Dan and Phil’s terrible tour is anything but terrible

Dan and Phil have been making YouTube videos together for 15 years, and they’ve still managed to keep an audience large enough to fill seats at an international tour. I was in one of those seats, and I loved it.

The pair made its first YouTube video together in 2009, and have been collaborating on videos almost consistently since then, with a hiatus from around 2018 to 2023. They make videos like playing games, stories and baking. The pair returned stronger than ever and ready to tour.

The Terrible Influence Tour is the third time the pair has put together a touring comedy show, and they still entertain. The Ohio stop, at the Akron Civic Theater on Oct. 29., was no exception.

Doors opened at 7 p.m., and at 6:55 p.m., the line of emos, gays and confused chaperones spanned two city blocks. Dan and Phil boast an inclusive fandom, or “phandom,” that has been taking in weirdos since 2009. “Phans” ranged from middle schoolers to people well into their middle ages, some of whom had been watching from the very first YouTube collab.

The live show started with a set of dioramas used to explain the pair’s long and ridiculous YouTube history for fans who may have just started watching. The pair talked about how they have both come out separately as gay and cheekily played into the long-standing romance rumors between them.

The pair went through multiple segments, including one revealing the secrets behind their fans’ long-standing conspiracy theories about them and another playing on the trend of YouTube boxing matches.

Every segment was somehow interactive, with guests being able to choose what to talk about or shout answers to a pseudo-game of Mad Libs, everyone was getting involved.

The theater was constantly erupting into screams, and at the times when the merch table was open, the line snaked all throughout the theater, winding around seats and the stage. Everyone wanted to get a “Dan and Phil made me Gay and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt” shirt, me included.

The night concluded in typical Dan and Phil tour fashion: with a song.

The evening was electric, and the fans were overjoyed. I can count the Akron stop for TIT as a success.

rothra2@miamioh.edu