Dan Howell and Phil Lester Are in Their 'Era of Not Giving a F---' as They Celebrate 15 Years Working Together (Exclusive)

Dan Howell and Phil Lester are finally taking control of the narrative.

The two British YouTubers kick off the North American leg of their third joint tour Terrible Influence on Sunday, Oct. 6 in Seattle, Washington. Over the next two months, they will be bringing their show across the states and Canada with stops planned in New York City, San Diego, Los Angeles, Toronto and Nashville, among others.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the duo, who have a shared following of over 12 million subscribers on YouTube, talk about their recent comeback and venturing into uncharted waters with their fans through their new show.

"This is definitely the era of not giving a f---," Dan, 33, tells us. "We're older now and so is our audience. We've all kind of grown up together."

After Dan and Phil’s Interactive Introverts tour in 2018, the two went in different directions with their careers as Dan's YouTube channel was put on hiatus, along with their shared channel DanandPhilGAMES.

During this time, Dan published the #1 New York Times bestselling mental health book You Will Get Through This Night and embarked on a 2022 solo comedy tour called We’re All Doomed. Meanwhile, Phil, 37, continued to grow his own YouTube channel AmazingPhil.

Through it all, Dan says that Phil wanted them to revisit their gaming channel, which went on break in December 2018 before returning in October 2023 with a dramatic announcement video that saw their signature Sim character popping out of a coffin. From there, coming home to their joint brand felt natural and they started to plan their third tour in December 2023.

"It was an accident," Dan explains. "This is not something that we had an evil agenda for. It is something that kind of naturally, accidentally formed. We decided to come back. We posted some stuff as Dan and Phil again and, I think, what happened was neither of us had any idea how horny people would be for Dan and Phil again."

Phil admits to instigating their return, saying, "I have kind of been the evil angel or devil based on what you think… I've been on Dan's shoulder, whispering in his ear, saying, 'What if we came back? What if we did a tour?' "

Dan claims, at the time, he was "sat in the corner, rocking backwards and forwards like, 'Are we sure? Dan and Phil again, is the world ready for that?' "

"But it worked out, didn't it?" Phil quips. 

Even when it came to their solo projects, the two still functioned as a team. For Dan’s solo tour, Phil received a production credit as his remote crisis manager.

"I was ready for a bit of a breather," Phil recalls. "But then I started to miss it and I got a bit of FOMO when I saw Dan doing his tour. I was like, 'You know what? That looks so fun and I've not seen my audience in seven years.' "

During this time of transition in their careers, Dan and Phil both publicly came out as gay in videos uploaded in June 2019 on their respective channels and have since been recognized in YouGov’s top 10 list of public figures that young LGBTQ+ people in Britain say "helped them feel more comfortable growing up," among the likes of Lady Gaga and RuPaul.

This tour marks Phil's first time interacting with fans on stage since coming out. "A lot of our fans are some level of queer. So it's really nice to kind of connect with them, being like, 'Yes, I'm one of you and I never said it before,' " he says. "I feel part of that community."

With their stage show, which will play 70 performances worldwide through February 2025, Phil wants his fans to "come away feeling like they've had a lot of fun."

However, it also has a deeper narrative as Dan says, "I think it's basically asking the question, fundamentally, were Dan and Phil, the internet and people who create content a force for good? Or have we destroyed the world?"

Dan hopes that unpacking their past with brutal honesty will "heal" their fans. "We want everyone to leave feeling like, 'Oh, there we go, water under the bridge. I'm happy with who I am. I like these guys. I had a good time. What a fresh take on life,' " he explains.

Phil first joined YouTube in March 2006, whereas Dan joined in October 2009 after connecting with Phil online, thus launching their joint brand. Throughout their time together on the platform, they have fostered a tight-knit, but sometimes challenging relationship with their fans.

"Me and Phil, even back in 2018, were kind of the 1st generation of people in that position to ask, 'What should we be okay with and what kind of stuff should we draw a line through?' And then go, 'You know what? Maybe we shouldn -

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9;t go there,' " Dan says. "The 2018 tour we did, Interactive Introverts, was literally us asking that to the audience. It was going, 'Do you own us? Are we supposed to do whatever you say? Do we have to give the people what they want before we're allowed to do what we want? Go ghost, quit YouTube and turn out to be gay the whole time.' "

They note that what sets Terrible Influence apart from other tours is that it is "just going, 'All right, well, here we all are now. If we are so over this, then we are going to finally say all the stuff that we were afraid to say 5 years ago,' " Dan adds. "And that is as thrilling for us as it is terrifying for the audience."

The duo is grateful that there is now language to discuss the relationship between fans and their idols, and they have embraced it into the branding of their tour – going as far as selling shirts labeled "parasocial social club."

"We accept that we come from a time when everyone was working out how to be less toxic in both directions," Dan says. "And now we're going: 'It is what it is.' People were younger, culture was different. In the same way that the world was a lot more homophobic when we were younger, that was the reason why I – more than Phil probably – was scared feeling like I was in the closet for so long. We are luckier now to be in a time where you can find your tribe on the internet."

The themes of Terrible Influence are somewhat akin to a farewell show: the two are cleaning up their timeline and communicating with fans in a new, transparent way. But Phil considers their current era to be a "hello again, rather than a goodbye."

"We're not closing a book. It's more like this is a new thing," he explains. 

"I think it's like rising from the ashes," Dan adds. "In order to have a comeback where we are happy with where things are, certain things need to be burned to the ground. So, as much of the show is going, 'We love who we are now and we love this.' It's like, in order to do that, we have to turn around, put a few things up on the screen and go: 'What was that about?' "

That said, where do they go from here?

"I cannot believe that this year is gonna be 15 years of Dan and Phil," Dan says. At this stage in their career, he thinks about how they have "really formed a connection with so many millions of people around the world that has luckily made it so that people are still choosing to have us as part of their lives. The fact that this year was our fastest-selling tour is so hard to understand because it seems like with the internet, people come and they go."

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As for personal goals, Phil, who rose to prominence with his out-of-the-box videos like his choose-your-own-adventure quest "Interactive Christmas Adventure" and his quirky short film "The Basket," jokes that maybe he’ll venture into film and make his own "Megalopolis."

"I'd love to use some more of my creativity," he says. "I don't know if that would be a book, or a short film or some kind of writings. I really like writing as well. I did a lot of that throughout my life and then as soon as YouTube came along, it is kind of ‘unscripted Phil’ is what everyone's getting. So what would Phil behind a script be like? I guess that's an interesting prospect."

Dan, on the other hand, is not ready to commit to bringing back his solo channel, although he did return briefly in 2022 for his series Dystopia Daily.

"I did it for so long and it dominated so much of my life," he says of his relationship with YouTube. "For me, it's trying to find ways to do things that are new and authentic. Maybe I'll find a new way to do it. Something that shakes it up, keeps it fresh. I do miss parts of it."

In the meantime, Dan notes that he "really, really enjoyed" writing his book and performing his own comedy show, but also relishes in their "amazingly supportive audience" who have given them freedom to choose what projects they take on in the future.

“For people like us, who were basically two kids with no plan, 15 or 18 years ago, being here now in 2024, knowing that there are so many different things that we could do that aren't just being a social media person, we feel incredibly lucky," he adds.

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Tickets for Terrible Influence are now on sale at danandphiltour.com.

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