The amount of money Matt Rife gets paid for his stand-up has varied wildly throughout his career. When he did a seven-minute guest spot for his late friend Ralphie May as a teenager, Rife thought the older comic was doing him a favor. So, the $100 he received was unexpected. On “The Overachievers,” Rife explained that May’s generosity was inspired by Sam Kinison once doing the same for him at the start of his career.
After Rife became a seasoned stand-up pro, the pay sometimes wasn’t much better than that single Benjamin. Per The New York Times, there were nights in 2022 when he brought home around $150. The start of the pandemic was even worse; Rife and his close pal Paul Elia actually lost money when they self-funded some of their outdoor comedy shows. “Matt and I weren’t working as comedians, and then we’d each put in a thousand dollars to set up a $2,000 show. Then, we would make $1,400 in ticket sales,” Elia recalled to Deadline.
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Fast forward to 2023, and some fans were paying more for two “ProbleMATTic World Tour” tickets than what Rife once got paid for entire shows. Over a span of two days, he sold 600,000 tickets worldwide. If you consider the tickets’ $50-$95 price range, that amounts to about $43.5 million in sales. Rife didn’t get to pocket every penny, but he still took home a generous payday.
