What To Look For On My Damn Channel In The Next Few Weeks:
7/23
Product Displacement "Smith and Flowers"
A brand-new fauxmercial courtesy of the folks at NYC-based studio Captain Hippo.
7/24
My Damn Channel LIVE, Special Guest:
Wheezy Waiter
He's a popular YouTuber and the head of our YouTube Creators' Olympic Team. YouTubers
"Invade London!"
Coffey Chat
Look for the latest episode from our newest vlogger, Shannon Coffey. New episodes every Tuesday!
7/25
Status Kill, Season Two Premiere, "I Hate Invites"
The covert operative (Ayinde Howell) returns, and is STILL inundated by social media requests while he's trying to work.
My Damn Channel LIVE, Special Guest: Gilbert Gottfried
There will be another original segment of
"Gilbert Gets It" then Gilbert will stick around for the entire show to answer questions the audience tweets during the show using the hashtag #MyDamnChannelLIVE.
7/26
Linked Out, "140 or Less"
Another episode of gentle (or not so gentle) social media satire from the comedy troupe Junior Varsity.
You Suck At Photoshop, #27
The Webby award-winning web series returned this year after a long hiatus. So far this season, protagonist Donnie Hoyle has been in the Himalayas, on a speeding train, and in an Egyptian tomb. Yet he's still had wiFi access to continue giving us Photoshop lessons. Hmm...
7/27
The Tweekly News, Episode #8
Randy and Jason Sklar navigate the week's Twitter trends and pop culture stories. In partnership with EX®, a free online quit smoking program. Outtakes and bloopers can be seen on
BecomeAnEx.org/Sklar.
7/30
Product Displacement, "Muntson"
A fauxmercial from Captain Hippo for the DVD box set of the longest-running TV show you've never watched and never knew existed!
7/31 - Happy 5th Anniversary to My Damn Channel!
My Damn Channel LIVE,
Special Guest: Pete & Pete
Members of the cult hit kids TV show from the '90s will join host Beth Hoyt for Olympic-themed segments.
Sorry, guys! Pete & Pete had to reschedule for a later date!
8/1
Save The Supers, "Issue #3: The Superforce vs. Cat - astrophe"
A hit at
Comic-Con, the newest series from
Sandeep Parikh continues its look at a group of financially-strapped superheroes through a mockumentary lens. This episode features Felicia Day (The Guild, Dr. Horrible) as the Catwoman-like villain, "Panthera."
8/2
McMayhem, "Candy"
Matt McManus runs around the streets of LA making strangers uncomfortable, but in the most charming way possible!
You Suck At Photoshop, #28
Donnie has more Photoshop tips... he's even starting to use CS6! (Sorry if that's too nerdy.)
8/3
The Tweekly News, Episode #9
Follow
@SklarBrothers and
@TheTweeklyNews!
My Damn Channel LIVE, Special Guests: Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero from the cult hit movie,
The Room.
"You're tearing me apart, LISA!"
Don’t forget, we also have new episodes of
My Damn Channel LIVE every Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. ET, new vlogs from
Daily Grace every day, and new episodes of our how-to/advice series
Answerly every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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"pro youtube" on 10/28/2011 9:00:00 PM by Rob Barnett
Today, Google made a major announcement setting the stage for new programming on YouTube. We're honored that My Damn Channel is working to create a new YouTube original channel as part of this initiative.
We launched www.MyDamnChannel.com back in 2007 - dedicated to giving the most talented people in entertainment a studio and distribution platform where they can co-create, produce and showcase the best original video programming. We've made thousands of videos and many of the most watched and awarded comedy series like “Wainy Days,” “You Suck at Photoshop,” “Horrible People,” “Daily Grace” and political satire from the great Harry
Shearer. We've been supported by major advertisers who partner with us to reach engaged, loyal fans online with media
campaigns and branded entertainment that break through the noise.
In addition to running our own site, we've always syndicated to other outlets and YouTube has been a powerful partner since we launched our first channel there in 2007.
In February, 2012, we’re expanding our YouTube relationship to give you MY DAMN CHANNEL LIVE: a hosted, 30-minute, weekly comedy show featuring world premieres of our original videos
and series. We'll bring you stars you love and new talent too.
