Comedy has changed over the decades, especially in how a wider audience perceives it. Seinfeld remained largely appropriate for many people in the 90s, and The Office changed things by including characters that made the occasional insensitive joke. Despite jokes that could be seen as inappropriate to some audiences, the shows were never going to face the possibility of widespread anger or cancellation. TV shows are less likely to face this than stand-up comedians as of late.
The epidemic of “dark humor” polarizes the online community nowadays, because no one seems to be able to define the point when dark humor is no longer funny.
Over the years, stand-up comedians have faced the dilemma of when a joke should not be said in front of an audience. Matt Rife, a twenty-eight-year-old comedian from Columbus, Ohio, is well-known for facing this struggle. Rife’s Netflix comedy special, Natural Selection, came out on the streaming site on November 15th, and the public labeled it controversial because of the initial content and lack of humor overall within mere hours of its release. Were they right to do so? Answers point to yes.
Rife made a joke about domestic violence early into his special, looking for laughs. It wasn’t funny when he said it, and his response to the criticism isn’t funny either. In response to hearing the public attempt to explain that maybe he, a grown man, should not be making jokes about domestic violence against women, Rife posted a link to his official “apology” on his Instagram story. The link led to a website where viewers could purchase helmets intended for children with disabilities.
The problem with Rife’s attempt at dark humor is that he lacks the personal experience and awareness of the subjects he turns into a laughing matter. Instead of using his own experiences, he punches down on other unsuspecting groups with shocking statements intended to be humorous.
Rife’s opening joke went a little something like this: “I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye,” which quickly upset viewers. This shouldn’t be surprising, as he spends an unfortunately large amount of the special looking down on women for their interests as well. Rife has a history of poking fun at women and minorities and refuses to change his jokes even after facing backlash.
Matt Rife’s flailing career was saved by TikTok in mid-2022 when he blew up due to his crowd work. Up until this point, Rife had been vying for celebrity status since he began a stand-up career before even graduating high school. But now the internet has turned on him, and rightfully so. Just as quickly as he gained overnight fame, he’s taken a brutal hit. Besides his dark jokes, Rife has a history of being a mediocre comedian, hence his decade-long attempt to reach fame. Even fans of Rife admit that they didn’t like his special either.
Recently, Rife has been open about his hope that more men will find his comedy funny, mainly creating jokes to appeal to a male audience and alienating the women who originally found him attractive and funny for a handful of jokes. This goes as a warning for people getting their fame off of TikTok, or any other social media app: being pretty will only get you so far if you have an unappealing personality.