According to Matt Rife, there are no rules about being sensitive in the comedy world and if there are, he’s calling “bulls—t.”
“I don’t really adhere to this whole sensitivity rumor in the comedy world that you can’t say anything anymore,” Rife, 28, told Variety in an interview published on Tuesday, November 14. “You can say whatever you want. Now, you have to prepare for repercussions. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to how do you sleep at night.”
In his first-ever Netflix special, Matt Rife: Natural Selection, Rife alluded to these comedy “rules” while addressing the crowd.
“Just testing the waters, just seeing if y’all are still fun,” he said in the trailer. “Just wanted to see, just wanted to see.”
Rife some taboo topics in the Netflix special, including “kids, religion, finding your dad’s porn,” per Variety, and he’s not worried about how people might react.
“Matt Rife: Natural Selection” Mathieu Bitton/Netflix
“Other people’s perspective of you isn’t your responsibility. So how can you sleep at night? The way I look at it is, as a comedian everything comes down to intent,” he explained. “I know for me, everything that leaves my mouth on stage is purely with the intention of making people laugh. It’s never any deeper, never any more or never any less than that. That’s all it is to me.”
The comedian is, admittedly, a fan of “dark humor” — especially when it comes to his comedy.
“I don’t believe there’s anything you can’t talk about if you do it correctly, in the right way, at the right time. At the end of the day, I think you need to just go out there,” he explained. “You have to be yourself and not worry about offending a certain amount of people. You might miss out on a joke that you’re worried might offend somebody but might make you a million new fans.”
“Matt Rife: Natural Selection” Mathieu Bitton/Netflix
He continued, “You don’t know what people are into and that’s why you have to go out there and do your comedy and just lay it all out there vulnerably to find your audience. You have to be willing to be vulnerable and do the jokes you want to tell in your voice, in your comedy, to figure out who likes your comedy.”
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In terms of who likes his comedy, Rife has been outspoken about his rabid female fanbase. He’s admitted that “women” are 100 percent the reason for his “immediate” success online. However, he’s now garnered a bigger male fanbase as well.
“Up until April of this year, it was like 90 percent women coming to these shows, which weren’t always for the right reasons,” he said during an appearance on the “Chicks in the Office” podcast earlier this month. “So they bring their boyfriends or husbands who are always reluctant. … And then, like 20 minutes into the show they realize my comedy is so much more for guys.”
Matt Rife: Natural Selection is now streaming via Netflix.