Daniel Howell Is Stressed, Depressed, but Full of Laughs

Known for his sarcastic and self-deprecating style of humor, internet personality Daniel Howell is embarking on his first-ever solo comedy stage show, We’re All Doomed! The tour will stop at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver on Saturday, November 19.

When there’s so many apocalyptic scenarios threatening to destroy us, it might be tempting to give into the gloom. Howell, on the other hand, is determined to find some hope for humanity—or at least laugh like it’s the end of the world. The show explores the everyday concerns of the average person from social media and celebrity culture to the climate crisis and political turmoil, but with a dark and idiosyncratic sense of humor.

As one of the world’s most successful entertainers, Howell began his career as a content creator and YouTuber in 2009. While making jokes at his own expense, he has shared serious struggles with his sexuality and mental health, which have culminated in his recent special Gay and Not Proud and a bestselling book, You Will Get Through This Night.

Howell took some time to talk about the tour and more with OFM.

Let me begin by asking, how excited are you to travel the world with your first solo comedy tour?

I am incredibly excited to touch some grass, both because it’s good for your mental health and because I don’t leave the house generally. So, it’s very exciting. This whole tour was really just an excuse to get me out of my comfort zone emotionally and physically. So, here I am getting some vitamin D and seeing the world that isn’t just my laptop screen, which is a big, bold move for me. I was living the lockdown life before the pandemic.

What can we expect from We’re All Doomed!?

A show about all the worst things in the world (laughs). We’re all living in this time, and it feels a bit strange now; it’s a bit apocalyptic and bad things just keep on happening, but it’s starting to feel normal. I think all of us are feeling this very strange mood of having to pretend like everything’s normal. Getting dressed and going to work as if the world isn’t completely falling apart, and we’re all kind of screaming on the inside.

What I’ve learned from doing my comedy about myself and my mental health is that when you put things on the table, it might be a bit awkward and scary, but if you can then make an inappropriate joke about it, you instantly feel a lot better. So, why not do a show about all the most horrible things in the entire world? Even if we don’t end up discovering anything useful to give us hope for the future, at least we’ll have had a good laugh about it.

Be honest. Do you think you could ever survive an apocalypse?

Hell, no. As soon as the mobile data cuts out, I will scream until I voluntarily die. I know this. I’m honest with myself. I’m not good in a fistfight, and I have a lack of orienteering skills, so I’ve just got to hope that I can bust out a good party trick that can save me when I’m in a stitch.

You initially began your entertainment career as a content creator and YouTuber in late 2009. Was it always your passion to pursue comedy?

My career is an accident. I never had a plan, and in many ways, I still don’t, but that is what I think makes it authentic. I feel like you can tell that the authenticity of my material comes from a true place of internal screaming, where I wake up every day, look at myself in the mirror, and just go, why? I think the day that I know who I am, what I’m doing, or why I’m doing it, it’s probably the day I retire. So, we’ve got to hope that I still just do things because I am basically bored and lonely.

Have you always been drawn to that self-deprecating, sarcastic style of humor?

Being a Brit, being miserable and sarcastic comes very natural to me (laughs). It’s just how we’re wired, and it’s not necessarily a good thing. I think as time has gone on, we’ve all started to be a bit like, alright, there has to be a certain point with the self-deprecation where you turn around and go, you OK? I’ve started to work that into the material a little bit. I still need to get past my own social barriers by cracking a lot of uncomfortable jokes at my expense until the audience starts being like, dude, stop. He’s already dead. But yeah, it’s my natural instinct, for sure.

Ultimately, what do you hope audiences take away from your shows?

I hope that they come and have a good time. A lot of people are not leaving the house as much as they used to. They’re trying to find reasons to look forward to something, and I want to give people something like a night they can really look forward to, where they can come together in a room. Especially my queer audience. I want them to know that when they come to one of my shows, it is absolutely a place where they are welcome.

They can relax and be whoever they can be, and that’s very beautiful because over the years, the followers that I’ve had, they’ve grown with me and evolved, and there’s quite a lot of young, queer people that feel like they finally have a place where they’re allowed to be. There’s something quite beautiful about that. If we can feel a bit better about the impending doom and maybe feel like we’ve got each other’s backs, then I’ll feel like I’ve ticked the box.

As a comedian, do you believe there are certain subjects that should never be joked about?

I think all subjects are on the table, but it depends on what your perspective is. It’s the whole concept about punching up or punching down. I can make jokes about my gay friend being depressed because I’ve been there, and I have something to say about it. If you haven’t, you can look quite ignorant and end up saying something quite hurtful, and I think anyone has the power to do this.

