Who are Dan and Phil?

Dan and Phil

Who are Dan and Phil?
Dan and Phil are two British YouTubers. They are mainly famous for their joint channel, DanandPhilGAMES, but also have separate channels.
As well as that, they also make music, have published books, were BBC radio hosts, and have done a variety of other interesting things, like hosting the Brit awards and meeting One Direction. We will go further into this later.
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Philip Micheal Lester - 'Phil'
Philip Micheal Lester was born on the 30th of January, 1987, in Rawenstall, England.
He has one brother named Martyn.
Phil has a degree in English Language and Linguistics and then a post graduate in the Department of Theatre, Film and television, going on to obtain a Master of Arts in Video Postproduction with Specialisation in Visual Effects at the University of York.
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Daniel James Howell - 'Dan'
Daniel James Howell was born on the 11th of June, 1991, in Wokingham, England.
He has one brother named Adrian.
Dan initially studied law at the University of Manchester but dropped out in 2011 to pursue video blogging and radio presenting full-time.
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How They Met
Dan first discovered Phil on YouTube as an already-established creator on the platform. At this stage in 2006, shortly after the platform's conception, Phil was becoming a popular YouTuber, but Dan had not yet started his own channel. Dan was (and still is) a big fan of Phil's videos and reached out to Phil repeatedly through his DailyBooth and Twitter profiles.
They eventually became internet friends after chatting with one another over Skype. After much encouragement and support from his friends, especially Phil, Dan uploaded his first video, "HELLO INTERNET." On his main channel danisnotonfire (now known as Daniel Howell), on 16 October 2009.
Dan and Phil first met face-to-face in the Manchester Piccadilly railway station, near Phil's hometown, on 19 October 2009.
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Living Together
Dan and Phil moved in together on 10 August 2011 to a shared flat in Manchester. They moved into their first London flat on 23 July 2012. In April 2017, they moved again; they would later reveal their second London flat was actually two flats in the same building – one for living and one for filming. After waiting for it to be ready for several years and staying in the filming flat for the last few months, they finally settled into the house they built together on 18 June 2021. This is where they currently live.
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The Gaming Channel
Dan and Phil created a joint channel called DanAndPhilGAMES in September 2014. This was created after finishing their radio show into The Internet Takeover. (Will be explored more later).
Annual events on the channel included Spooky Week, in which they play Halloween-themed games the week leading up to Halloween (starting in 2014), Dan Vs.
Gamingmas, in which they attempted some variation of uploading a gaming video every day of December leading up to Christmas Eve (started in 2016).
The channel was on hiatus from December 2018 until October 2023 and is currently uploading regularly.
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The Brit Events
From 2014 to 2016, Dan and Phil hosted the online airing of the Brit Awards. The program was televised in the UK. Through their years participating in the event, they've interviewed multiple attending artists, including Fall Out Boy, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and One Direction.
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Radio Shows
Previously, Dan and Phil recorded Christmas radio episodes for BBC Radio One. However, in 2012, they were asked to host a radio show on Sundays.
Request Show: January 2013 - September 2014.
In 2013, Dan and Phil announced that they would be starting a request show on Sundays from 7-9 (UK time), which was fully interactive allowing their fans to send in texts, tweets, videos, drawings, suggest songs, and take part in "Fan Wars" (which was then later changed to "I don't know how to internet").
The Internet takeover was on Mondays from 9-10 pm. (UK time) and was presented by a different YouTuber each week (although the first Monday of every month was presented by Dan and Phil themselves).
Each week, YouTubers would take part in the radio challenge tag. They were sent a challenge to do whilst reading a paragraph of text. Challenges were set by the guest who appeared previously on the show.
The Internet Takeover played from 1 September 2014 to 25 April 2016 and was then replaced by The Student Radio Playlist.
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Tours
TABINOF
TABINOF (This Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire) was their first tour, and they were the first YouTubers to ever go on tour.
The tour included a live performance of the original song "The Internet Is Here," which was later released as a charity single for the charity Stand Up To Cancer.
II (Interactive Introverts)
Interactive Introverts was their second tour. In 2017, Dan and Phil announced their new 2018 tour, Interactive Introverts. The concept revolved around the creator-fan relationship and "giving the people what they wan."
WAD (We're All Doomed)
We're All Doomed was Dan's solo world tour.
On May 4, 2022, Dan uploaded a video titled 'Why I Quit Youtube' in which he explained his absence from the platform. At the very end of the video, he announced he was going on a world tour later that year.
It was a roller coaster of emotions, ranging from funny to heart-wrenching but ultimately about why life is worth living.
TIT (Terrible Influnce Tour) - Yes, they know, and we know what the acronym is.
Terrible Influence is their current world tour, the motto being 'They're older, gayer, Phil's gone blonde, and nothing is off limits.'
Expect scandalous stories they couldn't share before, theatrical plot twists and a savage roast of social media, the fans they raised, and most importantly: themselves.
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Daniel and Depression
On the 11th of October 2017, Dan uploaded his video 'Daniel and Depression'. He speaks about his struggles with his mental health and opens up about him struggling with anxiety and depression.
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Books
TABINOF (This Amazing Book Is Not On Fire)
The Amazing Book Is Not on Fire is a humorous autobiographical book by Daniel Howell and Phil Lester, released on 8 October 2015. Some of the contents of the book include:
The inside story of that time, they met One Direction.
Excerpts from Phil's teenage diary.
Reasons why Dan's a fail (so far).
How to draw the perfect cat whiskers.
Reasons why Phil was such a weird kid (back then).
Quizzes! Which of their dining room chairs represents you emotionally?
What really happened in Vegas. . . .
Phanfiction (explained later) wrote by Dan and Phil themselves
DAPGO (Dan and Phil Go Outside)
Dan and Phil Go Outside, more commonly known as DAPGO, is a photo book published by Random House Books on November 3rd, 2016, and written by Dan Howell and Phil Lester.
YWGTTN (You Will Get Through This Night)
You Will Get Through This Night is a book written by Daniel Howell, where he explains more about mental health and his suffering with it, as well as advice, etc.
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Coming Out
Dan
Basically, I'm Gay” is a 45-minute video released by Daniel Howell.
It was released on June 13th, 2019.
In this video, Dan shares his experiences of growing up closeted, his mental health, suicide attempt, and how his connections with Phil saved him. He described him and Phil as'Actual soulmates'.
Phil
On June 30, 2019, he came out as gay via video. There is not much to say about his coming out video, as it was more straight to the point. Either way, I am incredibly proud of both of them.
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Now that the basics have been covered (mostly), it is time to move on to the fandom, aka, the Phandom.
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The Ones Who Went Too Far
Every fandom has its ups and downs, so of course, the Phandom is one of them. (Name explained later.)
Some Phans (fans) took it too far. Many people ship Dan and Phil, which is what 'Phan' is (Phil x Dan = Phan). They have conflicted views on this, and these views have changed over time as they got older and began to care less about what people think of them. Many fans just casually shipped them, not really caring if they are together or not. Others cared too much. Many harassed Dan's brother Adrian, straining Dan and his relationship as he never wanted the spotlight. They harassed him, telling him he'd never be as good as Dan and pressuring him into revealing whether 'Phan' is real or not. Others made maps of Dan and Phils apartment/s, would hate excessively on either Dan/Phil based on which one they preferred, made 'Phan proof' videos, and wrote incredibly disturbing Phanfictions (Explained later), as well as being generally disgusting people, and not seeing Dan and Phil as real people.
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Most common Phandom slang/quotes you may come across

