Phil Dunphy

Template:Character

Philip "Phil" Dunphy (Ty Burrell), is Claire's husband of 16 years who sees himself as the "cool dad." He dotes on his wife Claire and constantly tries to find ways to bond with his three kids. He is seen as very competitive, some examples being his nature of always beating his son at basketball. He has a very child-like attitude, and is referred to by Claire as the "kid [she's] married to." He uses a parenting method that he calls "peerenting", which is a combination of talking like a peer but acting like a parent. He is a real estate agent who is very confident in his work, once saying "I could sell a fur coat to an Eskimo." Phil has a severe case of Coulrophobia, which is first revealed when despite his objection, Cameron comes to Luke's party dressed as a clown. He at times shows a sort of crush-like affection for Gloria, however he says "He would never stray from Claire." In college he was a cheerleader.

Personality

Claire's Overview

Claire generally refers to Phil as "the kid she's married to." Her opinions about and uptight ways of parenting almost always serve as a foil to Phil's calmness and tendencies to be too laid-back about many important things, such as his oldest daughter Haley wearing a short and tight skirt to school, which he called "cute."

In the episode Hawaii, Phil revealed that they were supposed to go to Hawaii for their honeymoon, but Claire got pregnant with Haley before they could go. He also reveals that he had to beg Claire to marry him.

In the episode Strangers on a Treadmill, we learn that Claire does not think Phil is funny, though this opinion changes by the end of the episode.

Jay's Overview

Jay gets along with and views Phil like many stereotypical in-laws do, much to Claire's chagrin. Claire says that the relationship between Phil and Jay is very strained, and she has tried on many occasions to bond the two of them. One of these attempts ended with Jay presumably flying an airplane into Phil's face. It is never figured out whether this was intentional or an accident. The result of this was complaints from Claire, Gloria, and Mitchell; which led to Jay hugging Phil and Cameron.

Physical appearance and typical attire

Phil is in good shape and likes to prove his manliness. He is often seen wearing a dress shirt and trousers. On the show's two Valentines Day episodes, My Funky Valentine and Bixby's Back, Phil has taken on an alter ego of Clive Bixby (ergo the name for the latter episode) to go role-playing with Claire, who also took on an alter ego. Both attempts went horribly wrong and ended in either Phil or Claire being in a tight position.

Quirks and personality traits

Phil is generally goofy and often doesn't plan things through. He is often paired with Claire, one of the kids, or Jay to drive the story.

He considers himself to be the "cool dad," which his children often disagree with. He goes to extremes to bond with his children, going so far as to learn the dances to songs from High School Musicaland wearing a custom jacket featured in the film. He is also shown to be very competitive, not even allowing his son to score a basket out of pity while playing basketball with him.

Phil suffers from coulrophobia, intense fear of clowns. This was revealed in the episode Fizbo, when Cameron came to Luke's birthday party dressed as a clown. He has addressed this and says that his mother thinks the fear originated from him finding a dead clown in the woods one day when he was little.

Phil's laid-back way of handling situations often gets him into chain reaction situations in which the problem grows after every event. He often has to lie to avoid getting into trouble with Claire, though she always ends up finding out in the end, often leaving Phil in embarrassment.

Interests

Phil, along with Claire, has shown an interest for "cheesy cinema". His other interests include sports, his job, watching the nature channel, and working with computers and technology. He is also shown in Up All Night to have an interest in close-up magic.

Family

Along with his family relationships seen on the show regularly, Phil also maintains a good relationship with his father Frank, played by Fred Willard.

Frank is portrayed as a joking, irresponsible older version of Phil. Phil credits his father for giving him his laid-back attitude. In Undeck the Halls, he appeared only via webcam, in which he aimed it too high before being told by the family. He appears again in Travels with Scout, this time in person, where he brings the family his dog, Scout, who he says his wife has allergies to. He eventually takes the dog back with him. Though she has yet to appear, Frank has identified Phil's mother's name as Sarah.

Critical Reception

Ty Burrell had received many positive reviews for performance. Hank Stuever from the Washington Post wrote, "A standout performance from Ty Burrell's new twist on the doofus-dad stereotype." Paige Wiser a reporter for the Chicago Sun Times wrote, "Ty Burrell is a genius as a dad who stays hip by keeping up with the numbers from "High School Musical.""

Quotes

“	I'm a cool dad, that's my thang. I'm hip, I surf the web, I text. LOL means laugh out loud, OMG: oh my god, WTF: why the face	”
—Phil, Pilot