TOP 11 of '11

It's the 5th year we get to thank you and wish you Happy Holidays from the heart (no joke).

We honestly love you for watching & sharing My Damn Channel original videos.

We promise to deliver the goods again in '12‚ and we'll be launching our new daily live show with YouTube, strangely titled: MY DAMN CHANNEL: LIVE


The staff took an informal poll and picked 11 faves from the past year‚ they're all HERE for your holiday dining and dancing pleasure:

1. WAINY DAYS - Kelly & Arielle (Part 1)
David Wain returns in the triumphant Season 5 of our longest-running hit comedy series with a killer new cast & a new sponsor: FIAT!

2. GIGI: ALMOST AMERICAN - Donate Good Cause
Josh Gad stars as "Gigi," an awesome, original character that infected our fans on My Damn Channel and on YouTube.

3. GARFUNKEL & OATES - David Wain is Sexy
Garfunkel & Oates created this chart-topper to honor WAINY DAYS with David Wain guesting on vocals and guitar.

4. DAILY GRACE - Official Sexy Friday song with Rebecca Black
Rebecca Black recently told YouTube that our My Damn Channel goddess, Daily Grace was one of her favorite people on YouTube. Grace invaded Rebecca's studio for the surprise awesome duet of the year.

5. HARRY SHEARER - Touch My Junk
Our patron saint and in-house hero has blown our brains with original videos since day ONE back in 2007. Here's his musical love note to airport TSA pat-downs.

6. MARK MALKOFF - Apple Store Challenge
MARK MALKOFF - Big Wheel vs. Bus
Every Malkoff adventure captures our imagination, lotsa video views and tons of well-deserved press. He tied for #6 with two videos that tapped the zeitgeist in 2011.

7. VERSAILLES - Episode #7
David Hunt created one of the most original series on My Damn Channel this year with an amazing cast joining him including Patricia Heaton, William H. Macy, Eve Gordon, Martha MacIsaac & the great Fred Willard.

8. SLACKTORY - Slackgeist 2011: The Year in Stupidity
We launched a new My Damn Channel Blog Network this year and Nick Douglas is running an awesome new site for us called Slacktory. Their blog posts are toooo good and they make videos tooo. Here's their year-ender.

9. WAINY DAYS - Kelly & Arielle (Part 4)
Thomas Lennon reunites with David Wain in this new episode from Season 5.

10. SAUL HERNANDEZ - Molecular (from our music channel produced by Don Was)
Don Was is one of the greatest musicians and music producers there is. He's been running our music channel here since day one in 2007 & we all fell in love with one of this year's original songs by Saul Hernandez, lead vocalist and songwriter for the Mexican bands Caifanes and Jaguares.

11. DICKI - Making Friends
We're in love with Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe from "24"). She's a new member of the My Damn Channel fam with an original character comedy, DICKI.

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Remembering The Big Man, Clarence Clemons

June 18, 2011

The world just lost a piece of its soul tonite. Clarence Clemons has been an inspiration, a hero, a touchstone, and a non-stop deliverer of the big sound, big love, and big joy to me and all of my closest friends. It's hard to think of this world without him.

I rarely cry. But I'm crying tonite. From the first minute we heard him on vinyl - and throughout every night we saw him walk onto that stage - everyone who loved Clarence knew we had the biggest, baddest, best man at our side.

The lifelong thrill of loving Bruce & Clarence & The E Street Band might be what it feels like to be addicted to comics and Superheroes. We're dedicated to getting together with people of like-minds and like-souls -- all of us looking up to the image of the friendships we want - experiencing the ultimate teamwork we know is possible - and the hardest part about tonite is figuring out how to handle the loss of the image of permanence we felt every time that man took the stage.

Bruce Intros Clarence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81wv_w6_Z8M

When Clarence Met The Big Man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRFPWWoxpro&feature=related

I have been Clarence's fan and friend for almost 40 years. His death is a tremendous loss to all of my best friends and to everyone who loves his sound and his gracious soul. Let's send love to Clarence, to his big family and friends, and to Bruce and the entire E Street Family.

"Jungleland" solo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0md__RpSHg&feature=related

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Don Was, Saul Hernandez, Caifanes, Coachella

Attention music fans - cool things happening in the world of our resident Producer/Hero, Don Was. 

Don recently sent us a great video of the first single from Mexican rocker, Saul Hernandez. The song is called "Molecular", and not only will the melody be stuck in your head, but the video documentation of the in-studio experience is as awesome as it gets. Saul's album, produced by Don Was, will be released in May and is his first solo record after fronting the Mexican rock band Caifanes. 

