Aug. 11, 2026

Matt Rife Feuds With Paranormal Investigator as Bill Maher Sparks Backlash

Johnny Mac covers comedy news including Matt Rife facing backlash after replying to a paranormal investigator over an Instagram post promoting the Haunted Warren Museum (home of the Annabelle doll), with TMZ reporting missing context due to deleted comments and noting the pair charge up to $166 for admission, angering parts of the paranormal community. Bill Maher drew criticism for jokes about Ariana Grande’s weight on HBO. John Oliver appears on Days of Our Lives for multiple episodes, while Adam Sandler has been spotted in Madison, New Jersey filming Grown Ups 3 with an extensive cast and local road closures. The LA Times profiles Anthony Jeselnik reflecting on career longevity and interest in fiction. Trevor Noah’s Santa Barbara set is recapped, along with Johnny’s reactions to Ted Lasso season four and Ricky Gervais’ Alley Cats. Updates include new/announced specials and events for Tammy Pescatelli and Cory B, Amanda Knox’s controversial Edinburgh Fringe debut, and late-night ratings led by Jimmy Fallon.

00:17 Matt Rife Backlash
01:37 Bill Maher Ariana Joke
02:13 Soap Opera Cameos
02:33 Grown Ups 3 Filming
03:41 Jeselnik Eyes Writing
04:25 Trevor Noah Review
05:51 TV Watch Thoughts
06:43 New Specials Announced
07:20 Amanda Knox Fringe Storm
09:15 Late Night Ratings
10:39 Green Pool Signoff

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/daily-comedy-news-with-johnny-mac--4522158/support.

Daily Comedy News is hosted by Johnny Mac and releases every weekday. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite app. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network. For transcripts and show notes visit www.dailycomedynews.com

Daily Comedy News with Johnny Mac is a daily podcast covering comedians, stand-up comedy, late night television, and the comedy industry. New episodes every morning. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Contact John at John@thesharkdeck dot com

For Uninterrupted Listening, use the Apple Podcast App and click the banner that says Uninterrupted Listening. $4.99/month

John's Substack about media is free.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:12.080
Caloroga Shark Media her Bullside. I'm Johnny Mack with your

2
00:00:12.119 --> 00:00:14.119
daily comedy news. The bull's very green today. Do you

3
00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:16.480
think it might have been vandals. I'll have to look

4
00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:20.079
into that. Matt Rife in trouble. I don't know what

5
00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:23.679
to do with this one, okay. Matt and his collaborator Elton,

6
00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:28.000
were on Instagram promoting an event at Haunted Warren Museum.

7
00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:31.280
That's a paranormal spot that the pair had purchased last year.

8
00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:34.320
It is best known for housing the demon doll. Anna Belle,

9
00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:39.200
a parent normal investigator, responded to the post by commenting

10
00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:43.479
on the Salem witch trials, which, for reasons unknown, told

11
00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:47.039
Matt Rife to rip into the quote lifeless douchebag by saying,

12
00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:51.840
please remove yourself from this earth. The paranormal investigator responded

13
00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:53.759
on Facebook saying, now I'm going to move forward with

14
00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:56.240
all this nonsense, garbage what Matt said, and Elton control

15
00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:58.520
your mittor Matt or get Matt therapy. I don't ever

16
00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:00.679
want to see Matt bully a person with all autism again,

17
00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:03.520
Do I make myself clear? Not okay to say with

18
00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:07.000
a person with autism, I have autism. A source close

19
00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:10.719
to matt Riife told TMZ that matt Rife is quote

20
00:01:10.760 --> 00:01:13.359
relentlessly bullied in the comment section of his post with

21
00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:17.359
vile remarks. TMZ understands that matt Rife responds to the

22
00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:21.000
trolls and then the troll deletes the original comment. The

23
00:01:21.079 --> 00:01:24.120
source says there's context missing from matt Rife's exchange with

24
00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:28.359
the Paranormal Investigator since the original comments are deleted. TMZ

25
00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:30.480
wants us to know that Matt and Elton charged people

26
00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:32.840
up to one hundred and sixty six dollars for admission

27
00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:35.280
to the Haunted Warren Museum and that has ticked off

28
00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:38.200
a lot of people in the paranormal community. Bill Maher

29
00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:41.599
also in trouble for a comment about Ariana Grande's wait

30
00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:46.159
on Friday's HBO Bill Maher Show. During his opening monologue,

31
00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:47.760
Bill Moore said, I hope the aliens are here. I do.

32
00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:49.200
I hope they're here, and they're watching us, and they're

33
00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:50.560
going to save us. And by the way, the Trump

34
00:01:50.599 --> 00:01:53.200
administration this week, just a few days ago, maybe yesterday,

35
00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:56.640
unleashed a new trove of UFO files. Interesting things in there,

36
00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:59.519
triangular craft, weird lights over an army base, a stick

37
00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:01.760
like figure with large eyes. Oh, that was just an

38
00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:05.599
Ariana Grande video. The audience apparently laughed at that joke.

