Philip Humphrey "Phil" Dunphy is Claire's 48-year-old husband of over 20 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 childlike 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".
Personality
Claire's Overview
Claire generally refers to Phil as "the kid she's married to." Her opinions about 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 "Hawaii", Phil reveals 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 "Strangers on a Treadmill", it is shown that Claire does not find Phil 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 Valentine's 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 Musical and 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. But if he finds a way to keep a secret, he will waste no time doing it so he never has to confess.
Phil is apparently very good at choosing presents, this is said by Claire in a few episodes, these episodes usually involve Claire having to get Phil a birthday/anniversary present which she is very bad at.
Relationships
Family
Claire
Claire is Phil's wife, whom he tries to be a good husband to, and sometimes ends up failing when he thinks for himself or doesn't side with her and he tends to innocently flirt with his very young step-mother-in-law Gloria, but, they still love each other as they are in a marriage for a reason. Claire tends to refer to Phil as the "kid" she married. As much as they are lovers they are also best friends, Claire and Phil have a very loving romantic and friendly relationship:
In "Pilot" we see that Claire asks Phil to tell Haley what's wrong with her skirt (Claire thinks it's too short). Phil is supposed to tell Haley that it's too short, but he misunderstands Claire as he isn't listening to what she is complaining about; he is on his phone. Phil tells Haley that it looks cute, to which Haley thanks her dad and Claire looks as if she's given up on Phil.
In "My Funky Valentine", Claire and Phil dress up as their roleplaying characters. (photographed upper right) When Claire and Phil are going up on the escalator, Claire gets the belt that is attached to her coat stuck in the gap of one of the steps that revolve. Phil tries to help her out and fortunately accidentally trips and falls onto the 'Emergency Stop' button, which stops the escalator from continuing. A bunch of people come up to Phil and Claire who have an either friendship, aquaintance or working relationship with them, each see that Claire is stuck and offer to help her out, which Claire very badly wants to decline as she is completely naked underneath her coat for Phil. Phil then runs out to call for help, he comes back and tells everyone that help is on the way to get rid of them; he hasn't actually called for help, when he tells Claire this, she is confused as to why he didn't actually call them, which would have been a good idea. She then tells him to actually call for them.
Haley
Haley is Phil's eldest daughter. He tries hard to be the cool dad with her, but it only leads to her embarrassment. Phil gets emotional when he realizes that his little girl is growing up and that she is not his little girl any more. Haley always reminds him that she will always be his little girl:
In "Pilot" we see that Claire asks Phil to tell Haley what's wrong with her skirt (Claire thinks it's too short). Phil is supposed to tell Haley that it's too short, but he misunderstands Claire as he isn't listening to what she is complaining about; he is on his phone. Phil tells Haley that it looks cute, to which Haley thanks her dad and Claire looks as if she's given up on Phil.
Alex
Alex and Phil
Alex is Phil's youngest daughter. He also tries to be the cool dad with Alex, bonding with her to solve a problem that he needs some 'smart talk' for or to talk about something else serious, but she ends up thinking that his problems are weird as she considers him an idiot, but she still loves him nonetheless.
In "Starry Night", Alex voices a suspicion that her brother, Luke, has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), but all the symptoms she reads out all are shown to apply to Phil.
In "The Last Walt", Phil realizes that Walt, who passed away, never fixed his estrangement from his daughter and he decides that he does not want the same thing to happen with himself and Alex, so he sets out with her for some great stories to replace the empty gallery of Phil-Alex moments. All his attempts to create something special (he even tries to get a woman in labor so they can help her deliver since no one else is around to do it) fail and when Alex asks him why he is acting so weird, he tells her that he just wants to create a special memory for her. Alex tells him she will always remember how her father spent the entire day trying to create a memory for her.
Luke
Luke is Phil's youngest son and only male child. He bases his relationship with his son on his own relationship with his father Frank - he saw his dad as a more of a buddy and close friend than a parent while growing up, and so wanted Luke to see him the same way. As they are the only two males in the family, they form an extremely close bond with each other and are often seen coming up with various schemes and ideas to try together. He cares for Luke deeply and vice versa, as in many episodes it has been shown his family love towards him:
In the "Pilot", Phil has to shoot Luke with a BB gun because he shot his sister with, Alex, with that gun. But when he is just about to shoot Luke, Phil sees that he is scared, thinks that he has learned the lesson and he decides to not shoot him, although he accidentally ends up shooting him.
