Dan & Phil Part 102: crisis twinks

[anna_begins]

I'm excited for the series. I kinda wish he would've just jumped right into it instead of this long introduction of what's to come, kinda felt like a rehash of his last video. Having said that I actually lol'd at the house band part, I love seeing his silly side again. Also the opening sequence was very cool and the set is so Dan. I think I'm really going to enjoy this, and I can't wait to see who the guests are.

[kalli]

Of course Dan would post a video in the midst of me writing a long, now off-topic post lmao. I am honestly excited for some ~content~ and happy to see a video with Phil is next up. Nothing too exciting seeing as it was just an intro, but still enjoyable! The little keyboard bit got me


Anyways, tour playlist predictions:

The playlist is being curated.

Any predictions?

Dan's Spotify is much more private now and the music chats from live shows are long gone, so I don't have nearly as much information to base my predictions on as I did last time, but I'll give it a go...

He mentioned these artists (and songs) in the replies to this tweet or previous tweets concerning the playlist, so they will almost certainly be included:
- Phoebe Bridgers (I Know The End)
- Rina Sawayama (This Hell)
- Loona (Eclipse)
- My Chemical Romance (The Foundations of Decay)
- NCT127 (Sticker)
- Twice (not specified)
- Charli XCX (not specified)
- Taylor Swift (whatever is most doom-y from Evermore or Folklore)
- BTS (he didn't sound sold on Dynamite being the song of choice)
- Bad Bunny (a song from Un Verano Sin Ti, Me Porto Bonito was the suggestion)

These are some of the artists (songs) he has fairly recently shared in Instagram stories, and I would assume we'll hear at least a couple of them:
- Muse (We Are Fucking Fucked)
- Black Midi (Eat Men Eat)
- The Smile (The Smoke)
- Gorillaz (Cracker Island)
- Perfume Genius (Ugly Season)
- Polyphia (Playing God)
- Shygirl (Firefly)
- Pusha T (Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes)
- Rosalia (Saoko)
- FKA Twigs (Meta Angel)
- Arca (Luna Llena)

Some of the artists included in previous tour playlists who I believe are highly likely to be featured again:
- Billie Eilish
- Frank Ocean
- Sophie
- Poppy
- The 1975
- Kendrick Lamar
- Brockhampton
- Harry Styles
- Twenty One Pilots
- Lorde
- Halsey
- Bring Me The Horizon
- Grimes

A few artists who have not otherwise been mentioned and seem likely to be included:
- Blackpink
- Girl in Red
- Slowthai
- Joji
- Beyonce


And lastly, I found this tweet particularly intriguing...

I'm a bit clueless when it comes to hyperpop, but emo/metal is certainly my cup of tea and I'm very curious to see what he might include that would fall into those genres. I'm assuming that's referring to an assortment of MCR, FOB, BMTH, Evanescence, and the likes, plus potentially Trivium and/or Mastodon since we know Dan listens to them. If he wants to throw in some Boston Manor, Sleep Token, Loathe, PVRIS, Trash Boat, Architects, or Thornhill, I will gladly perform my best head-banging/dancing combo at Massey Hall LOL

[starsandshards]

I haven't collected all my thoughts on this quite yet but I did like it I think.

In the meantime:

This made me lol just as hard as the Philmoon cameo in the video. Thank you.

[kavat]

Okay, this was not the concept I was expecting but I'm not mad about it! Dan has talked for ages about wanting to step away from the bedroom videos and do more "produced" content, so this makes perfect sense. I'm a little confused about it being different parts of one episode but I guess it will make sense when the next one drops. I loved Sophie's cameo a lot

And oh my god the thought of him doing some sort of liveshow this weekend is making me so excited. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but Dan's liveshows has always been my favorite thing (maybe only behind joint liveshows).

[Artdefines06]

wow my password still works years later!

I just saw the trailer for the new show and I have a question for the masses - how much do we think this youtube show content will overlap with the live theater content? I ask because I am trying to decide whether to see the live show or not. its in the big city near me (seattle), but driving into seattle at night is a nightmare, its a holiday weekend, and i would be going alone and slightly embarrassed that I even care.

