Wainy Days' Very Own Elizabeth Banks up for Emmy

Congratulations to Elizabeth Banks for her Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series! In case Thursday is your bowling night, Elizabeth Banks plays Jack Donaghy's baby's mother Avery on NBC's 30 Rock. She also plays Wainy Days' Shelly, who shattered the web series' records by dating the fictionalized Wain in three separate episodes! Check them out here, here and here.

---

Do or Donut, there is no try...

Never let it be said that the Night Feed doesn't contain multitudes.  Sure, yesterday we told you about Mark Malkoff's quest to turn his doughy flagon of untoned flab into a rockin' six pack, but today we're taking a sharp left turn away from the world of health and fitness to indulge in another one of our not-so-secret passions: donuts! 

Chocolate, sprinkles, glazed, old-fashioned... we're not picky; we like them ALL.  And today is National Donut Day -- an actual holiday created by the Salvation Army to honor the battlefield nurses of World War I who coaxed injured soldiers back to health via the medium fried dough food (thanks, Wikipedia!).

And you don't need to be a mustachioed beat cop or having a support group meeting in a church basement to eat donuts anymore.  Everyone's doing it, including minor local television celebrities like Colin Tickler (David Hunt), son of legendary B-movie actress Evelyn Anders (Patricia Heaton).  Here's Colin extracting some donut innards from Episode 3 of the new My Damn Channel series Versailles...

Sexy, right?!  We bet introverted "You're In Sports" intern Sara Wolper (Martha MacIsaac) would agree.  So throw away your fertility talismans and Axe Body Spray.  Show some holiday spirit by rubbing a glazed donut across your bare chest and smearing your face with custard.  The Salvation Army demands it.
 

---

Oh, Jeez!!!

We're only two weeks away from the launch of Versailles. Among the many stars of this dark and twisted comedy is the illustrious Fred Willard. Would it be bold of me to say that Versailles puts Fred in one of his top five comedic roles ever? Yes it would, and I just said it.

Versailles launches May 9th. Check out this promo (featuring Fred Willard in a wrestling onesie) and set your internet for May 9th so you can be the first to check out this great new series.

---

Don Was, Saul Hernandez, Caifanes, Coachella

Attention music fans - cool things happening in the world of our resident Producer/Hero, Don Was. 

Don recently sent us a great video of the first single from Mexican rocker, Saul Hernandez. The song is called "Molecular", and not only will the melody be stuck in your head, but the video documentation of the in-studio experience is as awesome as it gets. Saul's album, produced by Don Was, will be released in May and is his first solo record after fronting the Mexican rock band Caifanes. 

Speaking of Caifanes, they reunited this weekend at the Coachella music festival in Indio, CA. It was a huge moment for the fans of these Rock en Español pioneers and one of the biggest reunion acts at the festival this year. 

Watch Don's vlog about working with Saul, then check out the music video and turn it up!

---

Time for The Temp Life!

We've been watching The Temp Life, a series about the head of a temp agency who falls from grace and has to temp his way back up the ladder, since CJP Digital Media created it in 2006 for Spherion Staffing Services. 

With the premiere of Season 5, The Temp Life becomes  the longest-running original branded entertainment web series. and we're very proud to add The Temp Life to our roster, because The Temp Life's Season 5 was written by "Legend of Neil" writers Tony Janning and Gabe Uhr, will feature guest appearances by Taryn Southern, Tony Janning and Milo Ventimiglia, and-- not least of all--  because it features some familiar faces:


Illeana Douglas as "Eve Randall"


Sandeep Parikh as "Stevie P."

 
Wilson Cleveland as "Nick 'Trouble' Chiapetta"

 
and Craig Bierko as "Eddie Chiapetta"

We won't bore you with stories of our own experiences as temps.  Like the time we worked as a typist for a religious cult that sold yoga classes.  Or the time we worked for a legal headhunter who made us cut and paste newspaper articles into scrapbooks that she could read each night when she took the subway home.  Or the time we worked as a receptionist for a major television network and wrote down in our personal contact list all the extensions for the programming executives-- you know, just in case. 

We won't tell you about all of those stories because they're not nearly as interesting as the season premiere of Season 5, which you should totally watch right now-- unless you're a temp currently on assignment, in which case: finish your work, turn in your time sheet, get your supervisor's signature and watch The Temp Life only when you're sure no one has any other work to dump on you assign you.  Trust us.