39
00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:08.479
More tagged it with please we kid, Maybe that joke

40
00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:10.360
will make it or eat something that one didn't go

41
00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:12.879
over as well, And now people are met at Bill Maher.

42
00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:16.479
Don't forget to watch Days of Our Lives Today. John

43
00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:19.800
Oliver in character arrives at the office of Salem may

44
00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:23.080
Or Paulina Price, suggesting that whatever brings him to town,

45
00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:25.919
it runs straight through city hall. John Oliver will be

46
00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:29.759
on today, tomorrow, and the fourteenth. This is different than

47
00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:33.120
his three episode stint on General Hospital last month. I

48
00:02:33.159 --> 00:02:35.479
should probably hop in the car and drive about five

49
00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:37.560
miles down to Madison, New Jersey to see if I

50
00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:40.719
can run into Adam Sandler. He's been spotted in Madison

51
00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:44.520
filming Grown Ups Three Grown Ups Three will start. Adam Sandler,

52
00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:48.639
Kevin James, Chris Rock, Christy You Need Money, David Spade,

53
00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:52.919
Rob Schneider, Maya Rudolph and others also joining famous actress

54
00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:57.240
Jackie Sandler, Shaquille O'Neal, Colin Quinn, Tim Meadows, Cherio, Terry

55
00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:02.000
Ellen Cleighorn, and Nick Swartzen. Also include Julie Bowen does

56
00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:05.800
she need Bunny? Shea sitcom for ten years? Dion Cole,

57
00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:10.479
famous actress, Sadie Sandler, different famous actress Sonny Sandler, and

58
00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:13.039
about Tan More names a lot of people in this movie.

59
00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:15.400
The official log line tells us, now that their kids

60
00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:17.280
are all grown up, the gang is finally free to

61
00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:20.080
go on the Ultimate Adventure. Apparently they were filming this

62
00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:22.800
at the Madison Hotel, A very nice place, been there.

63
00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.840
The hotel's front desk declined to confirm anything when reached

64
00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:31.240
by North Jersey dot Com, but both Rod's Restaurants and

65
00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:35.639
the Red Dog Tavern were closed for a few days. Hmm. Meanwhile,

66
00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:38.240
just up the road, Madison, New Jersey, closed Green Village

67
00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:41.479
Road entirely on August sixth to accommodate filming. From The

68
00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:45.080
La Times. Anthony Jessinik, who's only forty seven, imagines that

69
00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:48.439
his comedy career is winding down. He said, I'd love

70
00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:50.840
to take a crackety the short stories of writing a novel.

71
00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:53.039
J Justinick says, you see a guy like Jim Carrey,

72
00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:54.400
the last thing he wants to do is make anyone

73
00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:57.400
laugh anymore. He wants to be taken seriously. He believes

74
00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:00.639
his stage persona has spared him from that. Jesslinick says,

75
00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:02.319
people are afraid of me. Fans who approach me are

76
00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:05.080
careful because my stage persona is borderline psychopath. I don't

77
00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:07.680
feel that needs to take it seriously. I think I

78
00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:11.439
am taken seriously. The Only Times tells us Justinick's comic

79
00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:15.599
sensibility explores cruelty, shock, transgressions, and anti heroes, and it's

80
00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:19.160
what continues to draw Anthony to literature. Jessinick said, I

81
00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:21.439
love bank robbers. I love the idea of the villain winning.

82
00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:23.519
That is revolutionary to me. You're raised on TV and

83
00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:25.040
things have to be wrapped up in half an hour

84
00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:26.639
and the morall has to hold. I love that books

85
00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:28.959
don't have to play by those rules. The folks at

86
00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:31.959
the Santa Barbara Independent went to see Trevor Noah. We're

87
00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:34.800
Till Trevor Noah had a nice mix of semi local

88
00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:37.839
specific topics like driving from LA to Santa Barbara, the

89
00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:40.439
joke they are told better by Trevor, all these random churns.

