Description: “Things To Say” uses confident celebrity portraits to promote disastrous lines for interviews and family meetings. Here is where the TikTok format came from in August 2026 and why the fake advice is funny.
A famous actor looks confident next to a list of “things to say in a job interview.” Yet the proposed phrases would probably end the interview. “Things To Say” is intentionally awful advice presented as an unbeatable social strategy. The format looks like motivational wisdom, but the words are a recipe for awkward silence.
Where did it begin?
Know Your Meme documents an early August 17, 2026 TikTok post by @cawkringinvestor. It recommended absurd remarks after an intimate encounter, including asking whether payment by card was possible. This is an early recorded example, not definitive proof of the format's first use online.
On August 30, @therealuncle1 used Matthew McConaughey's photo for a list aimed at someone meeting their partner's father. On August 31, @richhomiethugger2867 produced the job-interview version. Know Your Meme's September 9 record noted over 1.1 million and 2.2 million views respectively in about a week. Versions also appeared on Instagram Reels, including a September 5 post with Hugh Laurie of House.
Why is it funny and how do people use it?
The celebrity portrait promises wisdom and authority. The list promises social collapse. That mismatch connects the meme to ironic hustle-culture posts, the absurd “Rare Fish” investment memes and the older “Advice Dog” format. This time, the person giving catastrophic advice looks capable of selling an expensive confidence course.
Choose a stressful setting such as meeting your partner's family, talking to a teacher or attending an interview. Put a poised portrait beside a long list of deliberately inappropriate lines. The audience imagines the other person's reaction, which supplies the punchline.
Know Your Meme's September Meme of the Month poll, announced October 2, 2026, ranked the format first with 11.6 percent of votes. That measures the site's poll, not global popularity.
The photo promises a masterclass. The list delivers a one-way ticket out of the room.
Sources： Know Your Meme 1, Know Your Meme 2, Know Your Meme 3.
