“I’m a Toronto man through and through”: Meet Hassan Phills, the Scarborough comedian sampled by Drake

In February, Toronto-born stand-up comedian Hassan Phills got a big shout-out after being sampled on the outro of Drake’s new track “Small Town Fame.” It was a real boost for a comic who’s been making waves in Toronto’s comedy scene with material informed by his love of the city. Growing up in government housing in the east end, Phills had a vision to create something more for himself. Now, he’s just wrapped three back-to-back shows at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre for his annual Eid celebration event, Eidiot Mubarak, and is embarking on a 44-city world comedy tour titled This Tour Is Jokes. Here, the 31-year-old talks about his childhood in Toronto, what it was like to see Drake in the audience at one of his shows and how he’s using his platform to help his community.

You grew up in Scarborough. What was your childhood like? I lived on the Danforth and went to high school at Bendale Business and Technical Institute, which has since been torn down. I was raised in a single-parent home, in government housing. It was my home, but the goal was to make it out. From a socio-economic standpoint, it was the bottom. At a young age, I was fond of poetry and philosophy, and while my environment didn’t really nurture that curiosity, I always had dreams to do comedy, play basketball and live a better life. I was raised Muslim, and my mom had me learn Arabic at a young age. My faith provided me with a moral compass and taught me the importance of family and community.

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Who were your comedic influences growing up? I watched a lot of Mr. Bean and Tom and Jerry with my relatives from Djibouti, who didn’t speak English. It would give us this common ground through humour. Immigrants loved Mr. Bean because he made them laugh without saying a word.

How did you first make it onto the stage? In 2015, I was living in Vancouver, where I had moved to attend Capilano University and play basketball. I was 21 at the time. One day, I was working my regular shift as a sales associate at Foot Locker when my manager told me I’d be opening the store the next morning instead of working the closing shift. He said I had somewhere to be the next night. I was always making jokes, telling stories at work and getting a laugh out of celebrities who came through the store. As it turns out, my manager had signed me up to perform at Yuk Yuk’s amateur comedy night.

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Were you nervous for your first set? I’m always nervous, still to this day. For my set, I told this story about how I saw a dog in North Vancouver and thought it was a wolf in the dark. I called it a googly eyed bastard, because the word “googly” just makes me laugh. Everyone was laughing. It went amazing.

From there, how did your career take shape? Two weeks later, I showed up again at Yuk Yuk’s and bombed. I realized I didn’t have enough to talk about. I needed to gain more life experience to use as material. I decided to refocus on school and basketball to really develop the other aspects of myself, and I spent a lot of time figuring out my sound, delivery and cadence. Being onstage is exhilarating. It’s like skydiving: you do it once, and then you want to do it again.

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Things seem to be going well. What chord are you striking with people, and why do you think it’s working? My obvious niche is that I am a Toronto man, through and through. I’m a hustler. I’m driven. I have the Toronto accent, and I use a lot of Toronto slang in my material. Toronto is so important to me. It’s heavily a part of my identity.

Drake has been a vocal supporter, sharing posts of you on Instagram and showing up at your live show at Comedy Bar Danforth last December. How did he discover you? At some point last year, Drake came across my Instagram account and started following me. A little while later, I was in Jamaica for vacation, and I posted a carousel of photos from the trip, including a photo of me sitting in the water. Two hours later, Drake reposted that photo. My phone was blowing up. I didn’t know what it meant that he had reposted it. I ended up messaging him and inviting him to one of my shows at the Comedy Bar Danforth. He replied, “I’m there.” Drake has a pulse on what’s happening, and he cares about this city a lot, so I think he saw how hard I was working and what I’m doing.

Were you nervous having him at your show? My job is to entertain the crowd, not Drake. But I’m not going to lie, the man’s aura is crazy. He showed up in a mink fur coat with a group of his guys. He had a good time and was laughing.

Drake also featured your voice on the outro of his track “Small Town Fame.” How did that happen? In the same message telling me he’d be at my show, he told me had sampled me on the new album, Some Sexy Songs 4 U. It wasn’t until after the album officially released that I realized he’d used an audio clip from one of my TikTok videos, where I say, “We’re all in this. Now, whether we’re all in this together, or you’re all in it for yourself, the fact of the matter is that we’re in it.” He saw meaning in it, I guess, even though I’m still not entirely sure what that meaning is. But it was cool, because the clip he used showcased my authentic voice. I wasn’t trying to be anything other than me.

You also play yourself as a security guard in the TV show Office Movers on Crave. How did that come about? A couple of years ago I met up with the creators and stars of the show, Trevaunn and Jermaine Richards, to be a guest on their podcast, Random Order. These guys are Toronto legends in the YouTube sketch comedy space. We got along really well. Our senses of humour aligned, and Trevaunn asked me to do it. I play myself, but in situations I’ve never experienced. I have to ask myself, What would Hassan do in this scenario? We start shooting season two this April.

You use your platform as a comic to support Muslim Welfare Canada, which operates a food bank and some long-term care facilities. Why is that important to you? As a Muslim, I want to be able to put myself in a position where I can benefit my family, my friends and members of the community. It was a no-brainer to become an ambassador for them. With inflation, tariffs and food-bank attendance at an all time high—and donations at an all-time low—it’s important for me to help people right here at home.

What’s next for you? For the next year, I’ll be touring around 44 cities in Canada, the US and Europe. I’ll consider it a success if people have a good time, want to come back and spread the word. In New York, my show is at the Gramercy, which is a pretty legendary venue. If I can fill the seats and have a good show, I think it’s a statement for where my career can go.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.