50 Fun Facts About Dan and Phil

Phil Lester filmed his first YouTube vlog in 2006 on a black-and-white camera he won from what?

A cereal box supplied the camera for "Phil's Video Blog", which he posted aged 19 in March 2006. That early start made him one of the first notable British YouTubers.

Which subject did Dan Howell quit studying in 2011, citing a lack of interest, to pursue YouTube?

Law was his course from 2010, after a gap year in which he began uploading videos as a hobby. He left to make YouTube and radio his full-time job.

Phil Lester reached the final round of which British TV quiz show as a contestant in 2007?

The Weakest Link put Phil on national TV in 2007, the year after he uploaded his first vlog in March 2006.

Which BBC station hired Dan and Phil to present its Sunday night request show from January 2013?

BBC Radio 1 streamed the show live on video, so fans worldwide could watch the on-air challenges. The duo had already presented two Christmas broadcasts for the station.

Dan and Phil voiced Technician 1 and Technician 2 in the UK cinema release of which Disney film?

Big Hero 6 gave the pair a voice cameo only in its 2015 UK cinema run; the UK home release does not include their version.

Dan and Phil launched DanAndPhilCRAFTS, source of the meme "Don't cry, craft", to mark which occasion?

April Fools' Day 2015 brought the spoof channel's single video, which drew over 154,000 subscribers within a week. New joke tutorials followed on the same date in 2016, 2017 and 2024.

Phil Lester earned a Guinness World Record in 2011 for the fastest time at which fiddly task?

Stacking coins won him the record: he balanced 25 on top of each other in just 31.617 seconds.

In which English city did Dan and Phil first live together in 2011, a year before moving to London?

Manchester was their first shared home from August 2011; the move to the capital came in July 2012, months before their national radio show began.

Which weekly podcast did Dan and Phil start in October 2025 after rebranding their joint channel?

Hard Launch premiered on 20 October 2025, a week after the pair confirmed they had been a couple since 2009. Each episode also comes out as a video on their channel.

In the stage show The Amazing Tour Is Not on Fire, how does Phil manage to break the Internet?

Microwaving his laptop in an experiment makes its contents explode like popcorn. Dan and Phil then have to entertain the audience without the thing that made them famous.

What is the name of the Sim character Dan and Phil created for their popular Sims 4 series?

Dil Howlter starred in one of the most popular series on their gaming channel, and he even interrupted the 2023 sketch that revived it.

Dan and Phil revived their gaming channel in 2023 with a sketch that staged which ceremony for it?

A funeral for the channel is interrupted in "Saying Goodbye Forever", a comedy sketch Dan wrote to end a hiatus that had lasted since December 2018.

Which gaming YouTuber made a guest appearance in the 2023 sketch that revived Dan and Phil's joint channel?

Jacksepticeye, the Let's Play creator Seán McLoughlin, guest-starred in the sketch, which ended a hiatus of nearly five years for the joint channel.

In the Disney Junior series The Lion Guard, Dan and Phil voice a pair of princes of which species?

Gorillas were the roles: Dan voiced Prince Majinuni and Phil voiced Prince Hafifu in the 2016 episode "The Lost Gorillas".

Dan and Phil hosted the global YouTube livestream of which British music ceremony from 2014 to 2016?

Brit Awards viewers online got the pair as livestream hosts for three years running, and they also filmed backstage videos at the ceremonies.

What did Dan and Phil investigate on The Super Amazing Project, their show for My Damn Channel?

Paranormal events were the theme, with a segment called "Viewers Spooky Happenings" in which fans sent in scary items for the pair to react to.

What did Dan and Phil make out of paper in the very first DanAndPhilCRAFTS video, uploaded in 2015?

Square snowflakes were the only project on the channel for a year, taught in a deliberately amateur editing style. Glitter faces followed in the second tutorial in 2016.

Under which series name did Dan and Phil upload a video every day of December until Christmas?

Gamingmas was an annual fixture on DanAndPhilGAMES, the channel that passed a million subscribers within six months of its first video in September 2014.

What two-word greeting did Dan Howell use as the title of his first YouTube video in October 2009?

Hello Internet went up on 16 October 2009, after friends including Phil encouraged him to upload. The two met in person for the first time later that month.

What format was "Phil is not on fire", the 2009 video that was Dan and Phil's first collaboration?

A Q&A session started it all, and the video grew into a ten-part series with one new instalment a year until 2018.

Daniel Howell came out publicly in June 2019 with a YouTube video carrying which title?

Basically I'm Gay went up in June 2019, and Phil followed later that month with a video of his own, "Coming Out to You".

Before coming out publicly in 2019, how did Daniel Howell first break the news to his own family?

By email is how his family heard it first. He has spoken of struggling at school with homophobia, both from others and internalised.

Daniel Howell's 2021 solo book You Will Get Through This Night is a practical guide to which subject?

Mental health is the focus of the book, which he wrote with psychologist Dr Heather Bolton. It became a number-one Sunday Times bestseller.

Which 2016 photo book collected pictures and stories from The Amazing Tour Is Not on Fire?

Dan and Phil Go Outside came out in November 2016 as a companion to the stage show and became a number-one bestseller in the United States.

Dan and Phil released their tour song "The Internet Is Here" as a single in aid of which charity campaign?

