud of a performance. And drop being a dude, dude?

This unfortunately fell short with me. I have been a fan on Matt Rife's for a while now but unfortunately seeing this special turned out to be not special at all.

Matt Rife has made a real name for himself via social media and his crowd work which is phenomenal and some of the best I have seen as of late.

In this special it's focussed on his actual set and not his crowd work as obviously crowd work completely differs from show to show but your general set does not.

At the end of this special you see quick clips of Matt Rife doing his crowd work after his set has finished and in those short clips is where you can see the audience laughing the loudest.

We want to see you engaging with your audience.

All in all looking forward to seeing how Matt does progress as a comedian.

Oh Matt..

All that momentum and hype and you crash and burn. This special proved why Netflix probably does not give opportunities to comedians who are huge on YouTube.

My expectations were much higher for Matt Rife, this guy was relatable, had jokes you could understand but still keep things modern enough that they don't feel like the same old thing every other comedian tries.

Unfortunately the jokes were dry, punchlines did not really land and the opening was incredibly weak. No one really enjoys listening to bland jokes about women being in the kitchen, their biological clock and old men telling stories.

Matt can do better, I have no doubt, but he needs to go back to the drawing board and understand shorts and special are different.

This special was poorly paced, poorly structured and filled with bland jokes that did not land.

I've heard lots of comedians talk about taking one year to write and perfect their special, I've heard them talk about how to approach controversial topics, or for example - when is too soon.

A general consensus is that you'll be forgiven for a lot, if you're funny.

Sorry Matt, this is simply not funny.

The jokes went way too long, didn't deliver, highlighted your youth and inexperience, and sounded clueless and immature.

Bummer. Let's see if you can recover from this one.

Maybe now is the time to look inward instead of double-downing on the stupidity & childishness.

It is simply: not funny.