You can’t speak for someone else’s experience. You should try not to support any harmful stereotypes that affect people day to day because I’m sure all queer people know that growing up in the 90s, especially for me, all these homophobic jokes on TV had an impact on how I grew up. It was terrible, and it gave me some of that delicious, internalized homophobia that I’m still in therapy trying to talk about.

It’s that thing where you should stick to making the jokes at your own expense because there’s a difference between just trying to be edgy and then trying to actually do some good material about something that might seem quite raw or cutting edge. If it’s your experience, not only do I think that you’ll be able to have something to say about it, but I think it makes it so much more real and raw.

When I started, I was always trying to be quite relatable. I was like, oh, aren’t people annoying when they talk in the movies? Then seven years later, I was like, I’ve got crippling depression! There was something about that where not only was it more captivating because I was being honest about what I was saying, but I think it was funnier because people could tell that it came from a real place. That’s why I think people talking from their perspective with their experiences, that’s the best kind of stuff.

You pretty much went off the YouTube grid for three years and came back earlier this year with a bang. Can you talk a bit more about what that was about?

Definitely. I started making content on YouTube as a hobby when I was 18, and I just kept doing it for, like, a decade. At no point during that did I question it, and I grew up completely just online. What I was doing, my material, and my creative process evolved a lot, but I never took a moment to take a pause, look around, and go, what am I doing? Why am I doing this?

I think with the pandemic, a lot of us had this experience where life was put on pause and we found ourselves looking around going, what am I doing? Why? What’s the point? For me, I wanted to make sure that everything I was doing, I was doing it for the right reasons because I was passionate about it, it excited me, and because I was inspired to do it. That’s what I’m trying to do with this tour and the stuff that I’m currently making. Not worrying about where it’s going, but be like, do I enjoy this?

You also made a coming out video, correct?

Yes, I did. I came out in a 45-minute-long YouTube video.

How was the response to that?

It was incredible. We know that the internet and culture has changed a lot, and we should always be grateful for where we are. The world isn’t perfect, and it still has quite a lot of problems, but if you think about what it was like 5-10 years ago, it is a very different place today. I was still quite scared that if I did this, would I lose half of my audience? Are people going to feel angry? Are they going to feel betrayed?

Instead, the patience, kindness, and empathy that I was met with was so absolutely incredible, and it was all the people that were like, I’m watching this, and this is my story. I didn’t know how much I needed someone else to say it for me to realize that so many of us in this world have the exact same stories, which is why representation is so important. You need someone to go, that’s me, and that’s what I was missing my whole life while growing up.

And now you’re a role model to so many.

Yeah, I do say I’m a realistic role model, which means do not expect me to be a perfect person. I will continue to be a disaster. The realistic role model is, you can learn from my mistakes. It’s my job to fuck up constantly. I will have the worst personal life, professional life, I’ll just be a complete idiot, and you can look at me and go, “I’m going to not do everything that Dan did.”

Are you still working on your sitcom Dan Is Not OK?

I am. I spent a couple years telling everybody to go away because we knew who we were going to make it with, and now I’m going back over to them being like, hello (laughs). Do that. So, it’s definitely one of those things that, presuming I survive this tour, I’ll be really excited to get into that and a few other things. It is bold to assume that I will survive the tour because it’s going almost halfway into 2023. Do we think the world will still be around by then? I mean, it’s getting kind of crazy out there.

What are some other future goals you hope to accomplish with your career and platform?

I want to just continue doing stuff that exposes all my flaws so people feel better about their own lives. I think that’s definitely my niche. People are like, please Dan, bleed out on camera so that I can look at you and go ha ha, that’s funny. I won’t do that, so I’m glad I can do that for people. I am also always willing to try new things, like writing and acting.

I used to do a lot of acting as a child because I was one of those theatre gays. Not to stereotype myself, but there’s something about being on stage that I love, and it’s great to have an audience that supports me no matter where I go. Whether it’s a book, tour, or doing stuff online, I’m very grateful for that, and I’m sure there will always be plenty of things wrong with me and the world for me to talk about.

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention or plug?

I want to say thank you to the people that are watching the YouTube series, Dystopia Daily. I was like, how can I ironically do a show about someone who’s having a mental breakdown because they hate YouTube? Then I was like, let’s do a show about that. That sounds fun. Then there’s the tour, and as I said, if I manage to come back in one piece without walking into the show in Iceland and disappearing forever, I’ll see people on the other side.

Stay up-to-date and connect with Howell by following him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube @danielhowell. Visit artscomplex.com for more information and to purchase tickets for his upcoming Denver performance.

Photos courtesy of Daniel Howell