Matt Rife: Natural Selection

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?

As has been said with other reviews: you throw this guy into a room with 50 people with a natural back and forth and he will crowd work like few others can. He has an effortlessly quick wit and charm that seems natural for the stage. However, choreographing a long form special without the ability to crowd work ruins the formula he's famous for. That is not a knock on the guy, crowd work is as technical a skill as crafting a routine but Netflix, and its restrictions, is not where he shines. At least, not right now. I look forward to seeing how he develops as a comic over time and how his work matures but presently he seems to trying to hard to break the fake binds that a lot of present comics complain about. This odd lie that you can't have an edge to your jokes without being cancelled. You certainly can..... They just need to actually land as jokes.

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.

Love that guy on insta, his crowdwork is hilarious. I had high expectations from this and it was just meh. Very flat jokes, nothing really clever or funny on more levels. At some point i was questioning if this guy is really smart or just pretty face, because some of those jokes like from teen person. It was all very surprising to me. Not in a good way. I love dark, incorrect humor. I mean I am fan of Jimmy Car or Ricky Gervais and both are ahole, but this just didnt work at all. He sounded cocky and know it all, no respect, not humble, not relateable. And i dont care he mentioned he doesnt like when someone comment negatively on internet on something he is proud off. You can do better and you should know.

I can't tell you how disappointing this is my girlfriend and I really enjoy the clips of him we see on Instagram and I actually waited a full week so we can watch this together. I can't tell you how cringey and bad the special is. Granted I only made it about 20 minutes in so it could have improved markedly at some point but I highly doubt it. I swear to God I think we giggled at one thing in that period and it was only because it related to something we had just had a conversation about. I can't tell if the clips I see on Instagram are more about his ability to interact with the crowd which I think he's really good at but his jokes are just Bland and flat and appear to be just rehashed from other comedians. Beautiful is chiseled Jaw can only take him so far and I feel like this special was bad enough where he won't even get to implode like a Dane Cook at a later date. Truly absolute garbage from the start to well I guess not finish, but you know what I mean. I wasn't looking to hate here at all trust me I really thought this was going to be awesome I was pretty excited and what a let down.