Matt Rife fingers me a glass of chilled h2o. It is more than a formality, this beverage. It’s downright gentlemanly. This is the previous of what was within his Brita, which he will refill who knows when, because the drinking water in his setting up was unexpectedly turned off. (There is construction upcoming doorway he did not, like, fail to remember to fork out his payments or just about anything.)

The absence of drinking water is why Rife could not shower following performing out, which is why he did not meet up with me at the restaurant where we experienced a reservation, which is why we are now in his pristine, West Elm-y condominium in Hollywood. Two scented candles are burning and there is a Louis Vuitton reserve on the espresso table.

Because we’re now working late, I established the water down on a marble coaster emblazoned with the letter M and bounce correct in.

“So, what do you want to communicate about? Comedy or dating?”

“Aren’t they the similar detail?” he states, not lacking a beat.

If you have appear throughout Rife on Instagram (3.5 million) or TikTok (13.7 million), you know that he is brief. The clips that the 27-calendar year-old stand-up comic posts from his reside reveals are mostly group function, showcasing lightning-fast banter that manages to also be a very little sweet. In one interaction, he requested a lady who’d dealt with suicidal ideation not to place him “in her be aware,” but only just after quietly and deftly inquiring if she was relaxed proceeding on the subject. In a different, he gently implied that a woman was autistic soon after complimenting a piece of enthusiast art she produced for him. (If you are a lady who brought fan artwork to a single of his exhibits, sorry, but it didn’t make it to the fridge.)

Staying known for your group work is a double-edged sword. “It’s continuous yelling out at each solitary exhibit,” he tells me now. He’s in health club outfits, confident, but appears properly thoroughly clean. I think we could have fulfilled at the restaurant, but I’ll quickly arrive to see that this is not a man who wishes to seem to be underdressed, or underprepared. The yelling, he suggests, “is usually somebody who wants to be a portion of the display and be a portion of the up coming TikTok.” Audiences really do not comprehend that for each individual 10 minutes of crowd get the job done, Rife is executing 70 minutes of scripted jokes.

“I really do not want to submit jokes that you are likely to come see stay the upcoming week,” he states. “That’s not good to you. And I’ve been blessed plenty of to have the skill set and the capability that I can constantly pump out new articles, but I’m not wasting just about anything.”

See what he did there? Took my issue about bothersome hecklers and turned it into an possibility to be grateful, and also remind everyone how really hard he operates, out of regard for his viewers? He does the very same when I ask about his no cost time. “Honestly, I under no circumstances have a working day off. I seriously really do not. It is exhausting,” he starts, right before pivoting back to pure graciousness. “But you know what? I refuse to complain about it mainly because even nevertheless I’m drained and I don’t have a second to myself, and I really don’t have time to slumber or whatever, I experienced a long time of waking up just about every day at 4 p.m. with nothing to do, and I was totally depressing.” Rife has the conscientious manner of a person who was media educated by the Disney Channel. Only he was not.

Raised by a widowed mom in the sticks (his phrase) of Ohio, Rife was 1 when his father died by suicide at 21 decades old. His mother remarried when he was younger Rife has a fifty percent sister and 3 stepsisters. He claims that likely absent to college was not a norm for his friends, and that if stand-up did not exist he’d likely have joined the Army. Whilst nevertheless a teenager, he commenced actively playing “bringer” reveals, viewed as the base feeders of the comedy ecosystem for creating performers pay to engage in by bringing their personal audience. Then, at 21, he became the youngest forged member on Wild ’n Out, hosted by Nick Cannon. He stayed for a few seasons, honing a winking-at-stereotypes design of humor that often operates afoul of comedy Twitter. (“I’ll apologize for getting born a straight white male when LeBron James apologizes for currently being 6-foot-9,” goes a current little bit. “Like certain he can do a f*cking windmill 360 dunk. And I can elevate my voice to the law enforcement.”)

“I can’t explain to you how several times any individual has posted a little something trying to terminate me, or like, ‘Look how unfunny this video is’ or no matter what. And then I’ll gain followers from it mainly because folks are heading, ‘Hey, that’s basically not that undesirable,’” he suggests. He points out that Elvis made use of to offer “I Detest Elvis” merch. “I really don’t feel people today have an understanding of how much very good they’re basically accomplishing by sh*tting on you.”

