On March 22, 2024, I was at the St. Regis hotel in Toronto cutting hair for the staff of Matt Rife. Matt Rife had four sold-out shows while he was in Toronto, with two shows that evening—one at 7 pm and the other at 10 pm. After leaving the hotel and taking care of Rife's team members, I walked over to Massey Hall to watch the 7 pm comedy show. Matt killed this show; it was hilarious. His stand-up comedy really had the crowd in Toronto going wild. I must say, I've seen some of Matt's videos online, but in person, he really knows how to get the crowd going. I found him even funnier in person.
Kyle, the videographer, invited me to go backstage to take a photo with Rife once his first show was done. When I went backstage, we were all there just hanging out speaking to one another. Matt Rife mentioned how good his team members looked and how he hadn't seen them look that sharp in a while.
Matt also explained how he's very particular about his haircut and gets very nervous about his hair. He said he's been letting his hair grow out for a few months now. Kyle, one of Matt Rife's team members, brought up how he's never seen his beard look this good and that it was the best beard trim he's ever had in his life. He suggested that Matt should let me cut his hair.
I told him, "It's up to you. I'm here right now, and I just cut all your team members. If you want, I still have all my tools at the hotel. If you have time, I can go to the hotel, grab my tools, and cut and style your hair before your next show." Matt started laughing as he looked at the time and said, "There is no way you're going to make it back on time. The hotel isn't that close by, but let’s do it! If you think you can get your tools and cut my hair before my next show starts at 10:00, I'll do it."
I looked at my phone, and it was already 9 pm. I said, "Let's do it. I'll make it happen." At that moment, I thought, "Shoot, this is going to be so tight. Let's see if I can make this happen." I ran outside as fast as I could to get my barber suitcase. I figured it would be quicker to run to the hotel and back to the venue than to hop on an Uber since it was snowing that day, and there weren’t many cars on the road. I couldn’t afford to lose time waiting for an Uber when I could already get a head start by running closer to the hotel, which was few blocks away.
As I started running down Yonge Street, I tried my best not to slip since it was snowing, and the sidewalks were full of snow and slush. I had a few slips and almost fell a few times. I even got some funny stares from random people as I was running back to the venue carrying this big suitcase full of my barber tools.
Luckily, my brother Marcelo, who is also a barber, was there with me since we watched the show together. Running to the hotel was way easier than running back because we didn’t have to carry anything. Running in snow makes things so much harder; you have all this extra weight when you lift your feet while taking steps, and when you're carrying a barber suitcase along with it, it gets even heavier.
So, as we ran back to the venue, we kept passing the suitcase to each other to take turns and preserve some energy. I’m telling you, I never in my career had to run and pull such a last-minute mission like that to go and cut someone’s hair. I felt like it was a movie.
The whole time we were running back, we were cracking jokes, saying, "Watch us get back to the venue, and Matt's like, 'Nah, I'm good. I don’t need a cut.'" Or "There won't be enough time."
After almost wiping out a few times on the snow, we finally managed to make it back to the venue at 9:30 pm. I called Kyle and said, "Open the door, get me in, let's unpack my tools, and start cutting." Kyle opened the door for us, and we started cutting.
Cutting Matt Rife was hilarious. You can see Matt is particular about his hair, but we vibed well. The whole time, we spoke about his career and how his tour was going. He also wanted to know how we started as barbers and asked about the barbershop Fade Room since that was the cape I was using to cut hair. Everything went super smoothly. While Matt was getting cut backstage, Kyle took some great footage of Matt's haircut reactions, and Matt told me he would fly me out in the future whenever he had a big show or event coming up.
I never had the opportunity to fly out for a haircut, so it was quite an experience. I have traveled backstage before for many shows and concerts, and I've cut hair multiple times at hotels, but I had never done anything to that extreme. So, I told him I would be down, and I’d see him again in the near future. It’s cool when the top comedian Matt Rife tells you, "That's the best haircut I’ve ever gotten in my life, and I want to fly you out for my next big event."
It’s kind of hard to know if he's serious or joking because he's a comedian. However, he was serious about it. I also gave Matt some Ferreira Signature Line hair products while I was there because that is what I used to style his hair. Although Matt keeps his hair long, I layered and texturized it! But I did notice he needs to use a good matte product to truly show the full result of his haircut. Without product, his hair looks shorter than it is and sits super flat.
So, when I put in Matte Cream and Texture Paste in his hair with some styling, the result was incredible. Not to mention, I think i had the biggest laugh when i left the backroom, and Matt Rife said, "Thanks for the haircut, dude". It just hit me that i had done it! Through everything. I was able to get the job done.
TALK ABOUT A COMEDY STORY, HUH!
Opportunities don't often come along, so when they do, you must grab them, I am super grateful for that opportunity.
