Posted in
Dicki,
Interns,
Jobs,
Maria,
Wainy Days with tags
social media,
social media intern,
internship,
social media internship,
nyc internship,
new york city internship,
online video internship,
comedy internship,
writing internship,
Elizabeth Banks,
Wainy Days,
The Hunger Games,
Jeremy Lin,
Mary Lynn Rajskub,
Dicki on 2/15/2012 1:51:45 PM by
Maria
This is his "excited" face.
Meet Matt The Intern.
Look at how excited Matt The Intern is to be one of the very first people holding the brand-new
Wainy Days DVD.
If you were our intern you would be as lucky as he is, too. In FACT, today IS your lucky day because
we need social media and graphics interns.
Here's the deal:
- *We are located in New York City, so you must be, too. Or you must be willing at least to commute into New York City on a regular basis.
- *You can receive college credit! If this is of interest to you we can do this... however...
- *Being a student is not a prerequisite. Just know that.
Here are the skills we're looking for:
- *You should be familiar with our content. Some of it. All of it. Take your pick. But you should know something about us.
- *You should have strong writing skills. Please send us links to your Twitter and Tumblr and blog. But not your Pinterest. We don't care about that...YET.
- *You should have basic Photoshop and HTML skills. Have you ever created an image for a meme? Have you posted said image to your blog without the benefit of a blog editor? Do you sometimes wish you could just hold up an animated gif in real-life situations? Fantastic. You're who we want.
- *Basic Final Cut Pro or other video editing skills are wonderful and we could definitely figure out how to use your skills effectively and creatively, but they are not necessary.
Here's what you'd be doing:
- *Hanging out on Tumblr all day.
- *Creating gifs of our content.
- *Helping us think of hashtags.
- *Photoshopping Mary Lynn Rajskub's head onto Jeremy Lin's body just because we think saying "Mary Lynn-sanity" is funny.
- *Helping to optimize all of our social media outlets aesthetically and strategically.
- *Not all of it is fun. Sometimes there is data entry. Sometimes there is heavy lifting. Sometimes there is a coffee run that needs running.
BUT you would definitely get a
Wainy Days DVD. Well, probably.
Please send all inquiries to Maria [at] MyDamnChannel [dot] com.
Thanks! And may the odds be ever in your favor! (But not in a BAD Hunger Games sort of way!)
(PS: We have several videos starring Elizabeth Banks!)
(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!"
Check out our "The Book of Mormon" sweepstakes winner Sharon Cruz-Nichols and her husband, James, with Josh Gad after the show! Here's to our guests - we hope you had a blast in NYC.
Check out Josh in Season 1 of Gigi: Almost American here.
Enter our current sweepstakes here.
Do you dream of the perfect body? Do you lay in bed surrounded by the detritus of your junk food addiction, fantasizing about peeling off your too-tight, slightly wet T-shirt to reveal a glistening, tanned torso sculpted to Wahlbergian perfection? Do you pine for abs so flawless that the Situation himself would throw himself under the nearest party bus at the mere sight of them? The answer, of course, is yes. We all do. And we all want it to happen RIGHT NOW.
But is it really possible to go from abpocalypse to abparadise in a mere thirty days? Well, My Damn Channel's resident sociologist/trickster god Mark Malkoff has done EXACTLY THAT, going from flab to fab in record time in this two-part video experiment.
The secret to his success? Diet, excercise, and enough hard boiled eggs to shame even Cool Hand Luke. So let Mark school you in the art of getting stupid cut and watch. Nutritionists say that clicking "play" just once can burn up to 1,200 calories.*
*(estimated)
Comedy legend (yes, legend - dispute me if you dare), Martin Short, recently revealed his passion project to Jimmy Kimmel.
I'm worried it might be a little far fetched...I can't think of any reality show that has characters that are this ridiculous who do these things and also live in Jersey. These things could only happen in the context of: Jersey Short.
Posted with tags
Howard Stern,
Rob Barnett,
My Damn Channel,
420,
Jon Stewart,
South Park on 4/20/2010 7:04:13 AM by Rob Barnett
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.
Posted in
Andy Milonakis,
Animation,
Big Fat Brain,
Harry Shearer,
My Damn Channel,
New Media,
Presidential,
Press,
Vegas with tags
Andy Milonakis,
Harry Shearer,
My Damn Channel,
NAB,
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.