In "Fears", Phil tries to retrieve Luke's toy truck, even though he is scared of going there.
In "The Late Show", Phil reveals that of his 3 children, Luke is his favorite as he is just like him.
Despite having so much in common and relate very well, they don't have exactly the same likes and dislikes:
In "Fizbo", it is revealed that Phil is afraid of clowns, while Luke loves them. His fear is said to stem from finding a dead clown in the woods.
In "The Butler's Escape", it is shown that, despite his aptitude for magic, Luke is not interested of being a magician, which greatly disappoints Phil, because he loves magic, but he finally tells Luke that whatever he decide, he will always support him.
In "And One to Grow On", Phil wants to set Luke on a dance class, which Luke dislikes, because Phil says that he comes from a long line of dancing Dunphys.
Jay
Jay is Phil's father-in-law. He tries really, really hard to gain approval from Jay and Jay is very stubborn at not giving him any. It is almost as if Jay doesn't like Phil at all, but Jay tells Phil directly that he liked him. Once to Jay's dismay, he accidentally told Phil that he loved him, but Phil was too busy and didn't hear it. Jay introduces Phil as "Phil is my son-in-law," but Phil says it sounds like he is saying, "Phyllis, my son-in-law." Phil also complains that Jay says "Dumb-phy" instead of "Dunphy." Phil once fixed Jay's printer and since it is Phil's only accomplishment with Jay, Phil brings it up every chance he gets.
In "Come Fly with Me", Jay and Phil fly a toy plane on a playing field, Jay gets annoyed with Phil talking and tells him to get into the position of a game called "Thredding the Needle", in which Phil would have to run to the other side of the playing field with a hoop in his hand, he does this and Jay purposely 'accidently' flies the plane into Phils' face and not through the hoop. (When Jay brings Phil home, Claire tells Jay that he had to have done it on purpose reasons being: he's never liked Phil. Claire then tells him that he's done the game perfectly with his children before.)
Gloria
Phil teaches Gloria to skate.
Gloria is Phil's step-mother-in-law. He has a crush on her, once staring at Gloria through Claire's sunglasses. Gloria is seemingly oblivious to this. Jay says nothing of it because Phil is married to his daughter and therefore knows not to cross the line; saying he would never stray away from Claire. He takes any and all chances to hug or touch her, except once when he realizes that Claire is the most important thing that ever happened to him. But this quickly changes back, although nonetheless he still really loves Claire:
In "My Funky Valentine", Claire gets her belt that is attached to her coat stuck in the escalator and after quite a while Gloria and Jay appear, Jay jokingly asks Claire if she is naked underneath the coat, to which Claire, unfortunately for Jay, implies her reply: Yes. Gloria helps her out and then tells her that she has been in the situation before and thus knew exactly what to do. We see Phil tell Jay that he thinks what Gloria did was impressive, Jay gets a hint of flirtation from Phil and tells Phil to take it down a notch, calling him Clive.
In "My Hero", Phil teaches Gloria how to skate (Photographed upper right).
In "Regrets Only" Jay makes Phil stay at his house with Gloria, Phil accepts it after Gloria tells him "I do Jay why can't I do you?" when she is talking about hairdressing, Phil knows what she is talking about however he can also relate it to sa exual refrence twords him. We later see Gloria doing Jay's hair with her chest all up in his face, Gloria tells him to hold his head still and Phil tells her that he is just a little tense, Gloria takes a break from cutting his hair and bends down and prompts him to open up about Claire. As he opens up about Claire she gets back up and puts her chest back in his face.
In "Family Portrait", there is a kiss cam at the football game and Gloria kisses Phil. Phil then begins thinking of ways to say sorry to Claire, Claire is acting up about something Phil doesn't know about and he thinks that it's the kiss cam. Phil tries to say sorry but dances around the actual thing. Claire complains at Phil but doesn't tell him what for and so Phil thinks it's the kiss cam. They both don't find out about each others problems until they pose for a family portrait, which goes horribly wrong.
