Hall Pass Pass

The new Farrelley Bros. comedy Hall Pass was the #1 movie in the country last week, and much of the credit can be placed on the broad, heartland-handsome shoulders of co-star Jason Sudeikis.  Not surprising, as the man’s talents are legion: one-time Blue Man Group wannabe, dater of Hollywood starlets, George Wendt’s nephew, etc.  And don’t sleep on SNL, where he portrays a wide variety of characters ranging from the pathetic to the nettlesome, including one-half of both Jon Bovi, the world’s worst Bon Jovi tribute band, and the titular “Two A-Holes.”

But by far, Sudeikis’s most daunting role to date has been as none other than our very own David Wain, wherein attacks the role of My Damn Channel’s favorite lovelorn man-child with the kind of method intensity not seen since Ben Kingsley cinched up his cloth diaper to play mankind’s other great savior, Mahatma Ghandi.  Maybe this Believer article was the key to his research.  Then again, maybe there’s a little David Wain in all of us (gross).

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The King of All Media on CNN

Last night, Howard Stern went on Piers Morgan Tonight to be interviewed by British dude Piers Morgan. Right off, Howard took control, and it was clear why he is the King of All Media - even though it seemed Piers believed that he and Howard were...PEERS! OH!

My Damn Channel's own fearless leader Rob Barnett was asked on to the Howard Stern Show last year on 4/20 to discuss Howard's departure from terrestrial radio and finding his replacement.  And Howard was gracious enough to chat about My Damn Channel - The King!  Talking about My Damn Channel!  What an awesome experience.

Enjoy a clip from the interview HERE.

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Michael Ian Black series shoot today

It's 5a in San Francisco. We've got a non-slouchy 5:30a crew call for a full day of shooting in a city we love.

Michael Ian Black is finally starring in his own My Damn Channel series. We're so happy our face muscles hurt. You'll see why when our show goes live in December.

Our producer is our mega mainman Jon Stern, who gifts you Wainy Days, Horrible People, Childrens Hospital and everything we love.

Michael Ian Black is the kind of Slash King we worship: comedian/actor/writer/director/twitter lord.

His body o' work creates a major fanbase of people we want to hang out with. Evidence includes the genius magic of The State, Stella, Michael and Michael Have Issues and more. And Michael is Chief Content Officer of a co. we're co-conspiring with now...please partake in the wonders of the 24-hour live comedy ticker, WitStream. Ta da.

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Rob Barnett and Mark Malkoff on The Adam Carolla Show!

Blogworld is the gift that keeps on giving!

While they were all in Las Vegas to do the closing keynote for Blogworld, founder/CEO Rob Barnett and Mark Malkoff made guest appearances on Adam Carolla's podcast.

Rob and Adam are old friends so naturally they talk about:

• *How they're both probably in higher demand for keynotes than Screech and Carrot Top
• *How they're probably not as in high demand as George Clooney and Brad Pitt
• *How Rob hired Adam to replace Howard Stern
• *How Penn Jillette is ridiculously tall
• *How My Damn Channel and The Adam Carolla Show are going to work together!!!

And, to that last point, we feel like this:



Mark Malkoff's segment begins around 40 minutes in, and Adam promptly calls him "Mark Mackoff."  It's okay, though, they blame it on the bad handwriting of one of Adam's staff.  And then they talk about:

• *How Mark has a Guinness World Record in something
• *How Mark learned you can flush an entire roll of toilet paper down an airplane toilet in 4 seconds
• *How Adam HATES IT WHEN PEOPLE CAN'T EVEN MAKE A SIMPLE QUESADILLA
• *How Mark spent 5 Days In The Bathroom

So listen to the show now! 

Or go to Adam's website to hear it!   

You can even download it directly into iTunes!

Phew.  That was a lot.  Here, have a Rob Barnett and Adam Carolla chaser:

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Webby Awards 2010

My Damn Channel was born 7/31/07. We were still in diapers when the Webby Awards first starting loving our artists with 7 nods in 2008.

They honored our family 5 more times in 2009. And this year, 8 new acts of love. We suck at math, but that's a lotta Webby lovin'.

The Webby Awards were just announced today.

THANKS to every human who voted - the judges, the fans...and congrats to every creator in webland for the recognition for your work n' fun that goes into forging the new world.

BIG love and respect to all in our family. Here are links to the My Damn Channel honored class of 2010:




Extra special love to Illeana Douglas and the "Easy To Assemble" team for her nomination for Best Individual Performance...and to David Wain and Amanda Peet and the whole Wainy Days fam for their nomination for Best Individual Episode for "Jill."

New "Wainy Days" and New "Easy To Assemble" episodes are in the works now.

 

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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. 

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My Damn Channel's Founder/CEO Rob Barnett on Howard TV

If you or your absentee next door neighbor that always leaves the door open gets Howard TV, watch Rob get interviewed by The King, Howard Stern.  You'll laugh, you'll learn, you'll thank me in the morning.

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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.

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HOWARD STERN 420

Howard Stern Tuesday, 420, 8:30AM EST.  Nuff Said.

Here's what happened from MarksFriggin.com - scroll down to 8:40am.

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The Future is Now

Wednesday & Thursday, Nov. 18-19, TV and digital media honchos will gather in NYC for the Future of Television Forum, hosted by Digital Media Wire, with the Consumer Electronics Association and NYU's Stern School of Business

Over 300 guests are scheduled to speak - including Rob Barnett, Founder/CEO of MyDamnChannel, on the "Future of Online Video" (cue the music!).  The panel will be moderated by Simon Applebaum, Producer/Host of Tomorrow Will Be Televised, and fellow panelizers include: Itzik Cohen (ClipSync), Dina Kaplan (Blip.tv), Erik Hachenburg (Metacafe), Ronald London (Davis Wright Tremaine LLP).

The conference promises live debate on timely cutting-edge business topics surrounding the future of the television industry, such as maximizing digital opportunities through transmedia, online video, VOD, mobile, iTV, metadata, game consoles and more.

Sounds fiesty!  Click HERE for more.  See you there.

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