Matt Rife’s Plastic Surgery: Before and After Photos

Comedian Matt Rife is doubling down on denying that he has gotten any cosmetic procedures done on his face after a Chicago-based plastic surgeon hinted that he had given the comedian the “greatest jawline ever”. On November 28, Dr. Benjamin Caughlin took to Instagram to repost a video that he had originally posted on TikTok, where it went viral. He hinted that he had done the procedure on Rife, saying ‘me after creating the greatest jawline ever seen just for my patient to get cancelled right after”. He also wrote in the caption, “Thanks a lot bro…. can you guess who?” Despite the surgeon’s failure to mention Matt by name in his social media post, followers quickly deduced that he was referring to the comedian. Matt Rife also apparently caught on to the reference, as he commented on the video, “Lying about medical history is illegal, just FYI.”

Who is Matt Rife?

Comedian Matt Rife first appeared in the limelight when he joined the cast of Wild ‘n Out in 2015. He further grew his stand-up career steadily as he released his 2021 comedy special Only Fans, but it wasn’t until July 2022 that his comedy took off, thanks to TikTok. It was there that his crowd work videos went viral and earned him a Netflix comedy special called Matt Rife: Natural Selection in November 2023. It was this special that unfortunately caused controversy to shroud Matt Rife’s career, as it opened with a domestic violence joke that did not go down well with many of the viewers. 

He told a tale about going to a restaurant with a friend and how the woman serving them had a black eye. Matt said he and his friend argued about why she was serving and not on duty in the kitchen away from the customers. “Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have a black eye,” he joked. Ahead of its release, Rife admitted that he has been “ridiculed online” for having a “female fan base,” telling Variety: “I don’t pander my career to women. I would argue that this special is way more for guys.”

When asked whether he’s worried about offending audiences with his darker material. In response, Rife said, “You have to go out there and do your comedy and lay it all out there, vulnerable, to find your audience because you never know what other people are into.” He said that from a comic’s perspective, everything boils down to intent. “I know for me, everything that leaves my mouth on stage is purely to make people laugh. It is never deeper, never any more or never any less than that.” This joke came as a shock to many of Rife’s fans, considering that women make up a large portion of his online audience. 

Matt’s Response to Backlash and Critics

He later responded to backlash over the joke with an “apology” that directed his Instagram followers to a link to buy a protective helmet for children with special needs. This sparked outrage and led to a discourse online. People then began to speculate on how exactly his career took off, with many wondering if his physical transformations over the years contributed to his fame. Plastic surgery rumours also began to spread. Many critics have said that Matt’s attractiveness was the reason that he had a fan base and a career and not his actual comedic talent. Progressing this theory further, people have analyzed his changes through the years and how they correlated to his rise in fame, with some speculating that he received plastic surgery. 

Matt has only acknowledged receiving veneers placed on his front teeth, though. “I’d rather have died than smile,” he shared in 2018 while revealing that Hollywood dentist Dr. Kourosh Maddash gave him the teeth coverings. “I can smile anywhere now, thanks to him.”

Earlier in the year, Matt revealed to Kaitlyn Bristowe on her podcast “Off the Vine” that he had Ohio teeth when he was a teenager. He compared it with a fence where some boards are missing. There were pauses in between a lot of them. But he has angrily denied receiving cheek and jaw implants to give him a more chiselled look. He said of the charges in July, “That’s the funniest thing in the entire world to me,” to Mario Lopez on Access Hollywood. I didn’t look like this until I was 23 because I went through puberty too late. I apologize if you require surgery to achieve that look.  

Was Matt Rife’s jaw sharpened through plastic surgery?

However, it seems the plastic surgery rumours are indeed a sore spot for Rife. The rumours started when some fans compared pictures of Rife when he was 19 to pictures of him in his early and mid-twenties. In the pictures, it can be seen that his jaw had become wider and sharper over the years. Rife attributes the change to him getting puberty late and a bit of a glow-up, but conspiracy theorists on X, formerly Twitter, believe otherwise. 

During a June interview with Tana Mongeau for her podcast Cancelled, Rife expressed his annoyance regarding the rumours of plastic surgery, which he has consistently refuted over the years. Rife insisted that no changes had been made to his face. He said he guesses he just keeps getting older—it’s so funny.

Rife claims his teeth were damaged as a child, so he had veneers placed; that’s the only thing he has done.” He also hit out at plastic surgeons online who theorized that he had had cosmetic procedures done on his face. “I’ve had people who claim to be plastic surgeons that’ll be like: ‘He’s had this…’ and I’m like, cool, you’re not only lying, but you’re wrong at your job,” he said. “The most common insult people hear is, ‘Well, at least I’m not a plastic surgeon.'” Cool, neither do I,” Rife continued, highlighting that “Doctor G-O-D” is the only medical expert he gives credit to for his appearance.