Netflix has developed a strong reputation for their stand-up comedy specials, not only paying huge names for exclusive material but giving up-and-coming stars a gigantic audience to prove themselves in front of.
Well, now a stand-up comedy star who just two years ago was sleeping in dirt-cheap motels between gigs can call himself the current King of Netflix. As per FlixPatrol, Matt Rife‘s new stand-up comedy special Natural Selection is currently number one in the domestic Netflix charts (and also in the U.K. and Australia).
Rife’s profile has steadily risen over the past few years, though his 2022 “The Lazy Hero” TikTok clip saw his career skyrocket, resulting in millions of followers, and a series of sold-out shows that were in such demand they crashed the Ticketmaster website.
Natural Selection was shot at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. and sees Rife launching himself into some killer material about social media trolling, his childhood fears and the horror of finding out his dad’s porno habits.
Speaking to Variety, Rife discussed partnering with Netflix:
“To have somebody come from another level to be like, “Hey, we like what you’re doing. We like what you’ve done for yourself. We want to invite you to work with us.” It feels warm. It feels inviting. Netflix has been great about the entire creative process. They’ve given me the freedom to keep telling the jokes I want to tell and shoot things the way I want to shoot them.”
Numbers like this will cement Rife’s place in stand-up comedy, and we expect Netflix will want to lock down this golden goose as quickly as possible. Expect more stand-up specials from Rife on Netflix in the very near future.
Matt Rife: Natural Selection is currently streaming on Netflix.