Manny
Manny is Phil's step-brother-in-law by marriage twice: Phil is married to Claire but Claire's Dad is married to Gloria, Manny's mother. Phil and Manny really haven't had any proper moments alone together but when they've had moments with other people in the room, Phil treats him almost like a son instead of a brother-in-law, which he is.
Mitchell
Mitchell is Phil's brother-in-law. They haven't spent much time together alone, but they treat each other like they are brothers, which they are by marriage to Claire, if they do spend time together it's in these episodes:
In "Airport 2010": Phil drives Mitchell to retrieve his wallet, which he forgot at home in all the chaos.
In "Strangers on a Treadmill": Mitch tries to tell Phil that his jokes for the SCARB (Southern California Annual Realtors Banquet) are unfunny, but Mitch can't go through it after seeing Phil's sad face and eventually ends up telling him that he is "this generation's Richard Pryor."
In "Tableau Vivant": Phil has to find a way to tell Mitch that he is fired from his part-time job at the real estate agency. When Phil goes to Mitch's house to tell him about his dismissal while Mitch also tries to tell him that he does not want to continue working at the estate agency. Mitch balls out. and he does not say anything and Phil believes that Mitch understood what he was trying to tell him. When Mitch appears at the agency later, Phil no having other choice, he finally tells him. Mitch is stuck in the elevator for two hours knowing he has been fired. The idea of losing his job does not seem to thrill him since he has never been fired before in his life.
In "Diamond in the Rough": Claire and Cam want to try their hand at flipping a house while they're at it, and Phil and Mitchell fight over who will be the bad guy to tell them no. Claire and Cam finally find out what they were trying to do, and get really mad at their significant others.
In "Goodnight Gracie": Phil's mother Grace died and Mitchell went to Florida with the rest of the family for the funeral. When they arrived, Mitchell told Phil he's sorry and hugged him.
Cameron
Cameron is Phil's other brother-in-law due to Cameron marrying Mitchell after it was legalised for gays to marry. Unlike Mitch and Phil, Cam and Phil have never really had any brotherly moments. Cam tells Phil that his mother was such a kind and whimsical soul in "Goodnight Gracie".
Other Family
Frank
The only member of just Phil's family who has ever appeared on-screen throughout the entire show is his father, Frank. He has only appeared in Season 1, 4, 5, and 6 only being mentioned in other Seasons, He is a very cheerful and happy man and Phil always saw him as a friend rather than a parent when growing up. They are shown to have a very close relationship and Phil does the same thing with his son Luke. Frank also seems to have passed his cheerfulness on to his son which is likely the reason of why he is so goofy and childlike.
Grace
Phil's mother, Grace hasn't ever appeared on the show in any way. It is revealed by Claire, that she died in the finale of Season 4 from what seems to have been in her sleep. She and Phil appeared to have been very close.
Phil is also an only child, thus he doesn't have siblings and In "Australia", Phil mentions that a great-grandfather (grandfather of his mother's) of his was Australian.
Interests
- He likes listening to Hall and Oates.
- Phil, along with Claire, has shown an interest for "cheesy cinema".
- Sports
- Watching the nature channel
- Working with computers and technology.
- He is also shown in "Up All Night" to have an interest in close-up magic.
- Phil also loves trampolines and subscribes to a trampoline magazine.
- He frequently talks about being a 'male cheerleader' in college, and is still under the impression that it was cool, attributing he and his cheerleader friends not being invited to parties to the other students being "jealous."
Trivia
- He, Claire, Mitch, Cam, Jay, and Gloria are the only characters who have appeared in every episode.
- He was born on April 3rd, as in "Game Changer", he says that the first-generation iPad is released on his birthday.
- His middle name is Humphrey ("The Wedding (Part 2)").
- He might have ADHD ("Starry Night")
- He has seen the film 'Ghostbusters', ("Fizbo").
- He has also seen the film 'Star Wars', ("The Wow Factor").
