We spoke with Phan after the two had been on the road for 49 days, after leaving their Los Angeles home in May. Dat Phan and Friends are heading to North Texas, performing at The Firehouse Theatre in Farmers Branch, July 7–8. Each night has a different lineup: host Al Coseglia, Britainy Goss and David Parsons, with special guests Bobby Goldsmith, Hemi Ahluwalia and Abir Khan on Friday; and host Nic Hawk, Coseglia performing and TJ Evans, with special guests Jamie Jakes and Alyssa Abadinsky on Saturday.
“This is my first big tour since COVID,” Phan says. “During the deep part of COVID, many of us were in lockdown and stuck. So I had to do Zoom shows. This is the first big show, it is 64 days consecutively. But here’s the crazy part, the comedians that I am performing with, I met them on Zoom during COVID.”
Phan, 48, is best known as the winner of the first season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing, defeating the late Ralphie May. Over his 27 years in comedy, he has had accomplishments — being named one of the top 10 most influential Vietnamese American individuals at the Smithsonian Institute, appearing in movies such as Cellular and Shattered and doing voiceover work in TV shows such as Family Guy.
These days, Phan is building his Dat Phan and Friends brand, which will eventually be linked to a podcast launching soon. It began as a hybrid show on Zoom during the pandemic. It was his way of performing simultaneously with comedians watching and participating around the world. Through Dat Phan and Friends, he’s connected with producers who have helped with finding local comedians for his tour, and with driving up ticket sales for these shows. He’s also met a lot of comedians over time, and he's using this tour to get some human interaction and energy in the room.
“I’m meeting new friends that I’ve only known online,” Phan says. “I wish we didn’t have the pandemic, but I would have never met these comedians. It’s remarkable that we’re trying to take something positive out of such a negative thing.”
Phan launches into a self-deprecating bit when describing what these comedians say after meeting him in person.
“Well, I think I’ve gained some weight, so they probably don’t want to say that, ‘Hey man, you look like a fatass now. Are you Chow Yun-fat?’” he says with a laugh. “My face, you know how Asian people are like, ‘Your face so round!’”
“Or they see me and like, ‘Oh, I thought you were Hawaiian.’ I’m like, I don’t even know what that means, is that a compliment or an insult? I think they’re trying to say I look like a young Samoan. Unfortunately, one of the joys of my life is sitting down and eating and having a pow-wow with people, and that comes with a price. It’s a hefty, heavy price,” he says, pun intended.
As Phan talks about his first-time interactions with his new friends, his comedic instincts start to kick in.
“Let’s put it this way: since my wife and I toured, I mean, she did better than me, but since the beginning, it’s been 49 days now, I think I gained like 12 pounds," he says. "I’m going to have like a heart attack. I’m going to be the old uncle smoking in the garden and then having a heart attack after they’re eating a bunch of pho with you. There’s Tex-Mex, Texas barbecue. I’m on the East Coast eating pizza, spaghetti. Italian. And then you don’t exercise. You’re just traveling by ground, in some hotel taking a nap. Like I’m slowly starting to look like Jack Black during the fat days. I’m just not as talented as him.
"I’m just like this fat Vietnamese guy roaming around America. It’s like the Dat Phan Speeding to a Heart Attack Tour is what I’m doing.”
His spontaneous jokes poking fun at his own weight are undeniably funny, even if you feel a little guilty laughing.
“Here’s how bad it is. Some of them have been my fans since Last Comic Standing," he says. "I don’t look like anything like I did in Last Comic Standing. It’s like Fat Elvis now where it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s you!’ I’m like, ‘Is it the double chin that threw you off? Did you think I was Bobby Lee?’ I think even William Hung might be skinnier than me at this point.”
Phan’s material and comedic style have evolved since his early days of utilizing stereotypical Asian accents as the foundation of his comedy. He used to incorporate music into his act, but now he’s mastered improv, observational humor and crowd work in his sets. He recognizes that some people come to see him for his classic material like “Vietnamese Nail Salons,” “I No Chill!” and “Dating White Girls.”
"If somebody who thinks they’re woke goes, ‘Hey, I think that accent is pretty offensive.’ I’m like, ‘So you think my mom’s Asian existence and how she talks is offensive?’ Who’s racist now?” – Dat Phan
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In an era of woke and cancel culture, Phan has a solid defense for his past use of stereotypes.
“The only times I get deep into the Asian accent is when I do my mom’s voice, and her voice really is like that,” he says. “My family evacuated from Vietnam, so she never shook her accent.”
He draws a parallel with the accents used in My Big Fat Greek Wedding or by the actors in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“I’m very proud of being Asian American," Phan says. "I do say, ‘Hey, Mom says, why do you date the white girl?’ She does ask why I date white women. It’s a classic bit, and if somebody who thinks they’re woke goes, ‘Hey, I think that accent is pretty offensive.’ I’m like, ‘So you think my mom’s Asian existence and how she talks is offensive?’ Who’s racist now?”
Phan’s perspective on stereotypes is the result of his lived experience as an immigrant from Saigon. His stand-up is why Asian comedians like Bobby Lee and Jimmy O. Yang cite him as an inspiration, and why he is arguably a pioneer for other young Asian comedians to chase their dreams. He’s grateful that after all these years he can still make a living from comedy, which all started from taking a speech class in college, studying Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno and Judd Apatow, and putting what he learned to the test.
“It’s weird because when I was poor, struggling, and trying to make it in comedy, you know, eating garbage, basically. Literally," he says, "it was not as dark as some of the most famous times when my ego started taking control of me. I had to grow a lot from that. I think I accomplished a lot doing standup. And then I look at this guy who is Chinese or Korean, he’s a Navy SEAL, an astronaut, and went to Harvard. I’m like, ‘OK, well, there are other Asians that are working a lot harder than me.’”