MY DAMN CHANNEL LIVE will also invade your screens daily with 10-minute, interactive blasts from our host. You'll see our new live show on a dedicated channel on My Damn Channel, on a new
channel on YouTube, and in syndication.
We'll keep you plugged in on the birth of our new baby with fresh updates about all the artists we’re signing and the new series we’re producing from now 'til launch.
I want to give HUGE thanks to everyone who's supported My Damn Channel. A few short years ago, Warren Chao and I
were two crazy fools with a power point presentation and a dream. The fact that one of the most revolutionary companies in the world just tapped us for their new adventure blows us away and we're
counting on all of you to be watching.
Rob Barnett
Founder/CEO, www.MyDamnChannel.com
Sizzle Reel: 2007-2011 HERE
(Intern Josh, wondering forlornly how he ended up here)
EDITOR'S NOTE: It's Josh's last day as an intern for My Damn Channel! I asked him to write up a post telling you what it was like for him this summer!
Coming into My Damn Channel as an intern I thought all I was gonna learn was how to file papers and fill out reports. Boy was I wrong! Friday will be my last day and I still haven't correctly filled out a single report. My boss is always saying that it drives him crazy how long it's taking me to get the hang of the office duties, but I can tell he's just joking. How I treasure that agonized look he gets trying so hard to hold back laughter.
What I learned though was way more valuable than any college education. I would say it was worth about $230,000, a couple hundred more than four years' tuition at Wesleyan. What I learned was the value of making the effort to gain the respect of your peers.
Before I ever set foot into that office, I had my work cut out for me. My future co-workers had already started gossiping that I only got the internship because of my family connections. After failing for three years to strike any gold, my great-great-grandfather started My Damn Channel during the California Gold Rush as a burlesque show designed to entertain entrepreneurs who had given up on trying to find gold and started companies catered to the needs of the gold miners. Grandpa Schmulie Meisel. I can't believe that was such a popular name back then — Grandpa.
My first day at work the guy sharing my cubicle got mad at me for unplugging his computer. "What do you need a blender for?!" he irrationally snarled. "How else are you gonna make computer smoothies silly? By hand?!" I chucked his computer into my oversized blender. He must've thought I was awfully spoiled, not making my computer smoothies by hand. I really had an uphill battle ahead of me if I wanted to gain anyone's respect.
A couple of days in I got the courage to pitch a show idea to the head of development. It was a parody of "Friends" called "Friends." He looked at me like I was an idiot. "You just handed me a bunch of "Friends" scripts. I think I know now why the printer's out of ink. Look, why don't you hold off for a bit before you make any more pitches." Apparently my scripts had gone right over his head. And "Friends" was a pretty accessible show. The guy I shared my cubicle was a rube, our head of development was dense as a neutron star, and my boss was an incorrigible prankster. My situation was less than ideal to say the least.
Halfway through the summer things had only gotten worse. I was miserable. My only friend was the janitor, and he was a Roomba! I'd cry myself to sleep every night, and when I wasn't feeling that sad I would get my butler to cry me to sleep. My job was a major disappointment. It wasn't at all like that show "The Office." We had TWO guys named Dwight, and the prettiest girl wasn't dating the most handsome guy (me), but instead this guy Jim who's so inexperienced with women that when I asked him to share some girlie stories he just laughed.
All I could do was trudge along until my five weeks were up, filing away papers wherever I could cram them (I may not get the job done pretty, but I'm damn fast). And just when I had given up on ever gaining a single ounce of respect from any My Damn Channel employee, a stroke of luck bolted me right in the face.
I'll always remember it like it was yesterday, even though it was only yesterday today. Jim's girlfriend (I think her name was Xamela) told him he needed to go somewhere to sign some forms. She couldn't give him a ride because she was busy. He asked if anyone else could take him, and I shot out of my chair like I was sitting on a lit match (which for the one of the first times I wasn't). Jim didn't see me at first; his eyes scanned the room for someone to drive him but everyone pretended to be hard at work because they were too lazy to take him. Finally he saw me and said "Fine let's go Josh." And fine it was. Everyone looked up at Jim and smiled at him. Their smiles seemed to say, "I'm really happy for you that you get to go on a fun/crazy/cool ride with Josh." But the smiles had a little menace behind them that signified jealousy.
