Matt Rife admits NBC's 'Bring the Funny' is the hardest thing he has ever done in his career so far
NBC’s ‘Bring the Funny’ has rounded up some of the funniest comedians of the country to figure out who can consistently make the audience and judges laugh. Among the frontrunners, is stand-up comedian Matt Rife, who is best known for his performances at The Laugh Factory in LA and his performance on Nick Cannon’s MTV improv show ‘Wild ‘N Out.’
The 24-year-old has been a comedian for 8 years now and has been hustling for all these years, and his fans are ever-growing. However, the kind of exposure that ‘Bring the Funny’ has given him is unparalleled. Speaking to MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) Rife tells, “This is my first nationally televised, primetime network stand-up debut because I haven’t done anything with Comedy Central or Netflix or any of the ‘Late Night’s or anything yet.”
Interestingly, his fan base and the ‘Bring the Funny’ audience overlap quite a bit. “[The show] has a lot of Midwest viewers, a lot of east coast viewers, a lot of Southern viewers... That is mainly my touring market anyway. So, those audiences that tune in to the show - if they like me - will want to come to see me on the road.”
Propelling his touring with the show does not come all that easy though, with Rife confirming that his performance on the show is most possibly “the hardest thing he has ever had to do in his entire career so far.” As someone who has perfected the art of delivering story-based materials on the stage, the show has forced him to come out of the box, and immerse himself topic-based routines.
“I am starting to grow into more of a topical discussion… I am talking about real things going on in the world, like jokes that have meaning to them, not just random premise, set and a punch line…,” he says further elaborating on how his elaborate five to seven-minute bits have all been cut down to fit into the time formatting of ‘Bring the Funny.’
Beyond this, he has had to clean up a lot of his materials, especially as a “not particularly clean” comedian performing on NBC, whose practices are “very, very strict.”
Rife has certainly managed to outperform himself every week despite these challenges and we cannot wait to see more of him on the show.
Don’t forget to watch new episodes of NBC’s ‘Bring the Funny’ at 10 pm on Tuesdays.
Rife is also going on the road soon, and you can watch him live September 13-15th weekend, where he will be performing at Laughs Unlimited in Sacramento and Dayton, Ohio on September 22nd and at Stand-up New York in NYC on November 7th and 8th.