Posted in
Don Was,
MTV,
Music business on 11/17/2007 3:51:00 PM by Rob Barnett
This is NOT the title of a blog about my kids. If you’re a music fan – read on for a peek inside old MTV and for new pathways to free music. Here endeth the commercial.
My wife and I took our twins in for another doctor visit yesterday. They seemed to have grown visibly - in just one day or so. The thought seemed improbable - but it was true. Dylan’s up to 9 pounds and Jessie’s up to 7/13.
You hardly ever get to experience rapid change if you’re in the grown-up game. We’re conditioned to desire, to answer hunger, and to chase after what we want. But if you’re looking for significant, life-altering changes, then you’re usually looking at the kind of wait time that takes years.
Instant, important growth is a rare reality inside the vicissitudes* of life on the PIG (Planet Instant Gratification).
Expectations about life and work getting better in an instant are false realities made more intense in the post-MTV age of immediate online communication. In the 80s + 90s, we were attacked at MTV for fueling a quick-cut culture that turned art and music into crass pop product. Most juries would enter a guilty verdict on that one.
Bill Flanagan is a great writer and a soulful music fan. He was one of a few trusted co-cons during our VH1 days together in the late 90s. Bill is still at MTV. If you ever watched his VH1 shows like "Storytellers" or "Legends" or "Crossroads" on CMT, then you know that Bill Flanagan is dedicated to keeping the "M" in Music Teleeevision.
Bill once shared a theory about “music then” vs. “music now” - and it’s never gotten out of my fat head: Those of us who first met Rock as an original art form grew up believing that the music we heard had the distinct possibility of defining who we were. Our jukebox heroes delivered idealized visions of how we could live life if we had the balls or the guts. Ladies Rock too, fellas. Our Real Rock heroes were missionaries who showed us how to embrace freedom without fear. True Rock n' Roll hearts beat in opposition to rules that demand conformity and retreat. There aren’t many of these twisted, crazy aortas left out there. Unfortunately, many of the hearts you find in the music game are a little dyslexic.
Professor Flanagan said that the music culture we found in the late 90s sent out a simple and sad message to a new generation of listeners. New sounds were being served up and received as product. Quick hits popped up out of nowhere from artists who seemed to be a lot more driven by cash and fame than by the possibility of spiritual transformations with an audience.
The wheels have been falling off the music business wagon since the day Shawn Fanning put up his radical roadblock. At 19, Mr. Fanning introduced a revolutionary, anti-corporate, pro-democratic assault on crash commercialism by launching Napster. That tale has been written to death – but simply stated: he killed the music business. Shawn, if you’re out there – or someone is who knows how to get to him – here’s an open invitation to envisioning your own “My Damn Channel.”
The old business has been hanging on, hoping that somehow the digital genie would dissipate. Bad move. New distribution pipes opened up everywhere taking away one of the last reasons inspired musicians needed major record companies. Little Steven tried to tell me in 2000 that the new digital pipeline recreated the old ‘single’ mentality and shoved the ‘album’ idea to the back of the bus. I didn’t want to believe him, but he was right. He always is.
Good music still exists, but you rarely find it on commercial radio, or on corporate cable television. The monopolies that controlled these distribution pipes have little to no interest in taking risks by playing songs or artists that are not yet proven to be able to generate gobs of cash. The cumulative effect of decades spent denying all this shit at the top has done a great job of igniting soulful flames at the bottom of the corporate food chain. You know the places: it’s the basements, garages, and laptops where the good shit is happening.
Little Steven knew this when he created the world called: UNDERGROUND GARAGE. He continues to take ‘the word’ to every distribution outlet he can find: radio, satellite, television, web, Wicked Cool Records, record stores (remember them!), and even now: to Rock & Roll High Schools.
Steven: I know you’re a little busy at the moment – but it’s likely high time we did a little more co-conspiring. More than 5 people are starting to hear your call. We had over 160,000 unique visitors to My Damn Channel yesterday. We've only been LIVE for 109 days and our insanely fast success is largely due to the amazing work of Brothers Harry Shearer, David Wain, Troy Hitch, Matt Bledsoe, Andy Milonakis, and Don Was.
I first met Don Was about 8 years ago. He entered the mystical land of mass consciousness as a founding member of the band Was (Not Was). Their hits like "Walk the Dinosaur" ruled the earth + MTV back in the day. In Modern Times, this soulful saint has served many of the most important artists in music as one of the most trusted producers in the world. Don Was helped birth albums for Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Iggy Pop, The B-52's, Brian Wilson, The Black Crowes, Willie Nelson, Barenaked Ladies, and scores more.
