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Matt Rife hands me a glass of chilled water. It is far more than a formality, this beverage. It’s downright gentlemanly. This is the very last of what was within his Brita, which he will refill who knows when, since the h2o in his creating was unexpectedly turned off. (There’s construction subsequent doorway he did not, like, neglect to spend his payments or anything.)
The lack of water is why Rife could not shower soon after operating out, which is why he didn’t meet me at the restaurant in which we experienced a reservation, which is why we are now in his pristine, West Elm-y apartment in Hollywood. Two scented candles are burning and there is a Louis Vuitton book on the coffee desk.
Since we’re presently jogging late, I set the water down on a marble coaster emblazoned with the letter M and soar suitable in.
“So, what do you want to talk about? Comedy or relationship?”
“Aren’t they the similar matter?” he suggests, not lacking a beat.
If you have arrive across Rife on Instagram (3.5 million) or TikTok (13.7 million), you know that he is swift. The clips that the 27-year-old stand-up comic posts from his live shows are mostly group do the job, showcasing lightning-fast banter that manages to also be a tiny sweet. In one conversation, he requested a lady who’d dealt with suicidal ideation not to set him “in her take note,” but only right after quietly and deftly asking if she was relaxed proceeding on the topic. In yet another, he carefully implied that a lady was autistic following complimenting a piece of enthusiast artwork she built for him. (If you are a girl who brought enthusiast art to one of his shows, sorry, but it didn’t make it to the fridge.)
Being regarded for your group work is a double-edged sword. “It’s continual yelling out at every single single exhibit,” he tells me now. He’s in gymnasium dresses, positive, but appears perfectly clear. I believe we could have satisfied at the restaurant, but I’ll soon come to see that this is not a dude who needs to feel underdressed, or underprepared. The yelling, he claims, “is always anyone who wants to be a aspect of the present and be a component of the up coming TikTok.” Audiences really do not comprehend that for each and every 10 minutes of crowd operate, Rife is undertaking 70 minutes of scripted jokes.
“I don’t want to article jokes that you are going to come see live the future 7 days,” he suggests. “That’s not good to you. And I have been fortunate more than enough to have the ability set and the potential that I can consistently pump out new information, but I’m not squandering just about anything.”
See what he did there? Took my problem about annoying hecklers and turned it into an possibility to be grateful, and also remind anyone how really hard he operates, out of regard for his audience? He does the very same when I talk to about his totally free time. “Honestly, I never have a working day off. I seriously don’t. It is exhausting,” he commences, just before pivoting back again to pure graciousness. “But you know what? I refuse to complain about it since even while I’m tired and I really do not have a moment to myself, and I never have time to slumber or what ever, I had several years of waking up each and every working day at 4 p.m. with practically nothing to do, and I was absolutely miserable.” Rife has the conscientious way of someone who was media skilled by the Disney Channel. Only he was not.
Raised by a widowed mother in the sticks (his phrase) of Ohio, Rife was 1 when his father died by suicide at 21 several years aged. His mother remarried when he was younger Rife has a 50 percent sister and a few stepsisters. He states that going away to college was not a norm for his friends, and that if stand-up failed to exist he’d most likely have joined the Military. Even though nonetheless a teen, he started enjoying “bringer” reveals, thought of the base feeders of the comedy ecosystem for creating performers pay out to play by bringing their individual audience. Then, at 21, he grew to become the youngest cast member on Wild ’n Out, hosted by Nick Cannon. He stayed for three seasons, honing a winking-at-stereotypes design and style of humor that at times operates afoul of comedy Twitter. (“I’ll apologize for remaining born a straight white male when LeBron James apologizes for getting 6-foot-9,” goes a new little bit. “Like absolutely sure he can do a f*cking windmill 360 dunk. And I can increase my voice to the law enforcement.”)
“I are not able to tell you how lots of instances someone has posted a little something striving to cancel me, or like, ‘Look how unfunny this online video is’ or what ever. And then I’ll get followers from it since men and women are likely, ‘Hey, which is truly not that negative,’” he says. He points out that Elvis utilized to offer “I Hate Elvis” merch. “I really don’t consider men and women recognize how much excellent they’re really carrying out by sh*tting on you.”
