29 Oct 2025
The history of danisnotonfire | Dan and Phil Part 2
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
SOCIALS AND CONTACT INFORMATION
Email us at rewindtimepod@gmail.com (mailto:rewindtimepod@gmail.com)
Watch the video feed at www.youtube.com/@RewindTimePod (https://www.youtube.com/@RewindTimePod)
We post shorts on www.instagram.com/rewindtimepod/ (https://www.instagram.com/rewindtimepod/) and www.tiktok.com/@rewindtimepod (https://www.tiktok.com/@rewindtimepod)
Get more Lucy at www.youtube.com/@LucyLivinYT (https://www.youtube.com/@LucyLivinYT), www.tiktok.com/@lucy_livin (https://www.tiktok.com/@lucy_livin) and www.instagram.com/lucy.livin/ (https://www.instagram.com/lucy.livin/), Max is at www.instagram.com/max.eagles (http://www.instagram.com/max.eagles)