When I got back my boss laughed with mirth, patted me on the back, and said, "Good job sonny." All I ever wanted was for my boss to think of me as a son, but life isn't easy. I had to put in my time to get what I wanted — let's just say I don't think I could've earned the luxury of being treated by my boss like his own flesh and blood if I hadn't given Jim that ride. And now, in these last couple of months before my summer ends and I have to go back to hitting the books trying to eventually earn my GED, I can look back at my time at My Damn Channel atop my pool float, computer smoothie in hand, and know that that one lesson I learned was well worth all my trifles. Plus it helped that I was making more than the rest of the office combined.
Thanks, Josh, er, Sonny! We will miss you! We know it will be tough going back to Stanford to get a world-class education, but it's better you than us!
We fully intend to continue stalking following you and your writing as @artsypriest and as a writer for The Stanford Chaparral.
PS: If any of you, dear readers, for some strange, maddening reason, would like to be an intern for My Damn Channel, please send an email to info@MyDamnChannel.com, and be sure to include links to your blog, Twitter and Tumblr accounts, or any other writing samples you might have! In the immortal words of the Jersey Shore kids in Italy, "Arrivederci, summer!"
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Josh Gad on 4/8/2011 10:01:27 AM by Matt Warren
So if you're here on My Damn Channel reading this blog, then you're OBVIOUSLY in the top 1% of cultured Americans, fingers no doubt coated with ink from the latest New York Times book review, the scent of a well-aged Malbec still lingering in your nostrils from last night's upscale wine tasting.
And you're undoubtedly a lover of the finer things in life: air travel, social satire, Broadway musicals. Lucky for you, we've rolled all of your interests into one amazing sweepstakes opportunity. In honor of My Damn Channel's new show Gigi, we're flying one lucky winner to New York to see the new hit musical The Book of Mormon, created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and starring Gigi himself, Josh Gad.
So put down your Chaucer, readjust your monocle, and head on over to our Facebook page to enter for your chance to win. And what the hell, here's the Gigi trailer again. YOU'RE WELCOME.
As an avid fan of Super Bowl Champions the Green Bay Packers, I've spent much of the last week celebrating by shoveling as many different kinds of cheese down my throat as possible. True, this is how I mostly go about life to begin with, but the cholesterol choking off my arteries and slowly murdering me has been especially festive as of late.
But not everyone was pleased with what went down on their TVs last Sunday. Steelers fans, sure. But music fans also suffered a devastating one-two punch in the forms of Christina Aguilera's freedom-hating National Anthem flub, and the Black Eyed Peas' over-aggressive imperative to "DRANK!" And then there are those weirdoes who only watch the Super Bowl "for the ads." And for these folks there was nothing more controversial and upsetting than Groupon's "save your money"-themed ads skewering celeb activism.
Okay, fair enough. A drunken, sports-obsessed viewing audience and a perhaps too-subtle bit of Swiftian satire do not the perfect marriage make. But if you're looking to be shocked, angered, and perplexed by advertising, these videos remain the gold standard...
First, we have this cute lil' nightmare factory from famed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
What is Inochi-Kun? My best guess is ceaseless, unending horror. Don't even think about mushrooms while you watch this, or your eyeballs will start to bleed and white foam will start to come out of your nose.
And then there's this gem, from a pre-Muppets Jim Henson, shilling for the now-defunct Wilkins Coffee.
Why is this lumpy little proto-Kermit being such a dick about coffee? What is his agenda? Frankly, I don't like being strong-armed into drinking dirty water. No wonder the Wilkins Company's mafia tactics drove them out of business.
But if you're looking for puppets, why not check out the frightening-yet-friendly beasties of Spook House Dave!?
In this episode, the monsters try to cope with Dave's absence while he's away at summer camp. Suffice to say, they don't exactly hold it together. Maybe they just need to get out of the castle. I hear Groupon has some great deals on hot air balloon rides.
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New Series on 7/31/2008 3:44:05 AM by Rob Barnett
MY DAMN CHANNEL CELEBRATES ITSELF
First Birthday Stats and ‘Terrible Two’ Plans Revealed
NEW YORK, July 31, 2008 - My Damn Channel (www.MyDamnChannel.com), the entertainment studio and new media platform, today celebrates its first birthday by revealing year one statistics on traffic and revenue, and announcing new community features and a full development slate.
