Comedian Matt Rife is taking over the comedy scene – and – the Rhode Island suburbs in his latest real estate venture.
While appearing on the popular "Bad Friends" podcast last August, Rife revealed to fellow comedians and co-hosts Bobby Lee and Andrew Santino that he had recently purchased 80 acres of property in Rhode Island.
According to Rife, Rhode Island originally "wasn't even in the top 10" states he was looking to buy property in, but something specific drew him to the Ocean State.
Rife cited sky-high real estate costs as one of the main reasons he left Los Angeles' notorious comedy scene.
The state of the U.S. real estate market is causing many long-time residents to leave for less expensive areas — including one of 2024's highest grossing comedians like Matt Rife, according to Billboard.
"There were three things on my checklist. I wanted to get what I was actually f---ing paying for. " Rife began. "There was this massive place that was probably the same price of a two-bedroom with no yard in L.A."
"I needed to have some kind of comedy scene, and Providence has the "Comedy Connection" out there, a great club. Boston is 45 minutes away, an amazing comedy scene, and also convenient for travel. Providence is like my Burbank Airport and Boston is like my LAX," he joked.
Rife went on to express gratitude for his "beautiful" new property, saying that although he has "never been a morning person," he wakes up every single day "happy" in his home.
"I'm so happy I did that," he said.
The young star continued, hilariously revealing that he had purchased his current home while visiting Rhode Island for the first time before one of his shows in Connecticut.
"I was performing at Mohegan Sun, five shows or something like that," Rife playfully bragged. "[Mohegan Sun] was an hour away, and we were on, I don't know, Zillow, and I was like, 'oh I'll peep this real quick.' And we went and checked it out, and I was like, ‘this [costs] like one show at Mohegan Sun.’ So, awesome."
Real estate momentum 'is about to change big time': BH Group's Isaac Toledano
BH Group CEO and founder Isaac Toledano speaks to Fox News Digital about how Donald Trump's 2024 election victory will fuel positive activity in real estate.
In December, Billboard revealed their list of top ten highest-grossing comedy tours of the year, with Rife quickly climbing the list and earning the number two spot for 2024.
Rife's comedy tour grossed more than most of the biggest names in comedy last year, topping all but one comedian: Nate Bargatze, whose tour had a net gross of $82.2 million in 2024, selling over one million tickets.
According to the Billboard study, throughout Rife's 256 shows in 2024, the new Rhode Island resident grossed about $57.5 million, selling roughly 733,000 tickets.