Don found our old web site: - and he emailed to reconnect just in time to be a charter member of the My Damn Channel launch team. Our baby business has never wanted to be “another comedy web site” and we’re certainly not trying to lay claim to the YouTube throne. But we signed Don Was to give My Damn Channel a shot at creating an entirely new model for music distribution. The result is something Don calls “The Wasmopolitan Cavalcade of Recorded Music.”
Our idea is pretty simple. Don produces new music every week with some of the most talented musicians from every genre – every sound is valid. He normally takes artists into an LA studio – the old Charlie Chaplin studio – later the home of A&M Records – and now Henson Recording Studios.
In one single session, Don produces an A-side and a B-side. He also documents the work by creating music videos shot in black & white and captured LIVE as the real music is being made. Try to find music videos on television where the guitar player is playing the real take that went down or the singer is filmed doing the recorded vocal live and you’ll end up with a sore thumb. We don’t have any cheerleaders or beach balls in our music videos (Hey Don – maybe we’re missin' something?), but we’re hell-bent on presenting the real deal - without artifice.
Don has a crazy business model we think just might be crazy enough to start a little revolution. He’s offering every new recording to fans as FREE MP3 downloads. The artists are paid through generous grants from our sponsors including LINCOLN/MERCURY. It’s just like it was back in the earliest days of broadcasting - except Don has much better HAIR! He’s even experimenting with a new LIVE performance show called the “Wasmopolitan Dance Party.” He’s creating “Radio Was: The Party Shuffle Show,” a weekly radio show available free at My Damn Channel. If you want to discover new and old music the old fashioned way – this is the most eclectic, authentic thing you can find.
Next time you find yourself jonesing for another dose of instant gratification ask yourself: "Well.......how did I get here?"
My beautiful wife reminds me of what's real. Our family: Julia and Jessie and Dylan - and our extended clan - is mixed with blood, marriages, and a like-minded circle of soulful rebels all searching for that beautiful reward. There are never enough minutes and seconds for soul time in Life on the PIG (Planet Instant Gratification) – but my kids are sleeping right now and I’m going to take my snoot out of the virtual troth to listen to some good music with a sincere invitation for you to do the same.
* Vicissitudes: 1 a: the quality or state of being changeable : mutability b: natural change or mutation visible in nature or in human affairs 2 a: a favorable or unfavorable event or situation that occurs by chance : a fluctuation of state or condition <the vicissitudes of daily life> b: a difficulty or hardship attendant on a way of life, a career, or a course of action and usually beyond one's control c: alternating change : succession
Posted in
Harry Shearer,
My Damn Channel,
Waterboardin' USA on 11/16/2007 12:09:00 PM by Rob Barnett
The twins turn three weeks old today. We rocked them both back to sleep this morning, and thoughts bounced between the joy and honor of caring for these perfect little souls...and the angst of knowing they were born into a world led by a war-hungry demagogue. The Joy Killer.
Bush is hellbent on the notion that he can protect us like the father by talking tough. He never got past the anger of 9/11 to enter into any other stages of the grief. "Blow them all to hell" is a reaction that crept into pop culture long ago, but it's the wrong drama to turn into a reality show. "Dead or Alive" was a pathetic joke...and Osama's still laughing.
If you've read the news, then you've seen stories unfolding since Abu Ghraib about our government's decision to torture human souls in the name of freedom. Now, the secret ship of state is leaking like a sieve and the waterboarding scandal is front page news. My Damn Channel's Harry Shearer decided to do what any enlightened rebel would do in this situation.......he's singing about it.
Imagine what the world would be like if more of our heroes could carry a tune.
On day 101 of 'My Damn Channel Invades Earth' - we're releasing Harry Shearer's "Waterboardin', USA" to radio stations and video screens across America.
Harry was just nominated for Funniest Web Video in the upcoming TV Guide Online Video Awards vs. Will Ferrell's "The Landlord" and SNL's "Dick in a Box."
My Damn Channel also got the nod for Best Comedy Web Site, but we're up against Comedy Central, Funny or Die, and SuperDeluxe. We're gonna BEG for your VOTE just to see if our wizeass little web site can topple the big money favorites. Please help us get up on that TV stage + make some trouble!!!!
What would an awards show be without a nod to God. Let's endeth with a morning prayer: Dear God, please bless our new babies and please be good to Harry Shearer for he giveth us The Simpsons, Spinal Tap, Le Show, and weekly new web videos like "Waterboardin', USA." Amen.