Phil Roy is a comedian, host, actor and entrepreneur. Dynamic and generous both at work and at home, over the years he has learned to listen to his body and let his heart speak, hoping to pass on the best of himself to his daughters. Interview with the most thoughtful of emotional people.

Hello, Phil. You wear many hats and are the father of two young daughters; hence, you have a busy schedule. How much importance do you place on relaxing?

“Quite a bit! I go for a massage almost every week, and as often as possible, because I’m a very anxious person. I feel a lot of my anxiety physically: it’s the cause of certain aches and pains, it affects the quality of my sleep, and therefore my energy levels the following day… Massage therapy helps me a lot in this respect.

I’ve also had a swimming pool since we moved to the suburbs, and I swim a lot, it makes me feel better. But I don’t just swim laps. I do handstands, I try to hold my breath, I do cannonballs, like a child! There are evenings when I swim alone for a long time and enjoy myself. It helps diffuse my stress.”

Has relaxation always been part of your life?

“It’s something I’ve learned to incorporate into my routine as I’ve gotten older. In the beginning, running was my escape. It freed my mind. And that led me to recognize that when I keep my body busy doing something, my head is better able to reflect and digest what’s going on in my life. For example, folding laundry is therapeutic for me. There was a time when I even took dishes out of my cupboards to wash them. I was washing dishes that were already clean! It relaxed me. When I don’t take the time to sit down and observe how I’m doing, my body speaks to me: ‘Hey my friend, I just want to remind you that you haven’t sorted this thing out, so here’s a pain point in your left shoulder blade!’ It’s important to take the time to reflect, to have discussions with yourself, to identify what’s stressing you out, because otherwise things build up and turn into physical symptoms.”

What do you need to find balance in your day-to-day life?

“I’d say the separation of spaces. My office is at home, but outside the house, which means I have to take my bag and leave the house to go to work, and that separation makes all the difference. Separate places help me to define moments. I’m not one of those people who can open my laptop in the living room and be efficient. Even when I lived in an apartment, I went to cafés… I even got a pass to a coworking space. I needed a place solely dedicated to work. In short, my balance lies in defining boundaries.

When it comes to work itself, I have a schedule and I stick to it. I don’t wait for inspiration to strike. I already write down ideas on a daily basis, but when I decide to switch on my computer and work, I give it my all.

And when we go for a bike ride with the girls, I don’t have a business call planned while I’m at the park with them. I devote myself fully to the moment I’m in, and that’s something I’ve learned to allow myself over time. I’m learning that it’s okay not to be available all the time. It’s okay if I call the person back in the evening or the next day. And if it’s really urgent, they’ll find a way to reach me, send me a text message. Anyway, I’m not an on-call surgeon either, I just make jokes, so we should be fine.”

You’ve often spoken publicly about the relationship you’ve had with your body since childhood. Having invested a great deal of time and effort in understanding and healing this relationship, how do you see your body today?

“It’s funny, because I’m still working on it in therapy, and I’ve just come out of a session… It’s definitely getting better, but I can’t say I’m completely cured and always look at my body with kindness. There are times when I find it more difficult. I’ve often said ‘This is going to be the struggle of my life,’ but in the end, the further I progress, the more I believe that one day it will take up less space in my mind than it did before. I think it’s always going to be with me, but I don’t think it’s going to be a struggle forever. I still want to have a body that doesn’t bother me, but today that just means having a body that doesn’t get in the way of what I want to achieve. I just want to be fit enough to move the way I want to.”

You weren’t always predestined for comedy. When you were younger, you turned to it as a social shield to divert attention from your looks. How has your relationship with comedy evolved over time? “Comedy has always been my favourite means of communication. Today, I use it as a good icebreaker to talk about anything, but I’m also working to make it more than just that, my way of communicating, both personally and professionally. There are times when what I say isn’t funny!

I like to approach certain subjects with seriousness and authenticity, just as I like to approach others with humour. I’m not cerebral, I’m emotional. I have fun just by feeling things and communicating them.”

Does the relationship you had with your parents influence your fatherhood and your relationship with your own daughters?

“I don’t want my daughters to be afraid of me. Let’s just say that my parents were quite authoritarian, I often feared their reaction to certain things, and I don’t want my children to go through that.

But it’s also true to say that my parents inspire me in a thousand ways. I have two brothers, and my mother has always encouraged us and followed us in everything we wanted to do. I also got my love of reading and culture from her, and from my father too, who was quite a reader at one point. And today, I’m glad that Billie doesn’t ask me to watch TV on Saturday mornings, but to read books together.

So in short, I’ve taken the best of what I’ve been given, I’ve also gotten into certain habits, and I try to do the best I can most of the time.”

Does your parents’ relationship influence the way you live your relationship?

“Not only am I inspired by the couple that my parents were, but also the exes they are today.

When they were together, they shared passions, one of which was skiing, which they passed on to my brothers and me, so now I too want to share a passion with my daughters, whatever it may be. “Separate places help me to define moments.

I’m not one of those people who can open my laptop in the living room and be efficient.”

Then, when they separated, I know they were sad, but they were also able to recognize that they had had a magical adventure together, that of having a family, and that even if it ended, it could still be honoured. It’s important to let the water flow under the bridge, but let’s not break the bridge. That’s a lesson I learned from their relationship, and I apply it whenever projects come to an end. When a tour comes to an end, I refuse to never talk to the technicians in my life again, the ones I spent four nights a week with for years. We’ve been confidants, we’ve experienced something very intense together, and even if the closeness won’t be the same in the future, I want to pay tribute to the experience we’ve shared.

Now, even though they’re no longer together, my parents are still able to spend time with each other, and even enjoy doing so. It’s not unusual for both of them to come to our house for dinner, with their respective spouses.”

What do you find hardest to let go of?

“Of all the memories! I’m sort of a collector, I have a hard time letting things go.”