If its all going to be the same content then I feel safer just watching it at home. If its unique and special then I will kick myself knowing it was so close and I passed it up. (I missed dapgoose even though I had tickets but had to work and didnt see II at all - Tatinof was so cute and I still think of how fun it was sometimes - I'm very torn)

[koalaselfie]

I haven't collected all my thoughts on this quite yet but I did like it I think.

In the meantime:

This has me rolling I've watched it like three times!

[rizzo]

Don't mean to be unnecessarily negative, but, I don't think this will be a success for Dan. It feels too corporate, overthought and overproduced. That's not what drew people to him in the first place. I don't think it will do well in terms of views, other than when Phil appears.

People want to see his authentic personality, not this like kinda performed, rehearsed version of him. It's the same reason I'm apprehensive about the stage show (even though I've bought tickets). I like him as a content creator... but not really as a comedian, in the traditional sense.

Its why his instagram Q&A has a lot more views than all the segments from his pride show, other than the one that's clickbaited as a gay crush tier list. That's what people want to see - casual content.

I hope I'm wrong.

I might have fully agreed with this prior to episode 1, but I'm not sure I do now? I think the built-out set and like.. "talk show" vibes... are covering up what is otherwise going to be a show pretty authentic to Dan. He just doesn't want to film in his bedroom.

There were moments in that first monologue where his real personality broke through for a bit and I think sitting opposite other people and just having a chat allows for more of an unscripted vibe. The only difference is that he's got a sound-stage.

The way he seems to be selling it is that he's just gonna let himself be a bit dumb with like... a light premise and a few monologues here and there.

But who knows. I'll wait for more episodes to drop, for now I'm cautiously optimistic.

[dumbslet2]

right i wanted to post yesterday but i forgot my password so here i am again v 2.0

anyway im interested to see what happens with dan's new show, looks like he's already filmed a few episodes in advance and he's got a larger team helping him which i think should take some of the pressure off and push him towards publishing videos more regularly. lovely to see pj sophie and phil involved as well.

i wasn't sure how i felt about the video as a whole, i felt like it was 16 minutes that could have been cut out of another video and we wouldn't have missed it. i liked the small jokes like the house band and the animated background / opening theme was lovely but i felt like it didn't really need its own introduction, especially as i spent the first 15 minutes of the video trying to figure out what exactly this dan show was going to be about and then finished the video not really knowing either.

i have booked tickets to see dan as i've been a d&p fan since 2014 and they've seen me thru some tough shit, but as someone who is 5 years younger than dan i'm not sure i'm still his target demographic as i don't feel i enjoyed his video as much as i maybe would've previously? the doomsday schtick feels a little dated if i'm honest and i'm not sure i'm amused by him being horny on main anymore with the daddy choke me jokes (although i don't think i ever was).

i think when i saw the pilot i thought he was going to do something like newswipe a la charlie brooker and then at the end of the video i realised he wasn't doing that at all, which made me feel like i've lost the ability to understand where dan's coming from lol

i'm still excited to see what he puts out and he baited everyone really well there with the preview of phil in the next video, so we'll see what it is they've avoided telling the internet for over ten years.

and im still looking forward to his show, i just don't know how much i will enjoy it but im happy to keep an open mind and im also pretty curious to see what the demographic of the people attending will be.

[LAshleigh]

Okay I really liked this!! It left me feeling mostly warm and happy. I liked the editing, definitely done by someone else but still very Dan. I loved the production, it felt like the best combination of personal without crossing Dan's personal boundaries.

[alittledizzy]

I've been traveling so I haven't had a chance to rewatch but first impressions: I really love it and I'm proud of Dan for doing it. I believe him when he says this is his immersion therapy back into youtube. Will it work? Maybe. Maybe not. Not everything we try in life is always gonna go the way we want it to. The same is true for Dan. But I believe his sincerity in wanting to figure out how to make the platform feel safe and fun and productive again after being so, so burned by it. (Not viewers - the literal platform.)

I also can't imagine how much pressure two very well performing bombshell videos would be. I'm sure he knows this won't do as well. No regular content ever would. But it's still important for him (and us) to not judge content he's putting out regularly with content he spends an entire year making.

