Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
The crowd laughs loudly, shocked but also excited.
(And misogyny and a white guy relying on Black vernacular.)
This is the posture Rife holds for the rest of the hour.
Hes in a defensive stance: Will the audience be on board with him?
Will they be fun?
Sometimes that defensiveness manifests as timidity, and sometimes as aggression.
Rife has a few different versions.
The longest of them (see?
Theyre dick jokes as a security blanket.
Theyre cadences that create spaces for laughter, but theyre not developed joke writing.
Theres no new idea or shift in perspective; theres no underlying theme for a punch line to reveal.
Rifes previousYouTube specialsventure into hairier territory on issues like transphobia and race, and often those jokes do falter.
But at least theyre faltering after having tried something.
As the story unfolds, every element of the trip works against Rifes comfort.
A flight attendant is militant about the correct placement of Rifes backpack under the seat.
Hes sharing space with a child and an overweight person.
In the telling of the joke, these commenters arent yelling at him about his comedy.
Finally, he says, he snaps.
What Ive learned through therapy or whatever more eye-rolling is that Im a very defensive person.
Bitch, you cant cancel me!
Im not your gym membership!
Theyre notfun, those commenters.
Theyre unwilling to play along and just let the rules slide.
Theyd hate that domestic-violence joke.
It cant be actual dialogue, though, because Rife no longer wants to allow them to say anything.
Hes direct about that.
Its even more pointed by the end.
I can stand on this stage and do it entirely myself.
Its worth wanting to show that he has that ability.
But ultimately, he does need them.
As he fully admits, he cant help himself.
He wants to respond to every comment.
He loves to engage.
Its Rife, in this same full theater, presumably right after hes finished the hour.
Hope everybody enjoyed themselves, he says.
Then he starts to talk to the audience.
Did you know who I was when you came here?
he asks an older woman in the crowd.
They play TikTok on Hallmark?
The audience laughs, and the camera captures this woman giggling, tickled that Rife has acknowledged her.
The crowdwork is back.
No wonder hes defensive.