---

3rd B-Day Hoo-Ha: Photographic Evidence

We are beyond thankful for the hundreds who came out to celebrate the NYTVF with us Friday night...to celebrate 3 years in business...to announce all that's new...and to celebrate the work of our hero Harry Shearer.

---

My Damn Channel: Our 3rd Birthday

My Damn Channel is 3 years old today.

Punk was still a baby when this photo was taken. Nixon is looming in the background. He's pointing the finger!

The pic is taken during a time called "college radio" before consultants sucked freedom out of the souls of rock radio madmen and mystical women who turned us onto music completely capable of changing and defining our lives.

I first met Harry Shearer that year. I chased rock dreams through radio, television and film - and called Harry in late 2006, with the idea to start a then-unnamed business which became My Damn Channel. I called Don Was. I called David Wain.

We launched My Damn Channel exactly 3 years ago, on July 31, 2007.



We give artists we love, trust and respect all the tools they need to skip over stone walls of multi-national media empires and create video delivered directly to you.

We've never been stupid enough to think www.MyDamnChannel.com would be the most visited online destination in the world. But we built a home base big and bad enough for every creator to have their own channel and we built a massive distribution network to move video onto every digital platform where we can make a solid business deal to support the work. The good shit ain't free.

We built a business driven by advertising, licensing and the certainty that we can bring you talent and content in special events later this year - worthy of a buck or two from you to support the art. Crazy, right?

Artists like Illeana Douglas prove that companies like IKEA can connect in a whole new way with millions of people watching millions of videos every hour. Illeana birthed a baby called "Easy to Assemble," which Ad Age dubbed "the most-watched sponsored web show."



We survived the world's worst economy and found our way to success because YOU watch and share our videos. THANK YOU.

We have artists that trust us to respect their art. THANK YOU.

We have sponsors and business partners who believe that we can deliver the good shit and guarantee millions of eyes on it all. THANK YOU.

We have backers who put their faith and coin into a vision for a new show business as powerful today as television was in the 50's. YOU GET IT! THANK YOU!

We have a man named Warren Chao, our Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, who knew how to stop us from avoiding most of the mistakes baby companies make to screw it all up. Warren: I've never known a single human being as smart, dedicated and effective inside a company as you. THANK YOU.

Biggest thanks to our families for not killing us when the hill seemed to high to climb! 

RESPECT and THANKS to every one of you who have spent a day inside our small, evolving staff of rebels and business partners.
(Keep an eye out for your party invite!)



We start year four today. Documented in "the world's longest press release" here - with all our new channels for your immediate inspection.

One more major announcement is coming out in days to prove that you'll still have My Damn Channel to kick around for years to come. 
F Nixon.

---

The King And I: The Irreplaceable Howard Stern

Like millions of us, my stepmom is a lifelong Howard Stern fan. She just sent this photo taken off of Howard TV, airing our in-studio interview from earlier this week. I had the honor of being Howard Stern's guest on his Tuesday, 420 show (scroll to 840a).

Response is coming into My Damn Channel via email, phones, video views, comments, new subscribers, tweets, wall postings, and even a live spotting this afternoon in a clothing store (to complete the surreality). The influx of intense energy all flows back to a man undeniably uniquely qualified to hold the heavyweight title: "King of All Media."

Howard endures as one of the most talented and honest souls alive. He embodies the freedom of speech with every breath. For all who've been fired, laid off, downsized, pink slipped, discharged, axed, or job eliminated...it's hard to imagine speaking truth to power on a live microphone the way Howard has done it for decades.

I first followed Howard Stern on a carrier current, college radio station, 64 WTBU at Boston University. (There's a great scene depicting TBU in "Private Parts.")

If you've ever chased a radio dream, then your college years are likely the last time and place you ever experienced the fear and thrill of exercising your freedom of speech over a live mic.

Primordial FM rock radio stations were created in the late 1960's. Early heroes like Harry Shearer and Steven Clean were blowing minds at places like KPPC in Pasadena, California (which eventually became the world famous KROQ).

The combined forces of original radio talents and pre-corporate rock music created stations throughout the 70s powerful enough to infect audiences with a sense of community, purpose, passion, sex and fun that began to hit the wall around 1980.