90
00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:42.240
It's just me and a thousand other ways friends trying

91
00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:44.759
to shave a minute off our time. Trevor doesn't like

92
00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:46.600
the beach. She said, you rinse the sand off your

93
00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:47.920
feet in the water, and then you walk back on

94
00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:50.240
the beach in the sand. We learned from Trevor Noah

95
00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:52.279
why men love sports so much. It's the one place

96
00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:54.560
where we feel things without being judged by ourselves. We

97
00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:56.680
get to cry, we get to be sad, we get

98
00:04:56.720 --> 00:04:58.199
to be disappointed, and we get to blame it on

99
00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:00.399
the team. We bring everything we've experienced that week, and

100
00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:02.839
we put it all on the team. All those Knicks fans,

101
00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:04.639
they weren't burning the streets because of the Knicks. That

102
00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:06.560
was everything they've experienced in their life for the last

103
00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:09.839
fifty years. Finally they had an excuse to express it. Apparently,

104
00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:13.360
Trevor did some impressions of Obama, George Bush, presumably w

105
00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:16.959
and Donald Trump. The reporter said Trevor's bit about what

106
00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:19.079
it would be like if Trump trained AI was so

107
00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:22.839
funny that they had tears. The punchline there as recapped

108
00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:25.120
by a reporter and told better by Trevor Noa than

109
00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:27.439
Johnny Mack. Who better to treat a system that constantly

110
00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:30.160
spews bs than an AI? You think they give you problems?

111
00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:32.040
Now at least your AI will apologize to you. You

112
00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:33.800
give it one week with Trump training, and you'll be like,

113
00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:36.279
what is the capital of Nicaragua And it'll be like Paris,

114
00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:38.040
and you're like that's wrong, and the AI will be like, no,

115
00:05:38.120 --> 00:05:39.560
it's not. A lot of people are saying that. A

116
00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:41.439
lot of people are saying it. A lot of people

117
00:05:41.480 --> 00:05:44.000
are saying that Paris is at Nicaragua. That is funny.

118
00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:46.279
He also told the joke about something that will get

119
00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:48.519
me in trouble with people who wear sunglasses. So I'll

120
00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:50.759
refer you to the Santa Barbara Independent to read that.

121
00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:53.639
One watched a couple of things on the TV ted

122
00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:57.519
Lasso season four episode one Boy. That was rough, and,

123
00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:00.000
as I shared in the Facebook group Daily Comedy News podcast,

124
00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:03.360
I need some reality in my sitcom and like the

125
00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:07.199
idea that Ted Lasso's not a super successful Premier League coach.

126
00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:09.600
He finished second with like a you know, not really

127
00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:12.839
good team he'd be working, he'd at least be on TV.

128
00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:14.759
Just I don't want to spoil it, but like the

129
00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:17.319
whole setup for season four, I'm just not buying it.

130
00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:19.759
I asked put on Ricky Gervay's Alley Cats, and then

131
00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:22.360
I texted my friend and dared them to get to

132
00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:26.240
three minutes in. Oh my goodness, that is terrible. John Clees,

133
00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:28.519
who knows more about comedy than I do, disagrees with

134
00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:31.399
Johnny Mack. He posted on Twitter the Ricky Gervay's Cats

135
00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:34.759
animation is quite wonderful. Gerve's responded said, thanks so much,

136
00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:37.959
John Clease. That means quite a lot from the creator

137
00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:41.319
of the greatest British suitcom of all time. Lad Who

138
00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:44.079
am I to argue with the great John Clees. Tammy

139
00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:48.639
Pascatelli has a special out today Comedy Dynamics, filmed at

140
00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:51.879
the Triad Theater. Tammy Pascatetlli takes on family, marriage, aging,

141
00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:55.199
pop culture, and the absurdities of everyday life. Tammy says

142
00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:56.839
the specials will throwback to the kind of comedy I

143
00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:58.680
grew up watching, in the kind I still love today.

144
00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:00.399
I'm so proud of how it turned out, happy to

145
00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:03.399
be working with Comedy Dynamics. Blah blah blah. Comedian and

146
00:07:03.480 --> 00:07:07.439
culinary content creator Corey b will tape his debut comedy

147
00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:10.360
special at the Piper Repertory Theater in Mesa, Arizona, on

148
00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:13.560
October seventeenth as part of the Out of the Kitchen tour,

149
00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:16.120
Corey said, this is a chance for my fans who

150
00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:17.439
haven't been to a show yet to see a whole

151
00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:19.360
new side of me. Out of the kitchen and onto

152
00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:23.399
the stage. Amanda Knox is performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

153
00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:25.800
The New York Times says before the show, she was

154
00:07:25.879 --> 00:07:28.560
pacing the stage for about fifteen minutes. She'd been trying

155
00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:32.120
out her jokes prior to her one hour fringe debut

156
00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:34.639
as a stand up comic. In her act, Knox roam

157
00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:36.959
the stage where toys and clothes were scattered, telling stories

158
00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:39.439
and occasionally dialoguing with the recorded voice of her daughter,

159
00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:42.199
who's five years old. Knox was trying to find the

160
00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:45.519
humor in her own story. You may recall, Amanda Knox

161
00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:47.639
was wrongly held in prison in Italy for years for

162
00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:49.600
the two thousand and seven murder of her roommate. We

163
00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:52.800
covered that yesterday. The Times tells us, then Amanda told

164
00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:55.040
her joke about her daughter's favorite game, It's called Mama

165
00:07:55.079 --> 00:07:57.839
Goes to Italy. In the game, her daughter grabs the

166
00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:00.360
bars of a jungle gym at their local playground screams,

167
00:08:00.439 --> 00:08:03.279
let me out, Let me out. An online petition against

168
00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:06.399
the performance got forty thousand signatures. It went on anyway.

