Matt Rife gets candid about his TikTok journey

Matt Rife, one of TikTok’s trending comedians made  his appearence as  a guest on The Tonight Show hosted by Jimmy Fallon, November 8, 2023.

While conversing with Fallon , he  revealed how he was in the field of stand up and comedy for almost a decade and was on the verge of quitting before a TikTok he reluctantly posted went viral.

“All of these things just weren’t adding up, and at a certain point you go, ‘am I delusional? Maybe I’m not funny. Maybe I’m not supposed to do this.’ And then just one random video kind of changed everything.” Rife told the host.

Rife mentioned how he was considering leaving comedy last year in July when he couldn’t sell any tickets for his shows or able to get any breakthroughs on TV or social media. 

He even jokingly mentioned, “I couldn’t get on the Jimmy Fallon Show… I applied a few times.”

The 28-year-old mentioned that the night he posted his viral TikTok titled The Lazy Hero, he was very down in spirits. 

He and his friend, Paul Elia were in Montreal as their improv comedy show was invited to perform at the Just For Laughs Festival but without Rife.

As Rife’s dedication started to break, Elia insisted he post the video as it had already been edited. The video broke 20-230 million views causing Rife’s other videos to “blow up” too.

“The irony of something you dreaded doing changing your entire life. So take more chances,” Rife told the audience.

Rife expressed his gratitude upon selling 600,000 tickets in 48 hours for his upcoming special. He said, “It’s been unreal, my entire life has changed in a matter of 14 months, I’m so grateful.”