He’s the scandal-prone comedian who stirred controversy after cracking jokes about domestic violence.
And Australian fans appear to have cooled on Matt Rife, 28, as the American TikTok star continues the Down Under leg of his ProbleMATTic world tour.
A woman who attended one of Rife’s local shows took a swipe at the funnyman in a scathing review on Facebook gossip page Tea Time on Tuesday, describing his set as ‘unfinished’ and ‘watered down’.
The reviewer said that Rife was initially met with roars of enthusiasm, but fans quickly turned against him as he carried on with his hour-long set.
‘I’m unsure how comedians work, if it’s new material… but this seemed unfinished or watered down,’ the fan wrote.
Scandal-prone American comedian Matt Rife, 28, (pictured) has been criticised for delivering an ‘underwhelming’ and ‘unfinished’ standup set during the Australian leg of his ProbleMATTic world tour
They continued: ‘His jokes weren’t landing like usual. The crowd was 2000 people and were overall pretty mellow.’
While the commenter empathised that ‘tours can be challenging’, she couldn’t help but note how poorly Rife’s set landed on the night.
‘When the show ended we were all walking out and people were not hyped. People were yelling out that it wasn’t good and what they thought it would be,’ she said.
A woman who attended one of Rife’s local shows took a swipe at the funnyman in a scathing review on Facebook gossip page Tea Time on Tuesday
The post received a number of angry responses from anti-Rife users.
‘Well that’s your problem, you support Matt Rife,’ messaged on user.
‘I would rather go and watch a used tampon be thrown against a wall a bunch of times than see that guy Matt live,’ another wrote.
‘I’m unsure how comedians work, if it’s new material… but this seemed unfinished or watered down,’ the fan wrote
Rife has been performing a string of shows across Australia this month, including concerts in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
Rife, who has amassed 18 million TikTok fans, recently stoked controversy when he made a sexist joke about domestic abuse as part of his Netflix comedy special, Natural Selection, which was filmed in Washington, D.C. and released on the streaming platform in November.
He kicked off the controversial quip with a comparison between the American capital and its largest nearest city – Baltimore.
‘I’ve only been to Baltimore one time, and the hostess who seats you had a black eye – a full black eye,’ Rife told the crowd. ‘It wasn’t like, ‘What happened?’ It was pretty obvious what happened.
‘And my boy, who I was with, was like, ‘Yeah, I feel bad for her, man, I feel like they should put her in the kitchen or something where nobody has to see her face.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye.”
He later appeared to apologise for the joke telling his followers: ‘If you’ve ever been offended by a joke I’ve told, here’s a link to my official apology.’
But the link was for a website that sells ‘special needs helmets,’ sparking additional furor over his apparent ableist remark.
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