The main "protagonist" of the series. When something bad happens to Dan, he believes that it is out to get him, or that it has gone too far, and seeks revenge immediately.
Ambiguously Bi ... or maybe just plain confused; one episode had him actually bring up "cooties" unironically, and this was after an entire episode where he had a girlfriend.
He also calls Colby 'dreamy' and 'dreamboat' in "Family Camping Trip".
Cosmic Plaything: Zig-zags. Usually, fate would be cruel to him just to move the plot forward.
Crazy-Prepared: An odd presentation. Dan has evacuation plans and various keys (some obtained via questionable means) stashed in various places. In spite of this, his revenge plans are often ill-formed, to the point that he forgot the drill he needed to drill into a bank's vault.
Even Evil Has Standards: Dan never resorts to homicide in his plans and is disgusted with Chris whenever he suggests it as a logical extension to Dan's current scheme.
Its a bit zigzagged on the murder part, as even as early as the pilot, Dan occasionally does plan to kill someone. He's just disturbed when Chris suggests it.
Dan's also rather shocked when Chris admits that he'd kill for bacon.
And refuses to collaborate with Elise's parents in getting back at Chris, because he doesn't trust "people who'd bump off their own son-in-law." That's not what their plan entailed; they've just indicated that they'd be willing to.
He also admits he finds himself frightening at times in 'The Boss'. "Some of the things I say are disturbing, even to me! Especially to me."
He also turns on his boss immediately when she demands that they kill Chris to cover up the fact that she's a demon despite the fact that Dan had been making good money, enjoyed working with her, and was excited about his long-term future if he continued to do so. Earlier in the episode, he was willing to fire Chris for these same reasons, but he drew a line without any second thoughts when he heard what the boss was asking for.
Hidden Depths: Has a surprising knowledge of Shakespeare and a somewhat eclectic collection of other topics.
Hidden Heart of Gold: He genuinly loves his cat, he has a soft spot towards Christmas and anyone who besmirches the image of Santa Clause will incur his wrath and deep (DEEP) down, he cares about Chris.
Smarter Than You Look: Dan is well versed in Shakespeare's works, even naming his teddy bear Brutus. In "Dan vs. George Washington", it is pointed out that Dan's knowledge can be very intricate, but random. For example when asked who carved Mount Rushmore, he gave the correct name immediately without even thinking about it, as well as the fact that his son had to complete it. However, when asked which U.S. state Mount Rushmore was in, Dan threw out a random guess, Ecuador.
Bacon Addiction: Shows up a couple times. In "The Gym" he admits he'd kill to be able to eat bacon in his own home again, something that even Dan finds unnerving. "The Mechanic" reveals that he keeps emergency bacon strips in his wallet.
Big Eater: So much so, that when Dan tried to give him motivation into chasing someone by telling him to pretend they were a sandwich, he stops to ask what kind of sandwich. Implied in "Anger Management" to be brought on by his repressed anger at everything life does to him.
Butt Monkey: Forced into Dan or Elise's antics, hated by Elise's parents, generally gets punished for Dan's punishments; he's this to a T.
Catch Phrase: "Dan, you have done a LOT of questionable things..."
Happily Married: To Elise. Not that her parents like the idea so much since they're obviously trying to get rid of him, even if it possibly means they have to kill him.
Morality Chain: Subverted. Chris tries to be this for Dan, but Dan just refuses to listen. And Chris is too much of a pushover to refuse to help... usually.
Chris' wife, who doesn't like it when her husband gets involved in Dan's shenanigans, but accepts that he does not have the backbone to turn him down. She's secretly an agent undercover when she's not around the two's antics.
Anti-Hero: Starts off as Type 5 AT BEST in the pilot, then drops to about Type 3 throughout the rest of the series. (So far...)
Determinator: She refuses to give up winning the dance competition, no matter what gets in the way, be it Dan's revenge plot, having no alternate, or Chris' broken ankle.
Embarrassing Nickname: Elise and her mother share the same name, so her parents sometimes call her Junior.
Extreme Doormat: A downplayed variant, interestingly enough. Chris gets away with a surprising amount of stuff nobody else could under her watch (Including her own family).
She also copies Dan's "I'm awesome!" declaration in "Dan Vs. The Family Camping Trip".
In Dan Vs. The Magician, she has an odd phobia for all stage magicians.
When Chris gets smacked in the face with a fencing foil, Elise all but spells out that she left the responsible party tied up on a cargo ship headed for Central America.
When the kids blow up the car in "Dan Vs. The Lemonade Stand Gang" she wanted to send the kids to North Korea to work in factories. Where no one would find them.
When Dan was determined to ruin her dream of winning a dance competition, she sent him to Penbroke, a lawless ghost-town populated by dance-fighting monsters.
When Dan snubs her by piloting the giant robot himself instead of letting her do it as they agreed on earlier in "The Mechanic", she enters the tournament with a hi-tech mech of her own to crush Dan.
Saying Too Much: She often says a lot of information about what she really knows that others don't. And if she's mildly confronted about it, she casually shrugs it off.
Training from Hell: While Dan and Chris went to a corrupted summer camp, Elise was trained as an agent by jumping over saw blades and other No OSHA Compliance material.
"Well Done, Daughter" Gal: Claims that she was like this as a teenager, but has since grown out of it. If her obsession with making everything perfect whenever her parents visit is any indication, she really hasn't.
Women Are Wiser: Usually played straight, but occasionally subverted. See Not So Above It All.
