Matt Rife: Lucid accused of being “staged” after explicit joke
NetflixMatt Rife is back on Netflix with his new crowd work special, Lucid, and while it’s proving popular, a number of viewers think it’s “staged” after one particularly explicit bit.
As said, it’s going down well in terms of ratings. Similarly to his 2023 stand-up special Natural Selection – which ran into off-stage controversy – Lucid has shot up the Netflix chart, currently sitting in second place.
It’s the streaming service’s first-ever release dedicated solely to crowd work, meaning rather than preparing jokes, Rife riffs on what the audience has to say.
This proves fruitful early on in the session, as the comedian addresses a woman who just so happens to work for ‘You Blow Me’ – a company that offers blow job tutorials.
(FYI, we scoured the internet for you but couldn’t find the business anywhere, but that’s not to say it doesn’t exist – it’s probably more of a word-of-mouth kind of thing).
Not only that, but the company belongs to the woman’s own mother, who is also in the audience but at a separate end of the room.
In short, Rife struck comedy gold. But while the Netflix special promises a full hour of unpredictability, a number of viewers have been left feeling a little suspicious.
Taking to Reddit, one asked, “So that Matt Rife ‘crowd work special’ is obviously staged, no?”
“I think so,” replied another, while a third added, “Definitely. His old crowd work was subjective. Clearly it is now, ‘What will sell me more?’ ‘Oh? Ok.’ Let’s make it funny then apologize.”
NetflixIn a separate Reddit thread, another viewer wrote, “My first thought was that the people were planted. First dude’s shoes right in the front row… a little sus.
“But then the next crowd work person is a daughter who manages a blow join company with her mom? And her mom is in the audience but sitting separately on the other side of the room?? Idk immediately I thought that these were planted people.”
Over on X/Twitter, one said, “Five minutes into the new Matt Rife Netflix special and it’s already obvious it’s a huge failure. It’s all crowd work, which his short clips are funny, but this is so staged,” before mentioning the woman who “talks about her mom being a BJ coach.”
However, not everyone’s quite so distrusting, including this person who wrote, “Was really good. For a second I thought it might be a bit staged. But not with those conversations! It’s all organic. Great interaction with the crowd.”
Another put forward an alternate theory: “My initial thought was that people were just vetted as they came in (happens all the time) and they all had a story ready because they knew they were coming to a crowd work show.
“They saw the dude with the shoes and said ‘yeah you’re going up front’ and Matt knew what he was walking into to get things started. Or they gave the shoes to that guy, but either way, he looked uncomfortable as hell.”
They did add, “I have to admit that mother-daughter BJ thing was sus.”
Matt Rife: Lucid is streaming on Netflix now. For more content, be sure to check out the new TV shows heading to streaming this month, as well as the movies to add to your watchlist. You can also read about whether Kill Tony is moving to Netflix.