There’s no doubt that Matt Rife: Lucid – A Crowd Work Special shows off the stand-up comedian’s talent, but that’s a problem in itself.
In his previous Netflix special, Matt Rife made a sarcastic comment about his “crowd work.” He was displeased that comments on social media alluded to his talents only extending to crowd work and that he cannot do a complete set. In this special, he makes the same point at the end, too. It’s clearly something that irks him.
And ironically, I was not impressed with his first special because it was not good. I expected more. There was not a lot of audience engagement, and Matt looked very uncomfortable with it. He appears to thrive off having conversations with people and reacting accordingly.
You see, I learned about Matt Rife because of his success on social media. His crowd work and ability to gain female attention were an algorithm’s dream. Soon, my TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts were filled with Matt seamlessly riffing with the audience. He was known for that, and that’s what earned his reputation in stand-up.
But somehow, he’s made this into a complex, personal puzzle, battling with his internal ego. Crowd work is a skill. Not every comedian can do it effectively, but it’s seen as something that must be practiced. It’s like a sport for a comedian. I love Taylor Tomlinson, and when I saw her live, she struggled with working with the crowd. She had an off night. I’ve never seen her complain that the audience recognizes her for specific talents, but maybe that’s because there’s a recognition that she’s multi-talented.
So when I watched Lucid – A Crowd Work Special, I became even more confused. Matt Rife is both a brand and a person. The brand understands its USP, but the person has a problem with it. They are fighting each other despite their elevated success.
There doesn’t need to be any internal battle, at least not publicly. This Netflix special is the Matt Rife I know. He effortlessly navigates the audience, and it almost becomes a hilarious group therapy session.
The theme of Lucid is dreams. He wants to know who in the audience has a big dream, who has achieved it, who is reaching for it, and who has failed. It’s a brilliant subject because it allows Matt to naturally tap into each person on an emotional level. People love talking about themselves, and he uses that to his advantage.
And time does fly when Matt is having fun. His ability to push a boundary and poke away at someone is one of the best in the game. Matt is always a sentence away from truly annoying an audience member, and he knows that. His comedic intuition is unparalleled. He knows exactly what he’s doing.
This is undoubtedly a better Netflix special than his first, awkward one. Seeing how much the audience adores him while being embarrassed by him is one of the reasons why we all learned about him on TikTok in the first place.
So, I’m unsure what to say or think of Matt Rife at this point. He’s excellent at crowd work. Whether he’s great at a full set without audience engagement will need to be answered another time. But I don’t understand why it needs to be a debate that he’s fronting. He’s mentioned it twice now in two specials. Nearly every successful stand-up comedian is known for something unique. He should embrace that he’s good at crowd work, but I suspect pride will get in the way.
