In Fall 2004, he returned for the third season dubbed "Battle of the Best" which featured contestants from season 1 against season 2. He and May were eliminated in the fifth round.
He immigrated to the United States as a child with his mother and nine other siblings. They suffered financial hardships throughout his childhood. He grew up in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, California then spent his teenage years in Santee, California, a suburb of San Diego. Phan was voted most successful of his class at his West Hills High School ten-year reunion[citation needed]
In 2003, he entered the first season of NBC's stand-up comedy competition reality show, Last Comic Standing.[1][3] He was picked on by the other contestants due to his relative youth in the comedy world.[citation needed] According to the show's host Jay Mohr, Phan nonetheless was the surprise winner of Last Comic Standing and has subsequently made cameo appearances in Hollywood films such as Cellular[3] and Love Is the Drug.
Dat Phan Productions released the DVD Dat Phan: Live and the CD You Touch, You Buy, in stores January 2010, and began pre-production on a movie titled Yellow Fever.[3]