Our second episode on Dan and Phil focuses on Daniel Howell’s personal YouTube channel, formerly known as danisnotonfire.

Before launching his channel, Dan was a fan of Phil’s channel AmazingPhil, and the two became online friends. With encouragement from Phil, Dan uploaded his first video, ‘Hello Internet,’ in 2009. Dan’s storytime/sketch videos were reminiscent of creators like CommunityChannel, combined with his edgy, self-deprecating humour. It was a winning formula, and danisnotonfire would overtake AmazingPhil in subscribers by 2013.

Despite his success, Dan grew increasingly disillusioned with YouTube. His solo uploads became less frequent, although he still collaborated with Phil and appeared in their shared content and tours.

In 2019, after a period of inactivity, Dan posted the video essay ‘Basically I’m Gay’. Three years later, he followed it up with ‘Why I Quit YouTube’. Both videos offered significant insight into his personal and professional struggles, as well as explaining his absence from YouTube.

Since then, Dan has returned to YouTube on his own terms, both on his personal channel (now just ‘Daniel Howell’) and through his collaborations with Phil. He also undertook the solo world tour ‘We’re All Doomed’, which was filmed and posted on full on YouTube.

We run through how Dan’s content evolved over the years, his comedic sensibility and perspective, and how his issues with YouTube are shared by other creators.

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:58 Our familiarity with Dan

00:04:26 Dan's early videos and comedic sensibility

00:10:38 Dan's mildly antagonistic relationship with viewers

00:18:39 Mainstream breakthrough

00:20:42 How to speak internet with Jack and Finn

00:22:51 Internet Support Group

00:24:38 Collab with Tyler Oakley - Dan and Tyler being offensive

00:26:27 Further collabs with Louise and Connor Franta

00:28:52 Correction - Dan and Phil have met Troye Sivan

00:30:35 Promoting the Amazing tour and book

00:33:50 Top Dan Memes of the Year series

00:36:37 Channel name change, less active on YouTube

00:39:59 Daniel and Depression

00:44:16 Basically, I'm Gay

00:50:48 Why I Quit YouTube

00:56:57 Cancelled YouTube Original show

01:01:07 Dan's return to YouTube

01:02:01 We Are All Doomed live comedy show

01:06:19 Overall thoughts on Dan's channel

01:09:55 Max's subscription: Below Deck Med

01:10:46 Lucy's subscription: my chungus life

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