Speaking of Caifanes, they reunited this weekend at the Coachella music festival in Indio, CA. It was a huge moment for the fans of these Rock en Español pioneers and one of the biggest reunion acts at the festival this year. 

Watch Don's vlog about working with Saul, then check out the music video and turn it up!

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My Damn Channel Sees God and Others at "The Book of Mormon"

Jesse Cowell (My Damn Channel Director of Content),                      Rob Barnett, Josh Gad  
Josh Gad, Rob Barnett (My Damn Channel Founder/CEO)


We saw God last night (and others) at "The Book of Mormon" - the funniest, most original musical comedy on Broadway.

The show stars Josh Gad, our My Damn Channel brother & hero & the star of our newest comedy series, "Gigi: Almost American."

We're previewing Gigi now, created by Josh and The Lost Nomads. Our series launches 3/23. New episodes every Wednesday on My Damn Channel.

I decided not to read all the Mormon press or ask Josh all about the show before experiencing it fresh. This was such an orgasmic comedic masterpiece. Get tickets and see this for yourself. And we'll buy more and give them away like Santa, or the other guy.

"Mormon" was created by South Park's Matt Stone & Trey Parker with Avenue Q's Robert Lopez. We had insane comic heaven hangtime during and after the show with them all last night... along with The Pope: Jon Stewart; "Mormon" producer and show business Midas: Scott Rudin; the Head of Comedy Central and MTV Networks Entertainment Group: Doug Herzog; Iconic Legends Mike Nichols and Angelica Huston; our friends and heroes from IFC: Dan Pasternack & Debbie DeMontreux; and we even met Spock: Zachary Quinto. 

"The Pope" proves every time year after year that he's one of the most generous humans in the game. We were so stunned to see Mike Nichols, I couldn't imagine lame bla-bla and went to a spontaneous salute - which he returned!

We capped off the night and the cocktails with da man of the year, Josh Gad, eating 2am style pizza reminding us all of why we love the voodoo we do. God bless.

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Gigi: Almost American - Trailer

All right everyone, time to Speak Learn English.

Today My Damn Channel premieres the "Gigi: Almost American" trailer, which we first announced last month. 

Gigi stars our new hero, Josh Gad, as the titular lovable foreigner on a quest to become an average American. Josh recently appeared in the feature film Love and Other Drugs and he stars in the South Park dude's new Broadway musical The Book of Mormon.

We've also just released 8 sneak previews from the series for watching & sharing (get it!?).

The first 10 episodes o' Gigi will premiere every Wednesday on My Damn Channel starting March 23. 

Here's today's full announcement.

O-kay?  O-KAY!

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Milo Ventimigla Stars in New Episode of The Temp Life

According to IMDB, the trademark of Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia is his smile.  Uh, bro?  That's my trademark.  We both can't have the same devastating, heart-warming trademark.

Check out this new episode of The Temp Life where Milo plays a cook helping Trouble track down a pastrami theif.

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3rd B-Day Hoo-Ha: Photographic Evidence

We are beyond thankful for the hundreds who came out to celebrate the NYTVF with us Friday night...to celebrate 3 years in business...to announce all that's new...and to celebrate the work of our hero Harry Shearer.

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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

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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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DAMN, NEWS (letter)

Inbox Violation #31 Thursday, November 25, 2009 NO LAME TURKEY JOKES HARRY the HOPEMONGER   “Glimmers of Hope” is the latest song from Harry Shearer’s new, all-digital album Greed and Fear. The video features Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s My Damn Channel debut. Hope peaks through the over 10% unemployment rate.   ILLEANA DOUGLAS  x  2   Illeana makes her big move to win IKEA’s Co-Worker of the Year. Will Spärhusen reunite?  "Easy To Assemble” premieres another new episode on Thanksgiving. DON WAS PRESENTS   The 2009 Detroit All Star Revue from the annual “Concert of Colors” in the motor city. Don’s hometown heroes perform some of the greatest songs in Rock & Roll. Here’s Sir Mack Rice – the man who wrote “Respect Yourself” for the Staple Singers & “Mustang Sally” for Wilson Pickett.   OFFICE PARTY PENETRATION Grace & Dave display party crashing prowess with a new holiday episode.   Happy Thanksgiving - NO JOKE! THANKS for watching & sharing our videos!! Follow the Rules. Drink Responsibly. My Damn Channel - PHONE: 866.424.8864 - EMAIL: info@MyDamnChannel.com   This email was sent to fishstandsup@gmail.com. To ensure that you continue receiving our emails, please add us to your address book or safe list. manage your preferences | opt out using TrueRemove® Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails. 202 W. 40th St. 16th floor | New York, NY 10018

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