Today we're 4 years old.

It's hard to believe that on this exact date four years ago, we launched this site.

We had only three artists to start: Don Was, Harry Shearer and David Wain. 

Daily Grace didn't even exist in 2007, when we were born.  Did you know that we made her in a factory in late 2008? Yeah, special order from the same company that makes Segways!  It's true!

Look at all the people wishing us Happy Birthday:



We're so lucky to have so many good friends...and we count YOU, dear readers, among them.  Because if you've found our blog, it means that you REALLY like us... and we like you back.  Thanks for helping us survive another year.  When we get to 10 years old every single one of us, employee and viewser, will get all-expenses-paid vacations to the Turks and Caicos.*  Here's to us AND you!  We wouldn't be here without you!  Buy yourself a cake and have some of it!  Yay!

*Totally, absolutely and appallingly untrue.

You Have a (Ball) Point...

Hot on the heels of last week's National Donut Day, today marks yet another charmingly inane "holiday" celebrating yet another piece of contemporary bric-a-brac.  I'm talking, or course, about National Ball Point Pen Day!  So fire up your out-of-office reply function, put on your party shirt, and cut out of work early.  You don't want to be late for the parade, and besides, those Bic-themed cocktails down at the National Ball Point Pen Day barbeque aren't gonna drink themselves. Just be safe out there.  You know how drivers are on BPP Day.

And in the spirit of the season, we're giving away some free My Damn Channel promotional pens over on our Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.  Nothing to scoff at, especially since it's been well-established that pen > sword = mightier.  Click the links for a chance to win.  What's that you say?  How DARE you insinuate that this is all just a cheap ploy to unload the huge surplus of pens we ordered to give away at our 4th birthday party on Monday.  Who cares that there are boxes full of My Damn Channel pens piled floor-to-ceiling in our offices, creating a fire hazard that will likely kill us all.  That's no reason to read anything duplicitous into this whole free pen giveaway thing.  You guys are acting crazy.

So happy holidays.  Don't forget to send your mom a card.

Thoughts of the Week

Thank Google It's Friday

You've heard of that web startup company Google, right? Well yesterday they played musical chairs and some guy replaced this other guy but the original guy didn't go anywhere, he just slipped into this other role, and all of them still have enough money to literally buy my life.

Checkout what this Unofficial Facebook Resource page has to say about it. Apparently, a great battle is looming. Who would you side with? If you say MySpace then you're already dead.

Twitter user Fronsac summed this whole Google switch up nicely:

"Today would have been perfect if Google picked me as their new CEO."

RAMP Gets An EXCLUSIVE Interview With Lee Abrams!

Meet Lee Abrams:



He was the Chief Innovation Officer at the Tribune Co. until very recently. 

There were a lot of stories going around about how his quick departure was punishment for a company-wide memo he sent containing links to some, erm, videos of questionable taste.

The good people in our RAMP (Radio and Music Pros) division thought that since linking to a video seems to have cost Abrams his job, it's only fitting that he use online video to tell his side of the story. 

Watch the entire interview now at MyDamnChannel.com/RAMP.

Here's something to whet your appetite:  Lee Abrams inspired one of those Hitler memes we were all so fond of for a while.  You know the ones:  we laughed and laughed when we watched them even though they starred HITLER.

Don't pretend like you don't know what we're talking about.

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.

3 Years Ago: Launch Mode

Good things come in 3's.

3 years ago, a small band of true believers were readying the launch of My Damn Channel: 7/31/07.

Here are the inaugural videos from the first 3 artists we signed.

David Wain came in with the world's fastest pitch for Wainy Days: (paraphrasing) "I want to make out with the hottest women in the world and every date goes horribly wrong."

His first episode (a 3-parter) co-stars Elizabeth Banks as Shelly:


David Wain as David Wain, Elizabeth Banks as Shelly.



Harry Shearer was the first hero we signed. He sat in prosthetic makeup for over 4 hours to become Dick Cheney, singing sexy for Scooter Libby:


Harry Shearer as Dick Cheney.


We wanted music to marry comedy in our company from Day One. We turned to another brother and one of the best musicians and producers on the planet, Don Was.

Don's "Wasmopolitan Cavalcade of Recorded Music" is an earful of the best music you can't get anywhere else.

His first My Damn Channel production starred one of the smartest singer/songwriters we know, Jill Sobule:


Don Was, Rob Barnett, Jill Sobule, Warren Chao at the My Damn Channel west coast launch party, 2007.


Here's a rare, bonus video from the archives. Day one back on 7/31/07 also starred Big Fat Brain, the geniuses behind You Suck at Photoshop, and the web designers of all things DAMN. One of our only spoof vids looked 20 years into the FUTURE and poked our pals at Funny or Die, who had launched a few months earlier:



Matt Bledsoe, Troy Hitch

Boxee Makes One Million Miracles

Boxee is the best way to get TV shows, movies, videos, music, and photos from the Internet on your TV. We’ve been watching this company grow and we’ve seen people’s heads turn every time their name is mentioned…inna good way. Put simply, this company is hot – with the right ideas to build the future with you in the driver’s seat. Here’s more.

Boxee just gave My Damn Channel access to one million new households. We just gave Boxee every single video we’ve had on My Damn Channel since launch in 2007.

You can now see our original music and comedy in the comfort of your own domestic domicile – on the largest screen of your choice. This is a HUGE win for our fans, artists, and sponsors … even our moms will finally think we’ve all got real jobs.

We’re launching this new chapter of our life by giving Boxee exclusive off-site distribution of the premiere of David Wain’s new “WAINY DAYS.”  This is episode 32 from one of the most-watched comedies in the new world - starring David along with Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman & Zandy Hartig.

If we weren’t working so hard to entertain you – we’d be home right now partying our brains out watching Wainy Days, Easy To Assemble, the entire catalog of the Don Was Cavalcade of Recorded Music, all those You Suck at Photoshop and Horrible People episodes and the deadly smart creations by Harry Shearer.  

It's all there waiting for you. New stuff we can't even tell you about yet will be there soon, too.  Admit it: you want to go there.  It's okay.  We want you to go to there, too.

THANKS BOXEE!