WHAT'S NEXT... AT LEAST UNTIL 5/20

---

Two New My Damn Channel Originals in Production

The next 2 My Damn Channel original comedy series are now in production in New York City and we can’t wait to share them with you!

“The Mark Malkoff Challenge” and “Life: A Gamer’s Guide” have been picked up straight to series with 13 episodes of each ordered by our new partners at MSN. Both series will premiere on MSN Entertainment and will also be available on the My Damn Channel Comedy Network .

Here’s what you need to know:

· He’s raced a New York City bus while riding a Big Wheel, he watched 252 films on Netflix in one month… so what will Mark Malkoff do next? “The Mark Malkoff Challenge” puts this comedian/filmmaker to the test to find out if he can overcome the odds and accomplish unusual feats of bravery on the streets of New York City. “The Mark Malkoff Challenge” will premiere next month on MSN Entertainment’s Comedy and Downtime channels, starring and written by Malkoff, executive produced for MSN by Smita Shukla and produced for My Damn Channel by Dean Peterson.

· “Life: A Gamer’s Guide” features Brian and Mike, good friends and professional gamers who show their audience how gaming techniques can apply to everyday life. Coming from our Hell’s Kitchen studio, it will premiere next month on MSN Entertainment’s Comedy and Nerdcore channels. Executive producers are MSN’s Jeff Purcell and My Damn Channel’s Melissa Schneider. Also for My Damn Channel, Julia Hoff is producer, and Nate Bennett is writer/producer.

Here is what our Founder/CEO Rob Barnett has to say about today’s big news:

“While My Damn Channel Comedy Network continues to acquire and produce original series, we’re expanding our list of premium partners by announcing our new deal with Microsoft that will include licensing My Damn Channel originals to MSN and the production of new, original comedy. The MSN executive team gave us the green light—twice—with full season orders on two original series to start our partnership, and we’re excited to bring our brand of professionally-created laughter to a whole new audience.”

We’ll have more info soon—including exact premiere dates!—so stay tuned!

---

How Many Netflix Movies Can Mark Malkoff Watch?

How many movies can one man watch in one month?

Who hasn't had the fantasy: "I'm going to stay home and watch movies all day. I'm going to catch up on the classics, see all those movies that I never had time to see, hell... I'll maybe I'll even watch a couple of those romantic comedies that my wife is always trying to make me enjoy... just because I CAN. I have Netflix streaming and I have access to a million movies 24 hours a day. WHY CAN'T I JUST STAY HOME AND WATCH MOVIES?"

Verbatim, right? Now you're all, "Get out of my head, My Damn Channel!"

Too late. We're just gonna dig in deeper because Mark Malkoff lived out your Netflix streaming movie watching fantasy and filmed it for us.

For "Netflix Challenge," Mark wanted to see exactly how many movies he could watch for $7.99 per month. Turns out, it's 252.

Before you say, "252? Well that sounds easy as sh*t," think about this: Mark gained 6 pounds by barely moving all month. When he did move, he still had to watch movies on his iPhone and iPad. He started doing bad Jack Nicholson impressions.

Of course, the good parts of this whole thing are that both Andrew McCarthy and Jason London decided to provide him with live commentary of the movies St. Elmo's Fire and Dazed and Confused, respectively.

Make sure you watch the video to see how Mark took movie suggestions from people on Twitter, Facebook -- even Mashable commenters.  Watch it to see Andrew McCarthy cart Mark around in a red wagon. And watch it to see how Mark got through all of these movies (yes, he even devoted an entire day to Razzie winners):