To wit: The initial time I ever observed his perform, it was a joke about remaining “gay fit” that somebody posted on Twitter to simply call out how stereotypical it was. And now I’m becoming paid out to converse to Rife, and I do not bear in mind who posted that clip.

“To be a ideal ‘Hollywood star,’ you have to sacrifice a great deal of personalized viewpoint, and I would say dignity a minimal bit.”

Then there is the way he seems. It is, objectively, excellent. His eyes are Taylor-Swift-could-create-a-tune-about-them-blue, his jaw cartoonishly ideal. He bought his enamel accomplished after a pair seasons on Wild ’n Out, in accordance to his Instagram, and now those are fantastic too. His lips are pillowy. I never describe something as pillowy, but there it is. They are. He’s downright pretty, which is variety of a rarity in the stand-up world, where by men are likely to get more comedic mileage out of how bad they are with the opposite intercourse, not how great they have it. I guess you work with what you got.

“When the TikTok things and social media stuff begun to blow up, [my audience] was certainly, I’d say, 95% females from 16 to 25, which is a very, pretty impressive admirer base,” he states. “And I’m so thankful for it. They’re extremely online. They are not always the greatest stand-up comedy viewers associates. A good deal of the time they like my face a great deal additional than my jokes, which is fine. It will get them in the doorway, and then with any luck , you keep them with the comedy.” He provides that given that his specials came out, his admirer foundation has started out to even out a little bit.

Rife attracts a parallel to one more viral sensation turned legit star: “Think about Justin Bieber when he 1st began out, he was 14, 15, 16, whichever. Every person on the earth went, ‘F*ck this dude. What a very little twerp. His tunes sucks. All these girls like him for no purpose,’ simply because they’re jealous for the reason that he’s a adorable, youthful, handsome, talented man. And then the more mature they get and the more time his audio is out in the general public, and the extra you’re all around it, the much more you essentially get started to respect it. And now there’s a lot of Justin Bieber dude admirers. So, you don’t want to have way too considerably of a girl fan base simply because then fellas loathe you.”

But if any person who dislikes him is studying this, I have bad information: You are not gonna get less than his pores and skin. Like, ever.

“I really don’t know whose quote it is specifically, but I have read a ton of comics chat about it,” he says. “‘If you feel I’m amusing, you are suitable. If you feel I’m not amusing, you are ideal.’ It’s that simple.”

Following Rife moved to Los Angeles, he auditioned relentlessly, ultimately landing credits on Brooklyn 9-Nine and Refreshing Off the Boat. But the breakthrough arrived when he hustled about Hollywood gatekeepers, self-creating two YouTube specials, both equally of which have racked up tens of millions of sights. By pretty much any metric, his vocation is having off. And what is he accomplishing with his good results? Not a sports activities automobile or Jet Ski he’s getting his mom a household. (His approach, he advised me, is to finally purchase a different for his sister, and then a single for himself). Now that the bigwigs who utilized to change him down are ultimately getting his simply call, Rife is at a crossroads. Does he do what is been operating — be himself, take it or depart it — or enjoy the fame match for a big possible upside?

“I would say that to be a fantastic ‘Hollywood star’… you have to sacrifice a lot of individual action and particular impression, and I would say dignity a very little little bit,” he claims. “And I tried out to be that exact excellent person for the first 9 decades currently being in Los Angeles. I was like, ‘I want to be exactly what every person would like me to be so I can be the most marketable, so folks will want to put me on a Television present and I can be a ideal little actor angel, and everyone will like me and every thing will be content.’ But that did not take place, and I was not staying myself. And it definitely took me finding to rock base in the sense of owning nothing at all — I was not genuinely offering tickets at shows, I wasn’t acquiring forged in everything — where by I was like, ‘OK, f*ck it.’” Then arrived the followers.

