Nick White’s show Grow Up is a testament to the value of figuring out who you are and where you fit in the world. Or so he says. It is an overall funny and entertaining show but, unfortunately for this reviewer, overwhelming in its TikTok vibes.

The TikTok influence is undeniable in the audience, with Nick boasting multiple packed shows, including the one I visited. His appeal is clearly broad, and it is easy to see why. White has mastered the savvy influencer ability of making broad sweeps of relatability while still ensuring a specificity that allows the humour to appeal to you personally. Why yes, I did grow up queer in a Catholic school. Yes, I have had a coworker who always says to “circle back” while saying nothing. It seems a lot of the audience has. The audience laps it up, giggling in the joy of feeling seen over inconveniences and traumas that have shaped them and a significant portion of the Australian population.

Ultimately, it is a style of comedy that stems from mastery of this particular brand of internet humour. It’s a humour apparent in Tumblr textposts, tweets and now TikTok skits played over a viral sound clip. These internet tropes don’t just appear in the jokes; they’re seen in the tendency to break out into a British accent as White pushes back his hair, speaking with a particular inflection typical in viral TikToks.

This isn’t necessarily bad. It is hard not to laugh at content packaged to you as relatable surrounded by other laughing audience members. I am one to enjoy a short-form content meme; it is an experience even more common than being queer in Catholic school. This is the show’s hamartia: sticking to a popular form of internet humour just means the performance doesn’t dig any deeper because how deep can a quick video go?

White repeats what his show is about twice, towards the show’s beginning and close. This show, he says, is about being queer, growing up and discovering yourself. And there are some jokes about that. But the show fails to be more than a series of on-theme jokes. White can’t help but be entertaining–it seems to come naturally to him. He just hasn’t left the TikTok of it all behind.