To wit: The 1st time I at any time noticed his do the job, it was a joke about becoming “gay fit” that someone posted on Twitter to connect with out how stereotypical it was. And now I’m staying paid out to converse to Rife, and I really do not try to remember who posted that clip.
“To be a perfect ‘Hollywood star,’ you have to sacrifice a good deal of own impression, and I would say dignity a very little bit.”
Then there is the way he appears to be. It is, objectively, excellent. His eyes are Taylor-Swift-could-produce-a-track-about-them-blue, his jaw cartoonishly ideal. He acquired his enamel finished following a few seasons on Wild ’n Out, according to his Instagram, and now individuals are ideal as well. His lips are pillowy. I under no circumstances describe nearly anything as pillowy, but there it is. They are. He’s downright really, which is kind of a rarity in the stand-up planet, exactly where gentlemen are inclined to get a lot more comedic mileage out of how poor they are with the opposite sexual intercourse, not how great they have it. I guess you perform with what you acquired.
“When the TikTok stuff and social media things commenced to blow up, [my audience] was absolutely, I’d say, 95% gals from 16 to 25, which is a pretty, quite potent enthusiast foundation,” he claims. “And I’m so grateful for it. They are very on-line. They are not always the most effective stand-up comedy audience customers. A great deal of the time they like my deal with a whole lot a lot more than my jokes, which is high-quality. It receives them in the door, and then with any luck , you retain them with the comedy.” He adds that since his specials arrived out, his fan base has began to even out a very little little bit.
Rife attracts a parallel to an additional viral sensation turned legit star: “Think about Justin Bieber when he to start with commenced out, he was 14, 15, 16, no matter what. Each person on the world went, ‘F*ck this dude. What a little twerp. His new music sucks. All these women like him for no explanation,’ simply because they’re jealous since he’s a sweet, youthful, handsome, gifted person. And then the more mature they get and the longer his music is out in the public, and the additional you are all over it, the extra you essentially start off to enjoy it. And now there’s a large amount of Justin Bieber male fans. So, you really do not want to have too significantly of a lady lover base since then guys loathe you.”
But if everyone who dislikes him is looking at this, I have negative information: You’re not gonna get below his skin. Like, ever.
“I really don’t know whose quotation it is exactly, but I’ve heard a lot of comics talk about it,” he claims. “‘If you think I’m amusing, you are appropriate. If you feel I’m not humorous, you are ideal.’ It is that uncomplicated.”
Immediately after Rife moved to Los Angeles, he auditioned relentlessly, inevitably landing credits on Brooklyn Nine-9 and Contemporary Off the Boat. But the breakthrough arrived when he hustled close to Hollywood gatekeepers, self-manufacturing two YouTube specials, both equally of which have racked up millions of views. By almost any metric, his job is getting off. And what’s he doing with his achievement? Not a sports activities motor vehicle or Jet Ski he’s acquiring his mother a residence. (His program, he explained to me, is to at some point purchase a further for his sister, and then one particular for himself). Now that the bigwigs who applied to convert him down are lastly getting his phone, Rife is at a crossroads. Does he do what is been doing work — be himself, choose it or depart it — or enjoy the fame match for a enormous prospective upside?
“I would say that to be a great ‘Hollywood star’… you have to sacrifice a lot of individual action and personalized viewpoint, and I would say dignity a tiny bit,” he says. “And I attempted to be that exact fantastic man or woman for the very first 9 years being in Los Angeles. I was like, ‘I want to be particularly what everybody desires me to be so I can be the most marketable, so individuals will want to set me on a Tv set show and I can be a great small actor angel, and all people will like me and every little thing will be pleased.’ But that didn’t come about, and I was not currently being myself. And it seriously took me finding to rock bottom in the feeling of owning very little — I wasn’t seriously selling tickets at displays, I was not finding solid in something — the place I was like, ‘OK, f*ck it.’” Then came the followers.