My Damn Channel has built a brand that empowers professional filmmakers, actors, comedians, musicians, and athletes to co-produce, mass distribute and monetize original, short-form video.
My Damn Channel has produced over 325 original videos viewed over 29 million times in the past year. The company created a studio, a destination site, syndication network, and branded entertainment exchange to match advertisers with top talent who deliver high-quality, episodic content.
Today, the channel celebrates itself and the first 9 channels co-created with Harry Shearer, David Wain, Big Fat Brain, Don Was, A.D. Miles, Andy Milonakis, Grace Helbig, Steve Kerper, and Coolio.
Watch our Birthday Meltdown
Watch 07-08-Oh-No
Twenty-two original series have featured over 120 professional artists including Ozzy Osbourne, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Rob Corddry, Janeane Garofalo, Kristen Schaal, and Elizabeth Banks.
My Damn Channel currently reaches over one million unique viewers monthly. Major brands including Lincoln, Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Southern Comfort, Puma, and HBO have signed on. Revenue is pacing to exceed $1 million by year’s end.
A low-cost model eliminates multi-layered management tiers found in traditional media and puts artists in direct contact with their fans. My Damn Channel founder and CEO Rob Barnett said, “Our team and our talent are inspired by cynics who say you can’t build a brand and create the traffic and revenue needed to succeed with original video. Our birthday blood sugar rush is strong enough to keep us laughing and beating projections in year two.”
A new syndication deal has just been signed with a major portal and will be announced and launched in August. New community features on the destination site include video alerts via email for premieres and featured clips; customizable profiles; friending; and favorites.
The development slate of new My Damn Channel programming includes:
• “Pilot Channel” (working title) – content creators get full access to the company’s branding, technology, community, syndication, promotion, and revenue. Advertisers bid to sponsor new series through a branded entertainment exchange that guarantees placement and distribution throughout our network.
• “Lapdance with Kurt Loder: Saving The World One Interview at a Time” – Author, journalist, MTV anchor, movie writer and former Rolling Stone senior editor Kurt Loder interviews filmmakers, musicians and anyone else who’s around, anywhere in the world, via iChat. The first episode with Harry Shearer premieres in August.
• New Big Fat Brain series – the creators of “You Suck at Photoshop” will “tweak the geeks” once again.
• “Face Time presented by Puma” – athletes and musicians interview each other to find out where they get their inspiration. Three 6 Mafia and Terrell Owens star in the channel’s first sports series.
• “My Damn Channel Music Nights presented by SoCo” – Grace Helbig, host of the channel’s “Daily Grace” hits the highway this summer with Southern Comfort for 12 weeks of programming starring fans and artists including Common, The Black Keys, and The Roots, filming in NY, CA, AZ, and WI.
• Harry Shearer – the Sultan of political satire has just released a new album, “Songs of the Bushmen.” New videos from the album include “Turd Blossom Special” (Shearer as Karl Rove) and “Gym Buds” (Judith Owen as Condeleeza Rice). Shearer continues to produce “Found Objects,” featuring news anchors and newsmakers in unscripted moments captured on film.
• Don Was – the creator and host of My Damn Channel’s Wasmopolitan Cavalcade of Recorded Music is producing a second season of all new music. Don and his Cavalcade just filmed over 55 musicians live in Detroit at the “Concert of Colors” diversity festival.
About My Damn Channel
My Damn Channel is an entertainment studio and new media platform created to empower professional filmmakers, actors, comedians, musicians and athletes to co-produce, distribute and monetize original, episodic video. Artists create programming for the My Damn Channel site and for syndication on today's most heavily-trafficked online communities and social networks. My Damn Channel delivers creative control, funding, distribution, and revenue to co-conspirators including Big Fat Brain, Coolio, Grace Helbig, Steve Kerper, A.D. Miles, Andy Milonakis, Harry Shearer, David Wain and Don Was. The company is supported by an advertising revenue model, and by licensing the studio's entire portfolio of content across all forms of digital distribution.
