Whatever your views on his comedy, one thing we can all agree on about Matt Rife is that he has a face (and jawline) that only a mother could speculate got plastic surgery. Over the course of his career Rife’s face has objectively changed, which has inspired many critics to compare before and afters of the comedian’s jawline, teeth, and lips. Rife has been transparent about veneers, but he points to puberty for everything else. Here’s a quick refresher on Matt Rife, his comedy controversies, and his face before and after fame.
For the social media illiterate, Rife seemingly came out of nowhere, but he’s been on the scene for a while. He first made a name for himself when he was on Wild ‘n Out in 2015, and then his stand-up comedy career rose over time and he released his self-produced comedy special Only Fans on YouTube in 2021. He started going viral on TikTok for his crowd work videos, which earned him a Netflix special called Matt Rife: Natural Selection in November 2023.
Rife’s comedy isn’t for everybody. Natural Selection opened with a joke about domestic violence which unsurprisingly turned a lot of people off. In response, Rife issued an “apology” which included a link to a helmet for people with special needs.
Beyond his offensive jokes and tasteless “apologies,” Rife has also cooked up controversy for not what comes out of his mouth, but for how he’s (allegedly) altered it. After being cast on Wild ‘n Out, Rife got veneers on his front teeth, making them noticeably straighter and whiter. This is a procedure he’s been transparent about, noting in an Instagram caption thanking his cosmetic dentist, “Some ppl don’t know my teeth used to be F***** and I’d rather have died than smile.”
But many speculate that it’s more than teeth that Matt Rife has changed about his face. However, Rife has consistently denied plastic surgery rumors. In an interview with Mario Lopez, Lopez asked Rife, “[What’s the] funniest lie you’ve ever heard about yourself?” To which Rife replied, “That I’ve had plastic surgery.” He continued, “That’s the funniest thing in the entire world to me. Because puberty hit me so late. I didn’t look like this until I was 23. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, he’s got cheek fillers, he’s had his lips done, [and] jawline surgery.”
Despite Rife’s plastic surgery denials, people continue to speculate. And in November 2023, plastic surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Caughlin, seemed to imply that Rife was a patient of his. In a video posted to Instagram, Dr. Caughlin wrote, “Me after creating the greatest jawline ever seen just for my patient to get canceled right after.” The text appears over a video of the surgeon skipping down a hallway. The video ends with the text, “Thanks a lot bro… 🤣🤣 can you guess who!?”
Fans immediately started speculating that the patient in question was Rife due to all the backlash about his “glow-up” and chiseled jawline. Rife ultimately commented on the video himself saying, “Lying about medical history is illegal, just FYI.”
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