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Jamie Foxx had Netflix’s most-viewed comedy special for the back half of 2024 with What Had Happened Was…, the streamer shared on Wednesday.

The revelation came as part of Netflix’s biannual “What We Watched” report. Foxx’s traction with the special is no surprise, given that it gave the first in-depth window into a severe health scare he experienced in April 2023, while filming Netflix’s recently unveiled action comedy Back in Action in Atlanta.

While not globally available, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was… notched 13,300,000 hours viewed between its December 10 premiere date and end of year, coming in as the 119th most-viewed TV program during this period.

Matt Rife came in second place with Lucid – A Crowd Work Special, which premiered in August and went on to generate 8,700,000 hours viewed. He placed 171st on the overall TV list, after breaking out as Netflix’s top comic in the second...

The new Netflix comedy special Matt Rife: Lucid - A Crowd Work Special is the first of its kind. As Netflix's first-ever crowd work special, comedian Matt Rife, who gained a massive social media following particularly for his crowd work skills as a stand-up comedian, took on the challenge of essentially improvising his entire set, feeding off the input and responses of the live audience to make up the entirety of the 54-minute special. Matt Rife: Lucid - A Crowd Work Special is Rife's second Netflix comedy special following the release of his hour-long Matt Rife: Natural Selection special released in 2023.

Matt Rife was born in September 1995 and will turn 29 in 2024. He is from a small village town in Ohio called North Lewisburg, which has a population of less than 1500 people. Rife currently has 8.4 million followers on Instagram and 19.1 million followers on TikTok, which is where the comedian initially gained international appeal and success.

Comedian Matt Rife is returning to Netflix with his second special for the streamer this week, this time focused entirely on crowd work. Who knows what “Lucid” will be?

Well, you might have an idea if you watched his first crowd work special “Walking Red Flag,” which Rife released on YouTube last year. To date, it has more than 13 million views. But “Lucid” will be his first crowd work special with Netflix, as part of a two-special deal.

Last November, Netflix released “Matt Rife: Natural Selection,” which pulled more 10.3 million views in its first two weeks on the streamer, and led to said deal.

Of course, that special drew quite a bit of criticism, as he opened his set with a joke about domestic abuse. When called out for it, the comedian opted not to apologize, but instead posted a link to a site that sells safety helmets for people with special needs.

We’re all in this together. That’s the basic premise behind Matt Rife’s upcoming Netflix comedy special, where he’ll get up close and personal with his audience for a full hour of crowd work. “I want you guys to be aware you are equally as at fault for how this goes as I am,” he tells his fans.

Filmed at The Comedy Zone in Charlotte, North Carolina, Matt Rife: Lucid - A Crowd Work Special is Rife’s second Netflix special following the release of Matt Rife: Natural Selection in November 2023. While this is Netflix’s first ever crowd work special, Rife is no stranger to working the audience. In 2023, the comedian released Walking Red Flag, another crowd work special, on YouTube, which amassed more than 13 million views — and apparently a few haters. In his upcoming special, Rife mocks the people who believe his stand-up style is...

Updated, 2:12 p.m.: After making the last-minute move to postpone two Indiana shows due to what he called “a last minute medical emergency,” comedian Matt Rife has elected to take a two-week hiatus from touring due to health issues, Deadline has learned.

According to a message sent out by the Chicago Theater and the Ryman Auditorium, venues where Rife had scheduled upcoming dates, “On the way to a recent show in Indiana, Matt experienced extreme exhaustion symptoms and nearly fainted heading to the venue. Matt is currently under advisement from his medical team to take immediate time off from touring for two weeks.”

As a result, Rife’s shows scheduled for these venues will be rescheduled, as the Indiana dates were. Those unable to attend the new dates will be offered a refund.

For Rife, the last year has been a whirlwind. He’s been on the road...

Netflix released over a dozen stand-up specials in the second half of last year and Matt Rife was the most-watched.

Matt Rife: Natural Selection, which was released in November, was watched for 13.5M hours. This was above specials from the likes of Shane Gillis, Tom Segura and Mike Birbiglia as well as Ricky Gervais, Trevor Noah and Dave Chappelle (although the latter three launched theirs very late in December).

On the back of that special, Rife has been signed up for two further specials and is now developing a sitcom at the streamer.

Netflix has dominated the stand-up scene for some time now and recently launched the second iteration of its Netflix Is A Joke festival, where it had many of the biggest names in comedy across LA for two weeks.

The streamer is starting to find itself with some competition after Hulu announced it was going to compete with the rival streamer for specials.

Comedian Matt Rife will be welcoming the new year by continuing his ProbleMATTic Tour.

For most of January, Rife will be in Australia cracking jokes for his fans but the very end of January will find the 28-year-old back in the States. On January 31, Rife has a scheduled show in Schenectady, New York. He will be touring around North America before he goes to Europe in September.

This is the most extensive comedy tour Rife has done yet, with more than 100 dates scheduled. The ProbleMATTic Tour began in July this year and isn’t set to end until October 2024.

Rife made a name for himself in the world of comedy when he became increasingly popular on social media, particularly TikTok. Last month, he released his first Netflix special, Matt Rife: Natural Selection.

The Netflix special caused controversy, though, as many were offended by his domestic violence joke.

During one of his shows in Florida,...

The final season of The Crown got off to a slower start in Nielsen’s streaming rankings — which might have something to do with the fact that Netflix released only a part of the season.

The Emmy-winning drama was the most watched show on streaming for the week of Nov. 13-19, but its 943 million minutes of viewing was less than half of that for season five’s opening (2.13 billion minutes) a year ago. It’s worth noting that Netflix released just four of The Crown’s final 10 episodes on Nov. 16 rather than the full season; the remaining six debuted Dec. 14 (and, because of the four-week lag for Nielsen’s streaming charts, watch time figures for those episodes won’t be public until mid-January).

The Crown was the only original series in Nielsen’s overall top 10. David Fincher’s Netflix movie The Killer finished 10th with 557 million minutes of viewing, but...

“Matt Rife: Natural Selection” is a special stand-up comedy with Matt Rife. It’s directed by Erik Griffin.

He’s handsome, very, very handsome. And, moreover, he knows it and, to top it off, he takes advantage of it. As he steps onto the stage, the outlandish screams of his fans (mostly female) reverberate in a setting where he appears, Matt Rife, with his brilliant blue eyes and perfect face to captivate everyone with his show.

Our friend has something for everyone and all tastes, and it seems that his loyal audience doesn’t mind when he uses irony whereas he disdains the younger generation for being ignorant and adores (albeit with irony) the elderly.

Well, comparing Michael Jackson to an Asian woman was quite funny, let’s admit it.

Matt delivers his “roguish” discourse with intelligence and irony, making us realize that, deep down, it’s all a character...