Marc Maron Calls Out Matt Rife As “The New It Boy Of S***ty Comedy,” Says “Anti-Woke” Comedians Like Bill Maher “Just Have To Die Sooner”

Comedian Marc Maron weighed in on the controversy surrounding Matt Rife, who recently found himself in some hot water after he opened his new Netflix special with a joke about domestic violence.

Maron called Rife out during a talk with comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff about the state of comedy and Nesteroff’s new book, Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars.

“Well, first of all, like, don’t jump the gun on Matt Rife,” he said, per The Daily Beast. “If you don’t know who he is, he’s the new It Boy of shitty comedy.”

Maron went on to condemn the comments Rife made ahead of his Netflix special Matt Rife: Natural Selection, in which Rife said he doesn’t “pander” to women. “I would argue this special is way more for guys,” he claimed.

Maron said Rife risked alienating his female viewers by making these comments, saying, “He’s taken a big chance in his career right now to shit on the mostly female audience that he accumulated through social media to sort of kiss up to these pseudo edge lords. And personally, I don’t think it’s going to go well for him.”

But he also noted that the 28-year-old comedian could be “mobilizing a new generation” of comedy talent.

“Ultimately, my producer Brendan McDonald, the genius, made a good point in saying that he thinks that Matt Rife is actually mobilizing a new generation of comics to push back against what that stands for in much the way that Dane Cook did at a different time to once again, you know, be creative and bring a new energy and voice to what that doesn’t represent,” Maron said.

Maron and Nesteroff went on to discuss other points of comedy history covered in Outrageous, including why comedians who were once thought to be radical became more conservative with age. Maron pointed directly to Real Time host Bill Maher, who has become known as an “anti-woke” political commentator.

“These guys just have to die sooner. We’re seeing it with Bill Maher now,” he said, before quickly adding that he’s probably “going to be fielding calls and probably some tweets” for his comment.

Speaking again about the new generation of comics coming up on social media, Maron maintained that social media may help “put you on the radar,” but, “in  order to sustain a career in show business, you must be able to do the job and the nature of that job doesn’t seem to really change that much.”

Despite his criticisms about Rife’s style and strategy, Maron looked somewhat optimistic about the future of comedy.

“Maybe within show business, there is hope,” he said.