Quotes
|
Phil: Claire, I think I know the look of love in another man's eyes. | 
|
|
|
Phil: No one throws up, until I sing. |
|
|
|
Phil: When you mess with Phil Dunphy, the claws come out. |
|
|
|
[On Gil Thorpe] Phil: We'll just have to tell her she can't work for this guy. He's Gil-ty of being a Thorpe on my side. Luke: You're trying too hard. Phil: I know. |
|
|
|
Phil: History is full of great rivalries. Athens versus Sparta. Harding versus Kerrigan. Gil Thorpe versus Phil Dunphy. He's the Tonya to my Nancy. |
|
|
|
Phil: I'm using my veto. Claire: Veto? You don't get a veto. Phil: You veto me all the time. Claire: That's because you're ideas are dumb. Phil: Name one! Phil: [to camera] That went on for a while. Claire: And let's not forget shower snacks. Phil: I can't be the only one who gets hungry in there! |
|
|
|
Phil: I retract my veto. Claire: You never had a veto. Phil: Yes, I did. Claire: No, you didn't, and here's why. Phil: [to camera] And that went on for a while. Claire: And finally, we would be having this conversation in a yurt. Phil: It's the perfect structure! |
|
|
|
Phil: We have a name at the office for when a deal goes south. Commission: Impossible. Maybe for some people. |
|
|
|
Phil: [seeing Haley and Alex scrubbing the kitchen] Whoa. What's all this? Haley: Mom heard us say we were bored. Phil: Suckers. Alex: She heard us from outside! Haley: She has super-good hearing, like a seeing eye dog. They have overdeveloped hearing to make up for the fact... wait, the dogs aren't blind. Wait, are they? No, that wouldn't make sense. Alex: [to Phil] You're right. If I wait long enough, she can get there by herself. Phil: [his cell phone rings] Quick, girls. Famous Danny from "Moonstruck". Aiello? Mitchell: Hey, Phil, I'm glad I caught ya. Phil: What's up? Mitchell: Uh, it's about Steven and Stefan. They want to see that house on Briar again. Phil: Really? I showed it to them five times. Last time we were there, I think they got mail. Mitchell: Yeah, well, that's why I'm calling. They hate upsetting people. Unless, of course, it's me. Then they don't mind waking me up at seven a.m., asking me to call you. Phil: It's no problem. I'm just hanging around. Kind of bored, really. [Haley and Alex gasp] Phil: What? [Phil gasps as he realizes what he just said]. |
|
|
|
Phil: Hey Claire, guess what? Claire: I'm sorry, honey, I can't talk right now. I told Bethenny I would take her to the airport. I'm late, and she's gonna miss her flight. Where are my keys? Why is that chair still here? I thought you and Luke were gonna put it out on the sidewalk. Phil: So you can't talk, unless it's about my chores. Claire: Why don't you just do it now and you won't be so bored. Phil: You heard that? Claire: I hear everything. |
|
|
|
Phil: If you show enough houses, you learn all the tricks. Every realtor is just a ninja with a blazer. The average burglar breaks in and leaves clues everywhere, but not me. I'm completely clueless. |
|
|
|
Phil: Honey, you're not unlikeable. Claire: Thank you. Phil: You just seem unlikeable. |
|
|
|
Phil: I am Phil Dunphy, and I am not a pervert. I, like a lot of men in this town, enjoy making love to my wife. I mean, uh... I mean with their wives. Not me, them! Look, I should probably just sit down and say nothing, but it's too late. I am standing, and I'm obviously talking, and now you're looking at me, and I feel the need to keep going. |
|
|
|
Jay: [watching Claire try to remain composed at the debate] It's like watching the Hindenburg. Gloria: It's the most horrible thing I've ever seen in my life. Phil: [standing up] Excuse me. Jay: Stand by. |
|
|
|
Claire: Do you know what we're gonna make? Phil: Kids bored? |
|
|
|
Phil: My kids are helpless, but maybe that's okay. Because years from now when they have their own houses, they'll call me on their hologram phones and say, "Help me, dad. You're my only hope." And I'll be the happiest father in sector 7 Or sector 12, if we're doing really well. |
|
|
|
Phil: That's when it hit me-- my daughters know nothing about home care and maintenance. I don't want 'em to be dependent. It's up to me to show them what a modern, self-sufficient woman looks like. |
|
Appearances
|
Appearances |
Episode | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Tot | |
| Season 1 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 2 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 3 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 4 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 5 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 6 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||