The UK YouTube stars sit down with YOUR ex to discuss instant chemistry, their relationship status and surviving a homophobic online gaming world.
Their last tour was the biggest world tour a duo of YouTubers had ever embarked on. After a content-creating hiatus, Dan and Phil returned to YouTube for more heartwarming gay chemistry and gags, plus an even more ambitious world tour that brings them to Auckland this December! Talking to Oliver Hall, they reflect on where it all began.
- When you met in 2009, how quickly did you know you wanted to collaborate, and was your chemistry instant?
P: We kind of met with the intent to collaborate!
D: Which was a huge risk. I was literally a stranger from the internet. I could have axe-murdered him – or worse, just been a flop person to collab with.
P: I think the chemistry was pretty instant, as our first-ever video together was the iconic ‘Phil is not on fire’ cat whisker Q&A.
D: Your faves could never.
Click HERE to book tickets for Dan & Phil’s Auckland show!
- You both came out as gay in respective YouTube videos in June 2019. How long had you been planning that for, and what inspired it in June of that year?
D: I literally only decided it was finally time to confront my sexuality in 2018. I felt like I couldn’t function any more in my life until I dealt with it, as the inauthenticity was holding back every part of me. It took me literally months of writing a script to work through my own feelings regarding that sexuality, and June was my deadline!
P: I don’t yap as much as Dan, so I didn’t take that long – but it was amazing to finally be open about that part of my life with pride, and I instantly felt I could be myself, and we know it meant so much to people online too.
- Do you feel your followers have treated you any differently since coming out?
D: It hit different.
P: It definitely did, but the support was amazing! I’m sure for some people it might have been an unexpected plot twist… but if they had a problem with it, oh well, bye!
D: We have created an incredibly inclusive community where people of all identities feel welcome, and it makes me shed a single tear from my cold, dead heart – as it’s the kind of vibe I wish I had when I was younger.
- DanAndPhilGames has been one of your most popular YouTube channels with over 3 million subscribers at its peak, suggesting there was a gap in the market for LGBTQ+ gaming content. Do you feel ‘gaymers’ are catered for now?
P: Sometimes we try to think who the other biggest queer YouTubers, or more specifically gamers are, and suddenly we realise – in the club of biggest ever internet personalities, it’s disturbingly uncommon!
D: We love gaming and reluctantly identify as gamers, but they gotta be one of the mustiest demographics of humans if we’re stereotyping. To be able to make content around one of our favourite pastimes – and do it with our unhinged, inherently gay humour – is honestly an act of defiance we’re proud to continue.
Click HERE to book tickets for Dan & Phil’s Auckland show!
- Do you think the gaming community has become less homophobic in the years since you started that channel?
D: It has. It’s not exactly perfect yet – but we have to be honest about how much worse it used to be.
P: Social media lets people find their own communities, so rather than being chucked in a CoD (Call of Duty) lobby to fight for your life, people can join queer gaming discord communities or make friends on Twitter (X), and that’s amazing!
- The two of you have lived together since 2011. How do you avoid getting on each other’s nerves when you create so much content together as well?
D: We avoid getting on each other’s nerves?
P: We spend way too much time together. It’s not normal.
D: If we had more friends and liked going outside, we could have some healthier separation, but damn, RIP us.
- You have been creating content together for well over a decade. How do you keep that content fresh?
P: The gay awakening certainly helped. It was like flipping a brown rug over and seeing a rainbow underneath.
D: It’s a new era of ‘Dan and Phil’ on YouTube where we’re all older, most of us are some kind of gayer and we don’t really GAF (give a f**k) – we’re enjoying it a lot, and we can tell for our audience it’s been an amazing reunion where we’re loving it more than ever before.
Click HERE to book tickets for Dan & Phil’s Auckland show!
- Why did you want to return to creating YouTube content in 2023 after your hiatus?
D: Phil convinced me that everyone was less feral and it would be fun.
P: I was like, ‘why not?’ He can always disappear to get milk again if he hates it – but it turned out people loved it, and here we are.
- Your previous two world tours were some of the biggest-ever to be put on by YouTube creators. What can we expect from Terrible Influence?
D: We said we wouldn’t do a tour that huge again, and it’s almost the biggest one we’ve ever done.
P: Thoughts and prayers, please. I’m a fragile boy.
D: It’s gonna be healing. It’s us audaciously stepping into this new era and ripping a bunch of plasters off that will leave people hopefully crying in laughter and the occasional shocked gasp.
P: You know we’re going to bring the theatricality as well! There are lots of ‘surprises’ as well as audience involvement and a healthy roast of the internet.
- Aside from your YouTube videos, you have had groundbreaking success as authors, radio hosts and comedy tours. Has that been a shock, and how do you process that success without it going to your respective heads?
D: Internet comment sections will always do a good job of bringing you down a peg – thankfully, I’m also very talented at doing that to myself.
P: Very wholesome, Dan, thanks. We’re extremely grateful that so many people get joy from laughing along with us and find our community a hilarious and accepting place to be. As long as we love doing it and there’s an audience that asks for more, we will be here!
- You have previously suggested that the two of you were once romantically involved but not confirmed if you still are. Would you like to give us an update on your respective dating statuses?
D: No. Mind your business.
P: Dan means we have a right to personal life privacy in every way – we’re here to entertain, not be reality stars! Thanks.
Follow @danandphilgames on YouTube.