#1. The Graduate
#2. Chinatown
#3. Bonnie and Clyde
#4. A Clockwork Orange
#5. Paper Moon
#6. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
#7. Harold and Maude
#8. Marathon Man
#9. Being John Malkovich
#10. Reservoir Dogs
#11. Swingers
#12. Trainspotting
#13. Clerks
#14. Girl, Interrupted
#15. The Grifters
#16. Sliding Doors
#17. Reality Bites
#18. Office Space
#19. The Big Lebowski
#20. Ghostbusters
#21. Dumb and Dumber
#22. Airplane
#23. The Producers
#24. This is Spinal Tap
#25. Arthur
#26. Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
#27. Client 9: Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer
#28. Rolling Stones: Stones in Exile
#29. Page One: Inside the New York Times
#30. Waiting for Superman
#31. American: The Bill Hicks Story
#32. Classic Albums: U2: The Joshua Tree
#33. The Way We Get By
#34. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
#35. St. Elmo’s Fire
#36. Dirty Dancing
#37. The Lost Boys
#38. Dream a Little Dream
#39. License to Drive
#40. Girls Just Want to Have Fun
#41. Heathers
#42. Weird Science
#43. Duck Soup
#44. A Night in Casablanca
#45. Love Happy
#46. Steamboat Bill, Jr.
#47. College
#48. The Navigator
#49. Seven Chances
#50. Sherlock Jr.
#51. Go West
#52. Our Hospitality
#54. Rocky
#55. Hoosiers
#56. The Hustler
#57. The Longest Yard (original)
#58. The Cutting Edge
#59. Senna
#60. Fever Pitch (original)
#61. The Terminator                    
#62. Die Hard 2                             
#63. Lethal Weapon                        
#64. 13 Assassins                               
#65. Enter the Dragon                        
#66. The Expendables                   
#67. Dillinger                     
#68. Dirty Harry
#69. Donnie Darko
#70. Tiny Furniture
#71. Wet Hot American Summer
#72. World’s Greatest Dad
#73. Punch-Drunk Love
#74. Broken Flowers
#75. Anvil! The Story of Anvil
#76. Winter’s Bone
#77. Insidious
#78. An American Werewolf in London
#79. Paranormal Activity 2
#80. Creature from the Black Lagoon
#81. Saw: The Final Chapter
#82. House on Haunted Hill
#83. Dracula
#84. Audition
#85. Scream 2
#86. Being Elmo
#87. Helvetica
#88. Dazed and Confused
#89. Bill Cunningham New York
#90. This Film is Not Yet Rated
#91. Dear Zachary
#92. Man on a Wire
#93. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
#94. Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
#95. Dive
#96. Gigli
#97. Battlefield Earth
#98. Xanadu
#99. Cop and a Half
#100. Indecent Proposal
#101. The Last Airbender
#102. Rocky 4
#103. Spy Kids
#104. Cheaper by the Dozen
#105. Fred: The Movie
#106. Dr. Dolittle
#107. Dark Crystal
#108. Babe: Pig in the City
#109. Rango
#110. Labyrinth
#111. True Grit (original)
#112. True Grit (remake)
#113. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
#114. Dead Man
#115. Shane
#116. Two Mules for Sister Sara
#117. The Warrior’s Way
#118. High School Musical
#119. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
#120. Sense and Sensibility
#121. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family
#122. Iron Man 2
#123. The Phantom
#124. Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo
#125. Planet of the Apes
#126. They Live
#127. RoboCop
#128. Serenity
#129. Starship Troopers
#130. Dreamscape
#131. The Final Countdown
#132. 1984
#133. Little Shop of Horrors (original)
#134. Annie
#135. Gypsy
#136. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
#137. Love Me Tender
#138. Camp
#139. Bikini Beach
#140. There’s No Business Like Show Business
#141. Troll 2
#142. Cool as Ice
#143. Birdemic: Shock and Terror
#144. The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
#145. Titanic 2
#146. Ed
#147. Best Worst Movie
#148. Shark Attack 3: Megalondon
#149. The Thing with Two Heads
#150. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
#151. Oldboy                        
#152. Exit Through the Gift Shop
#153. Brick                                                       
#154. Good Will Hunting
#155. Trollhunter                   
#156. Malice in Wonderland                    
#157. 21 Grams                         
#158. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
#159. Network
#160. Edward Scissorhands
#161. Top Gun
#162. Time Bandits
#163. The Red Balloon
#164. The Wiz
#165. The Karate Kid#
#166. Swimming with Sharks
#167. The People vs. George Lucas
#168. Thirst
#169. Return of the Pink Panther
#170. Buck
#171. The Landlord
#172. One Bright Shinning Moment
#173. The Paper Chase
#174. Reel injun
#175. Tales from the Script
#176. Murder!
#177. Dail M for Murder
#178. The Lady Vanishes
#179. The Manxman
#180. Young and Innocent
#181. Number 17
#182. The Man Who Knew Too Much
#183. The Stranger
#184. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
#185. The Seven Year Itch
#186. The King and Four Queens
#187. The Lady Eve
#188. How to Steal a Million
#189. Anastasia
#190. Father’s Little Dividend
#191. The Raven
#192. Serpico
#193. Smoke Signals
#194. Passion of the Christ
#195. Whale Rider
#196. The Lincoln Lawyers
#197. 8 ½
#198. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
#199. The Outsider
#200. Submarine
#201. Ballerina
#202. The Trip
#203. Gosford Park
#204. Groundhog Day
#205. Me and Orson Welles
#206. The Double
#207. Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows
#208. WWE’s Rivalries: Michaels vs Hart
#209. The Rise & Fall of WCW
#210. The Top 50 Incidents in WWE History
#211.  The Epic Journey of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
#212. Bobby Heenan
#213. Ricky Steamboat: Life Story of the Dragon
#214. Card Subjec to to Change
#215. The American Dream: The Dusty Rhodes Story
#216. Champion
#217. The Man Who Wasn’t There
#218. The Gold Rush
#219. Bad Company
#220. Rubber
#221. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
#222.  Bob Dylan: Never Ending Tour Diaries
#223.  Biggie & Tupac
#224.  Ginger Baker in Africa
#225. Moog
#226. Heavy Metal in Baghdad
#227. Kurt Cobain: About a Son
#228. The Art of 16 Bars
#229. The Invisible Man                
#230. The Wolf Man                        
#231. The Mummy’s Curse  
#232. Something to Cheer About
#233. The Invention of Dr. Nakamats
#234. She Done Him Wrong                  
#235. Laurel & Hardy: Flying Deuces          
#236. The Battleship of Potemkin       
#237. The Hornets Nest                 
#238. So This is New York             
#239. It   
#240. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
#241. Dance with Me Henry
#242. Nothing Sacred
#243. Pulling John
#244. food Matters
#245. Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven
#246. I Need That Record
#247. Road to the Big Leagues
#248. To Live and Ride in LA
#249. Almost Elvis
#250. Dog Day Afternoon
#251.  Into the Abyss
#252. Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade

For Mark's "Netflix Challenge" diary, visit his blog at MarkMalkoff.com.

---

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. 

---