Hi. So my name is [Dan]
This is said by Dan in his first ever video, and as such, became a meme as he cringes at the memory of it. People will introduce themselves with the square brackets online, or the hand motion in real life.

Don't cry, craft!
Said in one Dan and Phil Crafts video (explained later)
Often commented on sad fanfics or edits, examples include
'I'm literally crafting'
'Crafting rn'
Was also spamming in every comment section during the prime of Dan and Phil Crafts.

Ph-
'Ph' (Phan) will be put before anything to do with them. Eg:
The Phouse (their house)
The Phitchen (their kitchen)
The Pheal (their now non-binary seal. Phey/Phem ((they/them)) pronouns. ((Became non-binary during a Phan Twitter video)))
The Phandom (fandom)
Phans/Phannies (fans)

The Hat fic
An extremely disturbing phanfiction, including a hat, Dan, Phil, and a hamster. Don't read it. Stay curious. I PROMISE that's the way to go.

The Skin fic
Another disturbing phanfiction, including Dan, Phil, and a sunburn. STAY CURIOUS.

The Milk fic
Not a phanfic, but it is often mentioned in the phandom. Once again. DO NOT READ.

The 'V-day video'
A private video from Phil to Dan, which they claim is a prank that was accidentally uploaded. Out of respect, do not investigate. Leave it alone.

The Toxic edit
Once again, don't search it up. All I'm gonna tell you is that it's very sexual and NOT actually Dan and Phil. They are doubles.

Toxic - the song
Phil posted a music video to a cover it, and it was their main karaoke song. Also a video of Dan teaching Phil how to sing a certain part of it.

The Fantastic Foursome
The Fantastic Foursome was the name of the "YouTube supergroup" consisting of British YouTubers Dan Howell (Daniel Howell), Phil Lester (AmazingPhil), Chris Kendall (crabstickz) and PJ Liguori (KickThePJ). The group was most active in 2011-2012. The four often made videos together, interacted with each other on social media, and hung out together outside of their internet personas. The group was quite popular among mutual fans of the four.
Phil and PJ met first through YouTube in 2007, and then in person that year at a New Year's Eve party. Phil then introduced Dan to PJ after they met in 2009, and PJ introduced both Dan and Phil to Chris.
On August 5th, 2013, Chris said some things and caused drama, more about this can be found online. He later apologised and said he lashed out and just wanted attention.
Dan and Phil have remained friends with PJ through the split, and recently, PJ and Chris have seemed to make up as well, though there has been no further contact between Dan and Phil and Chris.
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To Conclude
Dan and Phil want the status of their relationship to remain private, and Phans should respect that. They care less about being judged now, but we should still be careful not to upset them. This is the main basis of information, and other stuff can be found online. I have missed events out, as they are just too much to explain and not quite relevant enough to be in the basics. Other things I recommend looking into if you want more information will be after the P.S.
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Sister Daniel
No context, just Sister Daniel is Dan's ?drag? Alter ego etc etc. Very flirty, it makes appearances occasionally.
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Other Things: (fun to look into)
Dan's Roast yourself challenge (diss track).
The SIMS series (Dil Howlter).
Dan and Phil Crafts (lore)
A day in the life of Dan and Phil (videos are great).
PINOF (Phil Is Not On Fire) I can't believe I haven't mentioned these! Give them a watch! Bloopers too.
Phils sponsors (lore)
The birthday streams and charity work.
JAPHAN (Phan in Japan).
Meet and greets.