With the increase in specials on Netflix and the plethora of comedian-hosted
podcasts, it's really hard for me to see any comic who's the subject of a piece
like this as really 'cancelled.' YT pushes a lot of comics' shorts and other
content in my direction, including Gillis and Rife. Rife seems to (much like
Cook) get by a lot on his looks, and Gillis appears to have a home in the
sizeable orbit of Joe Rogan and similarly focused comedians.
While a Saturday Night Live job isn't nothing, there are plenty of other ways
for comics to make a living for me to think that this isn't much more than a
lot of posturing. In other words, I'm pretty sympathetic to Maron's
perspective in the linked piece.
What's left of a mainstream stopped paying that much attention to stand-up, and
I think it's doing well enough without it.
David
On Sunday, December 10, 2023 at 05:19:41 PM PST, Steve Timko
<[email protected]> wrote:
Matt Rife’s Netflix comedy special is being vilified for misogyny.I didn’t care
much until Marc Maron’s sounded off on it during a discussion withKliph
Nesteroff. The Daily Beast covered it in a story: Marc Maron Sounds Offon ‘New
It Boy of Shitty Comedy’ Matt Rife
https://www.thedailybeast.com/marc-maron-sounds-off-on-new-it-boy-of-shitty-comedy-matt-rife
That got my attention. The article said it’s one of the most-watched comedy
specials on Netflix.
I decided a week or so ago to watch it and report about itto the group. I
watched the first 15 minutes or so. And now, a week later, Idecided I’m not
going to finish it. Not because it’s offensive. Because it’snot funny.
Rife got a following through social media. Maybe those bitsare funny. I haven’t
watched them. His Netflix special is just clunker afterclunker, at the “pull my
finger” level. You could take just about any othercomedian who has a Netflix
special and film them doing crowd work and it wouldbe funnier.
Spoiler alert: Here’s the joke at the beginning of hisspecial that caused the
most outrage. A restaurant hostess is serving him. Shehas a black eye. Rife
said of course she has to be hostess, because if shecould cook she wouldn’t
have the black eye.
It’s an old joke. Rife is telling a street joke in hisNetflix special. Whatever
skills polished comedians have in telling jokes, Rifedoesn’t have them. I’ve
written earlier about Dave Chapelle telling jokes thatborder on being offensive
or cross the line. But Chapelle has talent, improvingthe joke with his delivery
and his energy. Rife is flapping around on stagelike a carp out of water.
A few jokes later, he’s talking about women and astrology. Idon’t remember the
exact joke, but he says in talking to a woman and thedifference between Jupiter
and her is that Jupiter has a ring and she doesn’t. Jupiter?A ring? You mean
Saturn? Jupiter actually does have a ring, but it takes sophisticatedequipment
to see it. Saturn is the planet best known for its ring. Anyone with abackyard
telescope can see it.
The Netflix special has strong audience laughter to hisjokes. I wonder how much
of this has been sweetened. Then again, he was a hiton social media. Maybe
there are crowds that dig this kind of humor and Netflixwas right to give him a
platform, at least from a business perspective.
There’s another comedian who was canceled because of hisjokes. Shane Gillis was
picked to join the cast of “Saturday Night Live.” Hegot unpicked after his
jokes on a podcast were deemed racist and homophobic. He’smaking something of a
comeback, I guess. He has a special on YouTube, which Ihaven’t watched. But
I’ve seen clips on his stuff on TikTok and he seems funny.Unlike Rife, he knows
how to tell a joke.
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