Matt Rife: Natural Selection

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.

I love Matt Fife on instagram and social, he is so funny and charming!.....but this wasn't funny. His opening 5 minutes was tearing down women and it wasn't funny it was just words. As was most of his act, rehearsing jokes that were funny in other settings but not stand alone. He definitely needs to feed off his crowd, he is so funny but this scripted stand up, lame. People know him from social and know he's funny so that will carry him a while, and his looks... but the kid should stick with small crowds he can engage. That is his thing, he's funny and on it. This stuff... um not so much. I will pass on anything else from him like 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?

What happened?? I was soo looking forward to this but halfway in and Im feeling so underwhelmed. Im a big fan of his but it is not what I expected. His jokes really fell flat, most gave a general nod but definitely not what I was expecting. He got religious very quickly, some of his "jokes" are offensive, and overall not up to par. Which is disappointing because his humor is usually pretty great when he interacts with the audience. But he doesnt do that. Instead he makes a couple of jokes that were good and the rest are horrible. No talking to the crowd at all, he took that away which is a big mistake. Thats really why people were interested in him in the first place. Giving comedy an edge and standing out. Matt-you really let your fans down; we expected more!!

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.