Marc Maron is clearly not a fan of rising star comedian Matt Rife. The young comic is coming off a hot new special that did huge numbers for Netflix, but also sparked a wave of backlash thanks to Rife opening the set with a domestic violence joke. He then offered an “apology” that, instead, mocked the disabled by directing his detractors to a link for a special needs helmet.
During a New York Public Library talk to promote comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff’s new book, Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars, Maron fielded a question about Rife. He did not hold back his thoughts. Maron quickly coined a new nickname for Rife while dragging the young comedian for callously turning on the audience that he built during the pandemic as he rose to prominence on TikTok.
Via The Daily Beast:
“Well, first of all, like, don’t jump the gun on Matt Rife,” Maron replied. “If you don’t know who he is, he’s the new It Boy of sh*tty comedy. And he’s taken a big chance in his career right now to shit on the mostly female audience that he accumulated through social media to sort of kiss up to these pseudo edge lords. And personally, I don’t think it’s going to go well for him.”
Maron then noted that his producer drew an excellent comparison to Rife and Dane Cook, who had a similar meteoric rise that prompted other stand-ups to hone their craft while Cook relied on his all style, little substance approach. It also didn’t hurt that Rife has cited Cook as one of his major influences.
“My producer Brendan McDonald, the genius, made a good point in saying that he thinks that Matt Rife is actually mobilizing a new generation of comics to push back against what that stands for in much the way that Dane Cook did at a different time to once again, you know, be creative and bring a new energy and voice to what that doesn’t represent,” Maron said. “So, maybe within show business, there is hope.”
After realizing the talk would be posted online, Maron kinda felt bad about what Cook’s reaction might be.
“I forget this is going out on the Internet now,” Maron said before reportedly dropping an F-bomb. “And now I’m gonna have to deal with Dane calling me, ‘Hey, dude, I thought we were good.’ Hey, look, we’re all in the same business. We’re just trying to entertain people.”
(Via The Daily Beast)