Not to thrust the double-edged sword matter much too much, but Rife is keenly mindful that to realize success as a comedian is to create a persona so convincing the audience thinks you’re staying you. “I surely play into the naive, variety of charmingly ignorant f*ckboi persona. For the reason that it is a small bit of what men and women hope, but it is also funny to perform on. But at the stop of the working day, I’m not really that human being.” He possibly was that human being when he was more youthful, he claims. He feels an obligation to share a little something genuine about himself with his viewers, in particular at live shows. “But again, it is the same equilibrium of who do you want to be at the close of the working day? How a lot can you basically sacrifice?”

Just one point he’s had to sacrifice, logistically, is a dating existence. Rife is famed for his prime-shelf flavor in females — he was papped with Kate Beckinsale and shot his shot with Zendaya on Television set — but he insists that he does not have a girlfriend. He claims he does not even test his Raya account. He’s far too occupied for DMs or hooking up soon after displays. “I just really do not have time. I’m on the brink of currently being ill virtually each and every working day. Not in a chilly kind of way, but just getting run-down. I do not rest. I sleep in all probability three hours a night, possibly. And then I’ve received mainly at minimum two reveals just about every evening, I’d say 6 times a 7 days at the very least. So, a large amount of instances I’ll get done with displays. I’ll go again to my hotel, I’ll possibly smoke a minor bit to unwind, and then I just edit for the up coming most likely hour and a 50 %.” I imagine him. He canceled our original interview options, a week earlier, mainly because he was ill.

But if you’re here for dating-Matt-Rife strategies, here’s what I weaseled out of him. Initially, occur prepared with a dim sense of humor. “Had we been on a date and you designed a joke about my lifeless father, I would’ve been like, ‘You know what? You could possibly be the a person, actually.’ To have the balls to basically go for it.” It likely wouldn’t harm to dye your hair, since his formative crushes consist of Frenchy from Grease and Paramore’s Hayley Williams. You should be Ok with doing a lot less all through sex. “It’s a personal preference… I feel like I’m probably a lot more dominant in the bed room. Some men are the reverse.” And, lastly, request for makeout audio at your very own risk. His go-to tune is “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex.

“Swear to God, if I’m at any time just building out with a girl and she’s like, ‘You want to perform some music or some thing?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah.’ I constantly engage in it so easy,” he suggests. “Just because if I can make you chuckle in the course of intercourse, that to me is as great as [if] I built you occur. That to me is completely even to my gratification.”

He claims he’d love a girlfriend, and would love a dog even a lot more, but travels far too much to care for either. “I prioritized women of all ages a ton when I was young, and I was in a ton of healthful and a great deal of harmful associations. But each of them are equally time consuming. A healthy connection, a good deal of times you are so joyful that you prioritize it in excess of matters that you should really be executing professionally… And sometimes you’re in a toxic romantic relationship exactly where you’re like, ‘Hold on, I can’t do this specialist issue for the reason that I’m also chaotic battling with my lover ideal now.’”

Rife was polite enough not to glance at his cellphone in the course of our dialogue, but now that our time is winding down, he checks it. A bunch of texts, missed calls, and FaceTimes. “I’ve obtained to alter my range. Anyone leaked it.”

I request about two movie estimates tattooed on his left arm. The 1st is from f*ckboi purple-flag award winner Combat Club, the other from, adorably, Grease. I present him my only ink, a modest, très fundamental crescent moon on my wrist. When once more, he’s rapid: “For the Shrek bathroom door?”

Rife places my glass in the sink and throws a improve of dresses into a duffel bag for the picture shoot. I’m seeking all around desperately for some very last-moment “color” for this story, but the condominium is so cleanse and pretty much gray. Is any person fascinated to know there’s a stick of Palo Santo on the counter, a jug of protein powder atop the fridge, or some soccer trophies in the bed room?

Except…

I could have sworn I observed a big bag of puppy foods in the corner as we still left. Which makes me imagine there is a man or woman in his life who stays the night often, and she brings her pet with her. But it could possibly have been one thing else, or explainable by some other circumstance. What ever it is, it is something he’s not keen to sacrifice.

Photographs by John Jay

Photo Director: Alex Pollack

SVP Creative: Karen Hibbert