Stand Up To Cancer received the proceeds, and sales of the song earned the pair a gold record disc.

At which famous venue did the 2015 UK leg of The Amazing Tour Is Not on Fire come to an end?

London Palladium hosted the final UK show in November 2015. The tour then travelled to the US, Australia and Europe in 2016.

Which 2018 world tour by Dan and Phil carried the tagline "Giving the people what they want"?

Interactive Introverts was less theatrical than their first tour, swapping its fictional storyline for audience interaction. A film of the show was released that December.

Dan and Phil's 2018 world tour opened in Brighton and closed five months later in which Indian city?

Mumbai was the final stop of a tour that reached 18 countries, including Poland, the Philippines, Russia, New Zealand and Finland.

What was the title of Daniel Howell's first solo comedy tour, which opened in Ipswich in September 2022?

We're All Doomed! toured the UK, Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand before ending in Belfast in March 2023. A filmed version was recorded at Alexandra Palace Theatre in 2024.

In which Belgian city did Dan and Phil open their comeback tour Terrible Influence in September 2024?

Antwerp opened the tour, their first together since reviving the gaming channel. It ran into 2025 with more than 70 performances.

Which party board game, based on an icebreaker Phil invented, did Dan and Phil release in 2017?

Truth Bombs proved adaptable: publisher Big Potato later released a Mean Girls-themed version called Mean Girls: The Party Game.

Which quick-fire game, started by Phil in a 2014 video, did Dan and Phil turn into a mobile app in 2015?

The 7 Second Challenge began on Phil's main channel, AmazingPhil, and became an app in August 2015.

Which relative of Phil Lester co-founded the merchandise company IRL Digital with Dan and Phil in 2014?

His brother Martyn, who is older than Phil, set up the company with the pair. It makes and sells merchandise for various media personalities.

On which livestreaming platform did Dan Howell broadcast weekly hour-long shows between 2013 and 2018?

YouNow hosted his live shows for five years, and from 2017 they were also broadcast on his second YouTube channel, danisnotinteresting.

Which Monday-night BBC show, hosted by a rotation of vloggers, did Dan and Phil move to in September 2014?

The Internet Takeover put Dan and Phil on air on the first Monday of every month. It ran until April 2016, when The Student Radio Playlist replaced it.

Which prop did Dan and Phil wear to read the Internet News on their BBC radio show?

Lensless glasses, which they called their "news glasses", topped off a parody of serious bulletins, complete with an orchestral soundtrack.

Which presenter hosted the Sunday BBC request show until January 2013, when Dan and Phil took over?

Jameela Jamil had presented it since April 2012. The switch to Dan and Phil brought a new visual format, part of a station-wide push to attract younger listeners.

Four months into its run, Dan and Phil's BBC radio show won which Sony prize, named after audio gear?

Golden Headphones went to the show at the 2013 Sony Radio Academy Awards, barely a third of the way through its first year on air.

Which supermarket chain did Dan Howell work for after a job at the retailer Focus DIY at age 16?

Asda followed Focus DIY on his CV. After finishing school in 2009 he took a gap year, and it was then that he began uploading videos as a hobby.

Which high-street chain was among Phil Lester's early jobs, along with dog walking and washing cars?

WHSmith sits on a list of early jobs that also includes veterinary clinic assistant, all before vlogging and radio presenting became his profession.

In which English city did Phil Lester study at university, graduating with a master's in video postproduction?

York was his university city: he took a BA in English Language and Linguistics there in 2008, a year before his MA in Video Postproduction with Visual Effects.

In which Lancashire town did Phil Lester grow up, attending Helmshore Primary School as a boy?

Rawtenstall is in the name of his secondary school too: Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, which he attended before going to university.

What food is Rash, the character Phil Lester voices in Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures?

A bacon strip named Rash was Phil's role, while Dan voiced a slice of brie cheese. The puppets for the 2015 series came from Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Which YouTuber created Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures and directed Dan and Phil's 2023 comeback sketch?

PJ Liguori, known online as KickThePj, also put both of them in the cast of his 2013 short film The Forever Train.

Dan Howell won the 2012 YouTube competition SuperNote, which was run by which comedy duo?

Rhett and Link ran the contest, and Dan marked the win with a video titled "LLAMARMY ULTIMATE GALACTIC VICTORY".

Which price comparison site put Phil Lester in a 2008 advert, when he had about 27,000 subscribers?

Confused.com hired him two years after his first vlog, when his audience was a fraction of the four million subscribers he reached in 2017.

Phil Lester played Tim in which 2008 British comedy about a man obsessed with medieval battle re-enactment?

Faintheart starred Eddie Marsan, Ewen Bremner and Jessica Hynes, and its making was shaped by input from the MySpace community.

Which UK charity named Daniel Howell an ambassador after he supported its #HelloYellow campaign in 2017?

YoungMinds made him an ambassador after that show of support, and that November he also joined an anti-cyberbullying campaign.

Which royal launched Stop, Speak, Support, the anti-cyberbullying campaign Dan Howell joined in 2017?

Prince William launched it at YouTube Space London in November 2017, and Dan was among the creators who backed the campaign.

Which Hollywood venue hosted the final US show of The Amazing Tour Is Not on Fire, later released as a film?

Dolby Theatre staged the show on 24 June 2016, and the live recording became a YouTube Red Original film that October.