I am sure I won't love every segment of this but I'm just thrilled Dan's making things for me to have an opinion on again.

[Catallena]

So I stand by that I liked it, but in a This Doesn't Quite Convince Me But I Wanna Have Faith kinda way. The video was fine. It was the introduction to an at least mildly interesting concept (we can only judge later on whether it was an actually good one), it wasn't overly cringe or edgy in a way that would make me want to turn it off, and I'm looking forward to seeing more because obviously a lot of work has gone into it. But also, I didn't find most of the jokes or the delivery particularly funny because they felt a bit forced and empty. It's really not something I can say I always wanted to see from Dan, and it all just has a certain vibe to it that is bothering me.

Obviously it's too early to really tell and if he's happy making this type of content then I'm glad because at this stage that is the most important. But I don't think it will find an audience with a good chunk of his audience who have patiently(ish) waited for content for this long, or bring back the people who checked out or even just casual viewers. Perhaps that's his intention, but let's not open up the discussion about whether Dan is bothered by his fanbase demographic right now. There does seem to be a difference between what we've seen from Dystopia Daily and the things the audience actually wants to see or what they liked about Dan in the first place. For me the things that I liked about Dan were that he was relatable, amiable, didn't take himself too seriously, was a bit more up to date with fandom stuff and pop culture than other creators and that he had a very immersive way of telling stories. And if there's one thing he had over Phil, it was that he seemed a little more real. Now Dan is the one who seems to be one curating a persona for himself as part of his reinvention as a ~real comedian~ and imo it's not a very likeable one. Almost more like a caricature.

The one thing I've seen fans beg for over and over for years now, especially post-BIG, is more casual fun content. Just Dan being Dan, without him feeling the need to hide or lash out like he used to. I didn't like liveshows back in the day because he always made me feel so on edge, but I think I'd like them more if they were like that. I think that's what a lot of people were waiting for with Dan's grand return to the internet. Instead we got a tour that uses the world going though through seemingly endless crises as a backdrop, and now a series of videos with essentially the same theme except there will be a cat. Yeah, it's topical but it's all a bit much. We get it, you cope with the world burning by making jokes about it just like you did with your depression and sexuality. What else you got? Not saying that he isn't allowed to make those jokes or make things with an unnecessarily high production value, but it all just feels a little bit off to me. We got Dan back, but rn to me it feels like he's very far away.

He did say maybe he'd do something more spontaneous this weekend when someone asked about liveshows on Twitter, so let's hope that'll be something good.

This sounded more negative than I intended when I started writing this post oops.

[Susanisnotafish]

Catallena, you captured so much of what I’ve been feeling regarding Dan lately! I hope the tour (especially the pre-show Q and A) is more like what I love about him. I liked his Sitcom idea in theory, so still have hopes for that getting picked up since he said he was pitching it around. I guess whatever he does is better than the nothing we got for so long.

[Phantasy]

Oh dear… I don’t think he’s posted anything quite like this before… a literal cry for help…

[Catallena]

I really hope he's okay, he looks very vulnerable. I don't think I've ever seen him like that before. It's so late at night as well, even if we know he can stay up quite late it's unlike him to head to Twitter like this.

[Yawn]

Oh geez, this is not what we want to see. Posted super late at night as well. I really hope it's not to do with the reception of this latest video - maybe he's just super overwhelmed by tour preparation?
Honestly a bit distressing to see him looking upset like that I don't think we've ever really seen it. Please stay well Dan

[interruptfireworks]

i honestly don't know if i can click on the video as just from the tweet i can tell it's heavy and stuff like that makes me quite nervous.. can anyone give a rundown of what he said in it? i sincerely hope he's doing well though, i can understood how stuff could be stressful right now

[dumbslet2]

oh im so worried for him! he looks incredibly vulnerable there and it's a weird time of night to be posting it. sounds like something has happened or he has had some bad news, i hope things are OK and that he feels a bit better after some sleep. i've not seen dan like this in a loooooong time.

