We recognise Henry Rowley from somewhere: ‘I’m a TikToker,’ he says, opening his Fringe hour. With a healthy 1.3m followers on the platform, the 26-year-old gained traction about five years ago for his mocking sketches of posh uni mates (he’s perfected the ‘rah’ girl in the smoking area), and has been popping up on For You Pages ever since. He’s not completely new to live – he came to the Fringe last year with a short WIP as part of a group showcase of TikTok stars, bringing many of those characters from the screen to the stage. But, given this is his first, proper stand-up hour? His confidence is impressive.
The show dips in and out of sketches – extended versions of the 30-second skits we might expect to find on his TikTok feed – very loosely framed by reflections on his online fame. There’s some good stuff here: the exaggerated re-enactment of his Tatler interview and the surreal budget airline jab. Some of it felt stale before it had even started: the Steven Bartlett riff felt like we’d seen it before and the generic dating app jokes were also in need of a freshen up. Where Rowley shined was when he leant on what he’s known for. The audience was chuffed to see one of his key posh girls, Minty, from Bristol uni, make a share of appearances (he even revealed he’d answer calls as Minty in his old tech job): the vape sketch and the introduction of the ‘diabetic jazz’ DJ went down well. Granted, performing to a room full of Fringe-going Russell Group grads, this should have been expected.
While it wasn’t the most complex writing, it certainly was a joyful watch. He’s an energetic performer, galloping around the stage and revelling in each character with infectious gusto and ridiculous facial expressions. He’s the sort of guy who, on paper, you’d probably find easy to hate – but his consistent self-awareness (‘It gets worse’, he warns us during one of the weaker skits, laughing at himself), makes him undeniably likeable. It’s a shame the whole thing starts to run out of steam towards the end: the sketches exist in a vacuum with no discernable narrative threading them together, so when the hour ends with a rushed self-reflection on the title of the show, it feels like a lost opportunity. That said, it’s promising stuff.