Tampa open mic comedian claims Matt Rife is ripping him off

Stand-up comedian and social media star Matt Rife announced an ambitious global tour with well over 100 shows that will begin on Thursday, June 20 in Oregon, with most dates already completely sold out and tickets selling on secondary markets for as much as $2,000 each.

And at least one stand-up comedian, Matt Matthews, a regular on the Tampa Bay open mic circuit, is claiming to be a victim of Rife’s popularity.

“He’s literally taking money out of our pockets and food off of our table,” he said, while neglecting to mention he’s never been paid to perform and the last time he ate a meal while seated at a table was at his mom’s house for Thanksgiving.

“Look, it’s a metaphor, okay?” he explained, negating the word ‘literally’ he’d used previously to describe the situation.

Matthews boldly calls Rife ‘a thief’.

“Not of my material, like a joke thief. I think everybody knows that weed, porn and masturbation jokes are exclusively mine and he’d be crazy to try to poach my fresh take on those topics,” Matthews said. “If I find out he, or anyone else for that matter, ever starts a bit with, ‘You ever been so high that…?’ or ‘You ever been watching porn…?’ or ‘You ever been jacking off…?’, I’ll sue the shit out of them.”

“No, what I’m talking about is him being a thief when it comes to stealing opportunities from the rest of us,” he continued. “Every dollar people spend on his tickets is money they won’t be spending to come see local comics like me, like every Wednesday night at 11:45 at Uncle Bumpy’s Ruckus Room and Vape Shop in Apopka, no cover, B.Y.O.B. There’s a tip jar, though. It’s a good room.”

“I mean, that’s just basic economics; more for somebody else equals less for me.”

Nicole Adamowicz of St. Petersburg is one of the people who somehow got tickets during what was yet another botched TicketMaster presale for the show at the Mahaffey on October 5.

“I’m only going because it’s Matt Rife. I love him!” she said. “I wouldn’t pay $2 to see some unknown rando that I don’t even know is funny.”

“See? That’s exactly what I’m talking about”, said Matthews, as if Adamowicz’s reluctance to pay heard-earned money to see open-mic level comedy somehow validated his unbookableness as Matt Rife’s fault.

Matthews went on to question Rife’s credibility as a comedian.

“Look at the guy. He’s in great shape. He clearly doesn’t hate himself. Women find him attractive. How is any of that funny?”