Not to push the double-edged sword point as well far, but Rife is keenly aware that to triumph as a comic is to produce a persona so convincing the audience thinks you are getting on your own. “I surely play into the naive, type of charmingly ignorant f*ckboi persona. Mainly because it’s a minimal bit of what people today count on, but it is also funny to participate in on. But at the stop of the day, I’m not really that man or woman.” He probably was that particular person when he was younger, he says. He feels an obligation to share something real about himself with his viewers, specifically at reside demonstrates. “But all over again, it’s the identical harmony of who do you want to be at the close of the working day? How much can you actually sacrifice?”
A single factor he’s had to sacrifice, logistically, is a dating daily life. Rife is well-known for his prime-shelf style in women of all ages — he was papped with Kate Beckinsale and shot his shot with Zendaya on Tv set — but he insists that he does not have a girlfriend. He claims he doesn’t even examine his Raya account. He’s also chaotic for DMs or hooking up immediately after demonstrates. “I just never have time. I’m on the brink of staying sick practically each day. Not in a cold form of way, but just becoming run-down. I don’t slumber. I slumber in all probability three hours a night, maybe. And then I’ve acquired fundamentally at the very least two reveals every single evening, I’d say six times a week at least. So, a great deal of moments I’ll get carried out with demonstrates. I’ll go again to my hotel, I’ll perhaps smoke a little little bit to unwind, and then I just edit for the next most likely hour and a 50 percent.” I believe that him. He canceled our initial job interview designs, a 7 days previously, simply because he was ill.
But if you’re below for dating-Matt-Rife strategies, here’s what I weaseled out of him. Initial, occur well prepared with a dark feeling of humor. “Had we been on a date and you produced a joke about my lifeless father, I would’ve been like, ‘You know what? You could be the just one, in fact.’ To have the balls to really go for it.” It possibly wouldn’t damage to dye your hair, due to the fact his formative crushes incorporate Frenchy from Grease and Paramore’s Hayley Williams. You ought to be Alright with performing a lot less for the duration of sexual intercourse. “It’s a personalized preference… I feel like I’m in all probability far more dominant in the bed room. Some men are the opposite.” And, at last, question for makeout tunes at your possess danger. His go-to tune is “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex.
“Swear to God, if I’m ever just building out with a woman and she’s like, ‘You want to participate in some new music or some thing?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah.’ I usually play it so clean,” he says. “Just simply because if I can make you snicker through sexual intercourse, that to me is as fantastic as [if] I produced you come. That to me is wholly even to my satisfaction.”
He promises he’d adore a girlfriend, and would adore a puppy even more, but travels also significantly to treatment for possibly. “I prioritized females a whole lot when I was younger, and I was in a lot of healthier and a large amount of unhealthy associations. But the two of them are equally time consuming. A balanced marriage, a whole lot of instances you are so satisfied that you prioritize it over points that you should be executing professionally… And often you are in a harmful romance where you’re like, ‘Hold on, I can not do this qualified point due to the fact I’m much too hectic preventing with my associate correct now.’”
Rife was well mannered plenty of not to appear at his cellular phone all through our dialogue, but now that our time is winding down, he checks it. A bunch of texts, skipped calls, and FaceTimes. “I’ve acquired to change my quantity. Another person leaked it.”
I ask about two motion picture rates tattooed on his still left arm. The very first is from f*ckboi pink-flag award winner Struggle Club, the other from, adorably, Grease. I present him my only ink, a little, très basic crescent moon on my wrist. The moment yet again, he’s speedy: “For the Shrek bathroom door?”
Rife puts my glass in the sink and throws a change of clothes into a duffel bag for the photograph shoot. I’m seeking all-around desperately for some final-minute “color” for this tale, but the apartment is so clean and practically gray. Is everyone fascinated to know there’s a stick of Palo Santo on the counter, a jug of protein powder atop the fridge, or some soccer trophies in the bed room?
Except…
I could have sworn I observed a huge bag of pet dog foods in the corner as we left. Which can make me consider there is a man or woman in his lifestyle who stays the evening in some cases, and she brings her pet with her. But it might have been something else, or explainable by some other circumstance. Regardless of what it is, it is something he’s not inclined to sacrifice.
Photographs by John Jay
Photo Director: Alex Pollack
SVP Innovative: Karen Hibbert
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