169
00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:09.120
The Daily Mail published an article on its website with

170
00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:11.560
the headline is there anything Foxy Noxy won't do for

171
00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:15.319
attention or money? Median Jennif Friedman quoted in This Times

172
00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:18.439
article who said her level of bravery doing this is

173
00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:21.879
just beyond comprehension. Knox said, there's a defined streak in

174
00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:23.680
me that's like, you know what, I didn't hurt anybody.

175
00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:25.879
I'm not at fault for what happened. The show is

176
00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:29.120
being marketed as a woman quote approaching forty, juggling motherhood

177
00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:31.040
and finally getting around to being furious about the whole

178
00:08:31.079 --> 00:08:33.679
wrongful imprisonment thing, especially when half the world is telling

179
00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:35.120
her to get over it, while the other half still

180
00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:38.279
thinks she's guilty. Tony Lancaster is the director of the

181
00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:41.440
Fringe Society. He told BBC Radio Scotland. We're not afraid

182
00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:43.440
of controversy. The decision as to whether or not the

183
00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:45.559
show goes ahead lies with herself and it lies with

184
00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:49.080
the venue. As sympathetic as we already the individual cases

185
00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:51.000
the crop up and absolutely is apparent I could relate

186
00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:52.679
to the pain that they describe, but that can't be

187
00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:54.759
a criteria, can't be one of the lenses we look

188
00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:58.799
through the show's venue, the Gilded Balloon, Teviot said in

189
00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.799
a statement the Edinburgh Festal Fringe as an open access festival.

190
00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:04.080
As a Fringe venue, we provide a platform for a

191
00:09:04.120 --> 00:09:06.519
whole range of voices, in line with the Fringe's long

192
00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:09.720
standing commitment to freedom of expression within the confines of

193
00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:12.200
the law. And I'm sure our audiences can make informed

194
00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:16.240
choices and maybe Johnny Max not wrong about everything. Jimmy

195
00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:19.519
Fallon won the week with his big as audience since

196
00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:22.559
twenty twenty four thanks to latenighter dot com who has

197
00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:25.799
this wonderful information now. To be fair, Jimmy Kimmel Live

198
00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.240
minus Jimmy Kimmel was with Jimmy Kimmel. I think in

199
00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.840
repeats anyway. So new episodes of Jimmy Fallon moved into

200
00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:34.679
first place in both total viewers and adults eighteen to

201
00:09:34.679 --> 00:09:37.679
forty nine. Fallin averaged one point five to four to

202
00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:40.679
one million total viewers week of July twenty sixth, up

203
00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:43.639
nine percent from the previous week. Fallon also won the

204
00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:46.440
eighteen to forty nine one hundred and eighty four thousand viewers.

205
00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:50.279
Jimmy Kimmel Live, which aired five guest host repeats. Okay,

206
00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:53.039
there's the answer there, fell to one point zero six

207
00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:55.759
four million in the demo, just one hundred and forty

208
00:09:55.799 --> 00:09:58.759
one thousand. The Late Show Stephen Colbert had zero viewers

209
00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:03.240
because that's no longer on CBS's Comics Unleashed, that's airing

210
00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:06.720
repeats itself. Wow, that got seven hundred and ninety two

211
00:10:06.759 --> 00:10:11.399
thousand total viewers. Still finished third at twelve thirty CBS

212
00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:13.799
is funny, you should ask four hundred and forty nine

213
00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:17.679
thousand total viewers, fifty two thousand adults, eighteen of forty nine,

214
00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:21.559
fifty two thousand. That's like podcast bad. I mean, like

215
00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:25.320
that's bad for a podcast. Over at NBC Late Night

216
00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:28.480
with Seth Myers, it was their last week of original

217
00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:31.360
episodes before a seven week HI it is Make twelve

218
00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:33.919
thirty great again. Myers averaged nine hundred and forty three

219
00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:36.639
thousand viewers, up two percent and in the eighteen of

220
00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:39.840
forty nine is one hundred and twenty thousand adults. And

221
00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:43.000
that is your comedy news Pool Side Green, very green Pool.

222
00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:45.279
We're gonna have to investigate how this got green. Some

223
00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:47.440
people are saying there were vandals. Other people saying it

224
00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:49.799
rained a lot last week and you didn't put in

225
00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:52.159
enough chlorine. We'll get to the truth and we'll see

226
00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:52.639
you tomorrow