Media Contact:
Maria Diokno
866.424.8864
Maria@MyDamnChannel.com
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Rob Barnett on 5/13/2008 12:37:29 AM by Rob Barnett
Press Release
PRESIDENT BUSH “LIES” ON MY DAMN CHANNEL
Harry Shearer’s “935 Lies” World Premieres Today
New York, NY – May 13, 2008 – My Damn Channel World Premieres Harry Shearer’s music video, “935 Lies” today. The song is from Harry Shearer's forthcoming record "Songs of the Bushmen." See it here.
Harry Shearer is an actor, author, director, satirist, musician, radio host, playwright, multi-media artist and record label owner. His work is inside the heads of millions worldwide from The Simpsons, This is Spinal Tap, Le Show, and Saturday Night Live. Shearer plunged into the online universe to become a cornerstone of My Damn Channel. Each week, Shearer unveils a new political or pop culture satire on his own branded channel.
“935 Lies” is filmed in what looks like a corporate meeting held by the publishers of "Modern Liar" magazine. Shearer enumerates, with what looks like either pride or insensate rage, some of the almost one thousand falsehoods uttered by Bush Administration leaders that led us to war. Oddly, as he does so, he sings about other notable things that come in bunches of a thousand. And food is served.
According to The Center for Public Integrity, “President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.”
Harry Shearer said, “If it just helps us all to be better liars in our own lives, this damn war will have been worth it.”
Rob Barnett, founder & CEO of My Damn Channel said, "The most powerful force in the world is not a weapon or a nation but a truth...that we are spiritual beings and that freedom is the soul's right to breathe." Barnett was quoting President George W. Bush.
“935 Lies” Credits:
Music & Lyrics HARRY SHEARER; Director HARRY SHEARER; Producer KAREN MURPHY; Music Producer/Engineer JOHN FISCHBACH; Director of Photography MATT MINDLIN; Editor MIKE HALE
About My Damn Channel:
My Damn Channel is an entertainment studio and new media platform created to empower comedians, musicians and filmmakers to co-produce, distribute and monetize original, episodic video. Artists create content for the My Damn Channel website and for syndication on the most heavily-trafficked online communities and social networks. My Damn Channel has racked up 22 million views, 7 accolades from the 2008 Webby Awards, worldwide media coverage, major national advertisers and blah, blah, blah…Are you still reading? Start exploring now: www.MyDamnChannel.com
Contact:
Maria Diokno
866.424.8864
Maria@MyDamnChannel.com
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The Alphas on 4/17/2008 9:24:00 AM by Rob Barnett
Thanks to the NAB and especially to Ashley Howell, Chris Marlowe, and Rochelle Winters for inviting us to present in Vegas yesterday. Thanks to Jon Healey from the LA Times for moderating - and to Harry Shearer & Andy Milonakis for making the trip.
We filled a room of about 350-400 humans and started by showing a few of our original videos. Fun seeing hundreds LOL at YSAP - up on a huge megascreen - and cool to see a crowd feel the bass of music produced by Don Was.
Harry Shearer made news - announcing "THE ALPHAS" - a project he's been developing for 10 years - and the most ambitious new work making its way to My Damn Channel.
"THE ALPHAS" is motion-capture animation of the highest quality (Beowulf) - done in the fastest turnaround ever achieved (less than 5 day production cycles). Here's more:
Imagine seeing the best-known people in politics and the media, every week, in hilariously private situations. Not actors in makeup, but what looks and sounds like the real President, candidates, anchors, and the rest. That’s the idea behind “The Alphas”, a revolutionary new concept in topical sketch comedy. Written and performed by Harry Shearer, who’s notched more than two decades as a creator of topical satire on his weekly public radio broadcast, “Le Show”, along with two memorable seasons on “Saturday Night Live”, “The Alphas” includes no makeup, no celebrity cameos. Instead, utlizing a trio of cutting-edge motion-capture technologies--harnessed for the first time to a “week-of-air” production schedule, “The Alphas” features startlingly realistic computer-animated versions of the movers, shakers and yakkers. They’re not lifelike--thanks to the technology and Shearer’s performances, they’re alive. And every week, they’re deftly and drolly revealed for all their pretensions, resentments, jealousies and anxieties--all the good stuff, online just days after production.
Here's the first news coverage from the LA Times and the Digital Content Producer Magazine with thanks for the 'ink' & correction to Michael Goldman.