Modern Family delivers its title about one big modern family. We learn to love the craziness at the Dunphy household, the calm yelling over at the Pritchett-Delgados, and the drama beneath the Pritchett-Tucker roof. And while it’s impossible to pick a favorite character or family, we’re focusing on one beloved father-son duo from the show: Luke and Phil.

Luke and Phil are eerily similar. They both love the same things, have the same sense of humor, and are each other’s best friends. Phil even said if he could go back in time, he would go to college with Luke so they could be dorm room besties. And while Luke goes through moody phases in the series, he is just a teenager and he and Phil always pick up where they left off. Phil is constantly showing Luke his favorite things and hoping he’d love the same hobbies but that doesn’t always happen… Le’ts take a look at six times Phil wished Luke was like him, and four times Luke showed his own independence.

PHIL WANTED LUKE TO LOVE BALLROOM DANCING

In the fifth season, “And One to Grow On” showed us Phil tricking Luke into taking dance lessons. Phil loves to dance (he’s a trained cheerleader, after all) and wanted Luke to share that same passion. His favorite movie is Footloose for crying out loud!

Sadly, Luke was not amused by his dad tricking him into lessons and hated going. Luke was miserable whenever Phil picked him up, which destroyed Phil. Since the two are so close, he assumed Luke would fall in love with dance the same way he did, but it didn’t turn out that way.

MAGIC WAS NEVER IN THE CARDS FOR LUKE

When Luke was younger, we saw him and Phil playing around with different magic tricks. One of Phil’s biggest passions is magic (he even owns his own magic shop one day) and he wished to pass on this hobby to his only son.

Unfortunately for Phil, Luke hated magic. He didn’t have the heart to tell him but one day it exploded and comically offended Phil. Phil even claims that Luke has amazing magic capabilities, which was unfair because you can’t “teach” that kind of thing…

LUKE WAS SO CLOSE TO GOING TO PHIL’S ALMA MATER

Similar to Haley, Luke was having a hard time getting into colleges. He did his best in high school but sometimes your best doesn’t cut it. He applied to multiple universities and each came back with a rejecting email; including Phil’s alma mater. Phil was stunned that Luke was denied entry to his alma mater because he was a legacy.

To make sure Luke had a secured future, he and Claire headed down to the university for a meeting with the dean of admissions. As it turned out, Phil knew the dean and got Luke accepted. Luke, however, found out that his acceptance wasn’t authentic, which made him turn down their original offer.

TO SHARE HIS SAME FEAR FOR ALL THINGS DARK AND CREEPY

Phil is brave in his own way but he hates all things dark and scary. Claire is the dark one in their family. She loves Halloween and pranking people in scary ways, which is amusing since she married someone who hates it. He’s even afraid of clowns!

Luke and Phil are very similar in many ways but Luke is much braver than Phil. Phil sometimes wishes he had someone else in the family who was afraid of the same things he was but not Luke. The two decided to go on a quest beneath their house to see what was lurking in the shadows and Phil refused to go in without a flashlight and a camera. But Luke headed into the pitch-black head first!

WANTING TO CONTINUE THE TRADITION OF FAMILY CAMP

Phil loves being a dad. His first love may have been Claire, followed by real estate, but it became fatherhood once Haley was born. With his three kids growing up, we saw him struggle with the kids leaving the nest and finding their own sense of independence. He’s happy for them, of course, but he misses when they were young.

Every year, Phil likes to get the whole family on board for something he calls “family camp.” It’s more or less events and competitions where the family can bond and work as a team. But when Luke got older, he didn’t want to train for family camp or even attend. He wanted to do what other teens do — hang with their friends. You could see the pain in Phil’s face when he realizes family camp was dead.

BECOMING FAMOUS INVENTORS

Phil’s a funny guy who we don’t always take seriously but he’s also very bright. With the help of his “assistant” Luke, the two love creating their own inventions. They have a whole bin of their work in the garage.

There’s the WEAR Chair, the Head Scratcher TM, the griddle that flips your pancakes for you… He’s filled with ideas and brings them to life with Luke. Over time, however, it appears inventing new creations with Luke dwindles down, leaving them as a sad pile in the garage.

LUKE WAS FAR MORE ATHLETIC THAN PHIL

Phil may have thought he was super athletic due to years of competitive cheerleading, dance, and gymnastic competitions, but we learn that Luke was actually the athletic one in the family. In “Farm Strong,” we see Luke play down the fact that he was really good at soccer. He even surprised Claire with his athleticism.

Later in “Spring Break,” we see Luke nail the Dunphy Tuck in one try. The more times he practiced, the better he became! This infuriated Phil because he felt less of a man. He’s been practicing the Dunphy Tuck for years and it was emasculating for someone else to nail it on the first go.

AND HE WAS MUCH BETTER AT THE BANJO

Not only was Luke more athletic than Phil but he was better musically as well. Phil tried playing the banjo—and thought he was good—but he had no rhythm and ended up hurting everyone’s ears. Whenever he tried playing the banjo, Claire would make a sexually suggestive move to Phil just to get him to stop playing.

However, Phil thought this was because he was playing so well!. In one day, however, Luke learned how to play multiple songs on the banjo and had way more skill than Phil did after years of practicing. This made Phil very jealous and he almost judged his son for being better at it.

LUKE SEEMED TO BE SMOOTHER WITH THE LADIES

Phil claims to have had a few girlfriends before Claire but he makes it well-known that she’s out of his league. Claire was the best he’s ever had and he’s thankful he landed someone so brilliant and beautiful. His stories about the ladies in his life are also hard to believe. But with Luke, he seems much smoother than his dad.

He has an easy time talking to them and knows what works for him. In one episode, we see Haley and Alex helping him break up with one girl because he found someone else he liked better. In another, Manny’s crush liked Luke more, which cause a rift between the two. Phil even found a bra in Luke’s room once!

PHIL HATES CLOWNS BUT LUKE LOVES THEM

Phil and Luke have so much in common that Phil seems to get offended when they butt heads. It’s not like them and it throws him off a little bit. For Luke’s birthday one year, Phil throws him an awesome birthday party with everything the two of them find awesome.

The only problem is that Cam dressed up as his clown alter-ego, Fizbo for the party. As it turns out, Luke loves clowns and loved seeing Fizbo but it made Phil weak in the knees!