I was sitting on the front steps of my apartment on Beacon Street in Boston with Steven Clean and my best friend, Mike Isabella the night Ronald Reagan was elected President. I was 20. I was about to drop out of college and take a full-time job as a rock radio jock at WAAF out in Worcester, Mass. One year later, I had the only radio thrill that came closest to being on Howard's show this week. Lightning struck and we convinced the Rolling Stones to do a private show for our station's fans in 1981 to start up the "Tattoo You" tour.

But, back to Mr. Clean. I'd been Steven's intern for a time at WCOZ in Boston. At that point in his career, Clean had been fired by many of the best radio stations in the country. He was a real life inspiration for the Dr. Johnny Fever character in "WKRP in Cincinnati." Steven was incredibly talented, brilliant, a true music expert and fan...and he was rebellious enough to drive the most patient souls to the edge of their sanity.

Considering the nation's new President, Steven held a joint firmly in my face and said, "See this? This is OVER!"
By the time of Reagan's second term, most radio station managers had a "Just Say No" policy for disc jockeys expressing free thoughts on mic, or taking free reign over any music playlist.

A small number of former radio station program directors shaved their beards, cut their hair, bought expensive suits, and armed themselves with halliburton briefcases filled with blow and bullshit designed to convince every fearful radio exec that they had the only secrets to ratings success, fortune and fame.

Conformity soon became the norm. Tighter playlists made stations sound the same from city-to-city. The job of disc jockey was transforming free thinkers into people paid to read positioning slogans, timechecks and weather forecasts.

In the midst of all this unholy homogenization, Howard Stern began to build a radio show free from the constraints put on most of his competitors. His talent grew on the radio and expanded with every carefully planned new project he launched.

Superfans know that Howard pays homage to legends who came before him like Lenny Bruce and George Carlin. I can't think of another entertainer who has more succesfully won battles with corporate brass than Howard. One of the many surprises about the real man to outsiders is how he maintains his position with grace and wisdom.

No one knows what the next chapter will be for the Stern show in 2011. Assume Howard can see the possible moves on the chess board more clearly than most. As a fan, I'll be following as I have since the beginning. As a business owner, My Damn Channel stands ready to serve The King anytime he calls. 

---

Howard Stern Interviews My Damn Channel's Rob Barnett - 420

I just left Howard Stern's studio after an hour-long, on-air interview with the King.

About 2 weeks ago, Collette McLafferty set up an interview on Dr. Blogstein's Radio Happy Hour on Blog Talk Radio. Their interview was supposed to be about My Damn Channel, but they opened with a question about my old life in a thankless job at CBS Radio working to try to figure out how to replace the irreplaceable Howard Stern.

Howard 100 News ran with the story on Sirius on April Fool's Day. Gary Dell'Abate connected to invite me to come in to meet Howard this morning, 420, to tell the untold, true story.

I'd gotten advice from some of my best friends - and from some of Howard's friends about how to handle the situation. Much of it obvious. Tell the truth. Don't weasal. And the hardest advice - don't be long-winded.

Somehow, the minute I walked in LIVE - the mass nerves disappeared and Howard was totally amazing for over an hour.

We talked about the impossible situation he created by quitting radio in 2004 for satellite. I told him that the only person that came out perfectly smelling like a rose...was Howard.

We talked about Jon Stewart, Matt & Trey from South Park, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Chris Rock, David Lee Roth, Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel, Free FM, Harry Shearer, You Suck at Photoshop, and My Damn Channel. He couldn't have been cooler.

Today's show will loop all day on Sirius.

---

Going LIVE from LA

Tonight's the night web television's best are honored by the Streamy Awards.

We hit the red carpet with all the web couture we got.

Grace Helbig, Michelle Vargas, and Virginia Reiff bring you My Damn Channel coverage on our home page and our new www.MyDamnChannel.tumblr.com.

And My Damn Channel goes LIVE for the first time ever. The ceremony starts at 5:30p PST. 

Look for David Wain, Illeana Douglas, Jason Sklar, Randy Sklar, Sparhusen, Todd Spahr, Rob Mailhouse, Justine Bateman, Douglas NINJA Sarine, and all our fellow nominees and nerds.

My Damn Channel BIG announcements coming from here at the Streamys too on what's new.

---