Matt Rife Questions if Fame Was ‘Just Handed’ to Him in Trailer for Netflix’s First-Ever Crowd Work Special | Video

Matt Rife defended his fame and comedic style in the first trailer for his second Netflix special, “Lucid,” released Thursday.

“Next time you guys see some haters in my comments going, ‘All he does is crowd work, it’s so easy’ — is it? Is this the easiest s—t I could ever do? Is it just handed to me? No!” the comedian exclaims to the enthusiastic crowd featured in the spot.

Since his rise to fame on social media — a seemingly overnight success that led to his widely watched, if scrutinized, Netflix special “Natural Selection” last fall — critics have called out Rife for never parting from his “crowd work” comedy.

With his “Lucid” special, he plans to lean into that reputation while proving the work that goes into it. How does he plan to do this? By doing a one-hour set of exclusively crowd work, a Netflix first.

“This is an entire crowd work special. This is just me and you guys. I don’t know what you or I will say. I want you to be aware you are equally as at fault for how this goes as I am,” he joked with the audience in the trailer.

Watch it in full below:

Rife returns to Netflix following “Natural Selection,” despite the amount of backlash it received from audiences. The negative response was initiated by his opening joke about domestic violence. “I just wanted to see if y’all were fun,” he told the crowd.

Rife is no stranger to internet controversy, though — and he doesn’t seem to fear it either. He made this clear with his response to the backlash over the joke, by posting an “apology” on social media.

He took to Instagram to share this “apology,” which included a link labeled “tap to solve your issue.” Those who clicked the link got redirected to a site selling helmets for people with special needs.

“Lucid: A Crowd Work Special” premieres Aug. 13 globally on Netflix.

The post Matt Rife Questions if Fame Was ‘Just Handed’ to Him in Trailer for Netflix’s First-Ever Crowd Work Special | Video appeared first on TheWrap .