[Tornbetweenfandoms]

i honestly don't know if i can click on the video as just from the tweet i can tell it's heavy and stuff like that makes me quite nervous.. can anyone give a rundown of what he said in it? i sincerely hope he's doing well though, i can understood how stuff could be stressful right now

He asked people to submit cute videos of happy moments in their lives that they look back on fondly so he can make a compilation video

[kavat]

I don't knowa what to feel about the tweet because it feels quite acted to me. Is that him putting up a front because he really is in a bad place, or is he acting so that it will feel more genuine? What will he do with the end product? I'm torn.

[LtrllySusan]

I don't knowa what to feel about the tweet because it feels quite acted to me. Is that him putting up a front because he really is in a bad place, or is he acting so that it will feel more genuine? What will he do with the end product? I'm torn.

I feel a similar way about this. "Dan having a crisis and the world is so shit" has become his ~theme~ so it's hard to differentiate what's personal and what's content.

I think it's also why I am not enjoying this schtick - if he's genuinely unwell I don't want him to make forced content. And if he's fine and just playing the drama for content, then that's just weird.

I bought tickets for the tour cause why not, but I'm not sure yet if I'll actually attend. It all seems a bit too intense for me and doesn't leave me with good emotions. "The world is ending but here's a gay joke" isn't doing it for me.

[LadyLackless]

I don't knowa what to feel about the tweet because it feels quite acted to me. Is that him putting up a front because he really is in a bad place, or is he acting so that it will feel more genuine? What will he do with the end product? I'm torn.

I took it as acted too. He’s using his natural non-YouTube voice but there are edits on the video (little zooms and cuts and whatnot) and what he says feels too smooth and scripted to be a stream of consciousness 3am breakdown that he slapped on the internet as a cry for help.

I think he probably is also having his traditional IRL pre-tour wobble, but I also think he’ll be fine

[Levitating]

i wasn't sure how i felt about the video as a whole, i felt like it was 16 minutes that could have been cut out of another video and we wouldn't have missed it. i liked the small jokes like the house band and the animated background / opening theme was lovely but i felt like it didn't really need its own introduction, especially as i spent the first 15 minutes of the video trying to figure out what exactly this dan show was going to be about and then finished the video not really knowing either.

Same, totally!
When the video first stated, I got excited because it looked like the theme song/intro of an actual sitcom/tv show and thought that he had finally decided to produce Dan is not okay on his own (!). Then it moved to the rest of it and truly felt a bit meh

I struggle to enjoy his content because yes, he's extremely funny and articulate and has awesome storytelling skills, yet all I have been hearing from him is how miserable he is in this life as a Londoner Home-owner, white, middle class gay content creator who also happens to have a stable relationship (whatever the kind) and still has the financial means to re-invent and support himself through this mid-life crisis. Money doesn't save you from mental health problems, but it helps you pay for therapy. He feels out of touch - he had always been, but now he's focusing on it.

Hope this first video was, more than ep. 1, a simple interlude between his current/previous ocntent and the new one to explain the shift.

[lefthandedism]

We will have a new thread soon, just in time to alll be doomed. Put your thread name suggestions here!

[adorally]

I feel usually Dan likes to give some time and perspective before posting on whatever he's going through. That tweet seemed pretty raw and in-the-moment. I really hope everything is okay on his (and Phil's) end.. sending them vibes ~

[Catallena]

I think... it's a bit of both? Dan is never really the person to just tweet something in the moment, even when he's in a not ideal state of mind. So in a way he's acting and yeah the video was edited a bit, that's just how he is. But him putting that video out there at such an unusual time while looking quite vulnerable does feel real to me. In a few days he's gonna be on the road for a really long time (and without his usual emotional crutch). He loves touring, but there's also gonna be rough days and as the first date comes closer I can imagine that being a thought that keeps him up at night and makes him feel anxious and/or depressed. Him reaching out to his audience for comfort is probably the most unusual part of this, but not unwelcome.

But whatever kind of state he was in last night, he looks alright to me in pictures from the pop up shop that opened today and I'm glad. I'd post some but am a bit busy rn (or supposed to be anyway) so if anyone else wants to please go ahead.

But I will leave Dan's new Insta post here: