Florida Republican Debate You WEREN'T Supposed To See

HEY! That's not Wolf Blitzer!

Actor/author/director/satirist/musician/radio host Harry Shearer's found footage of the CNN team prepping for the Florida Republican Debate using civilians as stand-ins for the candidates might be the best thing to happen to the GOP Debate since Michele Bachmann took the longest pee break ever.

Newt Gingrich is looking decidedly more feminine since the last time we saw him. When the petite redheaded woman introduces herself as "Newt Gingrich" and proclaims "I just ran a marathon before I got here," Fake Wolf Blitzer chuckles and her fellow faux candidates smile.

Could they possibly find her more charming than the real thing?

Hey GOP Candidates, relax a little! Slip into something more comfortable! Let your hair down!



That's more like it. Now how about we whistle the National Anthem?

---

Wainy Days Are Here Again!

It's back! It's back! Wainy Days is back with all new episodes! Here are some reasons we're jumping up and down right now (Really. We are. Right now. We promise.):

1. David Wain knows how to bring the hot girls.
It's true. David Wain's past adventures have included Rashida Jones, Elizabeth Banks, Amanda Peet and Megan Mullally. If there's one thing we've been missing in our lives, it's a reliable source of HOT GIRLS.

2. Erinn Hayes and Lizzy Caplan.
Two ridiculously hot girls. This is different from number one because we're being specific. Okay, so maybe it's a subdivision of number one. What are you our English teacher? (Seriously, is that you, Mrs. O'Neil?!)

3. Jorma Taccone.
A member of The Lonely Island, director of MacGruber, and probably one of the few men on the planet who can make this face in a song called "J--z In My Pants" and have millions of women think it's adorable:

4. David Wain.
We're so happy that between writing and shooting Childrens Hospital and making a movie with Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston and touring the country in honor of Wet Hot American Summer, David could find the time to get himself into a Fiat and drive around with old friends like Ken Marino, Thomas Lennon, Zandy Hartig and Steven Weber to entertain us and make us laugh and give us new videos to watch every Monday when we're supposed to be doing something else at work.

Thanks, David Wain. This Wain's for you:

---

Happy Veterans Day!

In honor of Veterans Day, we thank all of the men and women who have served to help keep us safe and free.
May you all come home to someone who loves you.

It's also 11/11/11! In honor of this day, we turn to our Spinal Tap brothers and Turn It Up To 11 with our picks for our Top 11 Videos!

---

It's WAINing again - Wainy Days shoots Season 5

Ken Marino, Jon Stern, Rob Barnett, David Wain

WAINY DAYS first launched on day 1 of My Damn Channel: 7/31/07. David and I knew each other a lil bit from the salad daze at MTV. He saw the future when he and the Michaels created STELLA shorts...back when it took a year and half to buffer a 3-minute clip.

I promised David he could do the original series he wanted without the typical network interruptus, "notes" and meddling. We'd deliver cash, massive promotion and distribution to reach his fans and make WAINY DAYS the premiere series of our (almost) TV network of the future.

David pitched a show where his character would make out with the hottest women in Hollywood and have every date go horribly wrong. I said 'yes.' We locked the right price for the first season of 10 episodes. And I asked David to promise to cast this show as well as he casted his latest feature film back then, THE TEN.

32 official episodes, 4 years, and 4 seasons later, you've watched and shared WAINY DAYS to make it the longest-running, most-popular comedy series in the new world.

This week, we're filming an all-new season 5 with another killer cast including David & Ken Marino, who co-wrote the new episodes and Exec Produces with David & our beloved series producer, Jon Stern. This year's cast also features Steven Weber, Zandy Hartig, Jorma Taccone, Erinn Hayes, Lizzy Caplan, n' more.

We have a brand new sponsor: FIAT !

We'll post more updates and pics and announce a premiere date sooner than you think.

While I have you for this too-happy-too-long post: please n'joy the trailer for David's brand new feature film: WANDERLUST - opening FEB 24 2012 !

---

David Wain is SEXY.

David Wain is a sex machine.
He dates the hottest women that you've ever seen.
It seems unlikely but it's totally true
If you don't understand it we'll explain it to you...

Way back in August of '11 we went to Just For Laughs in Montreal and did "Wainy Days LIVE" with David Wain, Rob Corddry, Reggie Watts and a bunch of their super-talented friends.

Two of those friends were Garfunkel and Oates aka Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, two of the sweetest, funniest, most talented, adorable people you could ever hope to meet in your entire life. In Montreal, they wrote a song about how sexy David Wain must be since in every episode of Wainy Days gorgeous women are falling over themselves to be with him. When we all returned home, everyone thought it would be a shame to keep the brilliance of that song limited to a few hundred people in French-Speaking Quebec, so we filmed it and are sharing it with the world.

Watch it and share it with your friends. It's like a little bit of joy right on your computer screen.

And Kate and Riki have both been on television and in film so they would know what sexy is, right? They're like comedic rock stars, right? The LA Times wrote a feature about them! They would know what would make a pretty girl want to lick an average 42 year old body!

Could it be they find David Wain that sexy because he told them that Season 5 of his groundbreaking web series Wainy Days is returning to My Damn Channel this Fall?! Yes. That's it. That's very much what it must be. For sure.

---

How To Be An Intern

(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!"

---

Give Birth to Laughter

Posted in David Wain, Filmmakers, Gigi, Josh Gad, Matt Warren, My Damn Channel, New Series, The Lost Nomads, Versailles, Wainy Days with tags Mother's Day, mom, mother on 5/5/2011 4:29:03 PM by Matt Warren

You know that stern, older woman who lived in your house when you were growing up?  The one who cooked all your meals, did your laundry, and threw away all the porno she found under your bed while vacuuming? The woman who always got into lengthy shouting matches with your father over finances, and who spent long afternoon after long afternoon quietly sitting on the couch, surrounded by the chaos of her household, drinking zinfandel and staring off into the middle distance? Remember her?

That was Ms. Ana, your nanny.

The woman who paid Ms. Ana to do all those things was your mother. And guess what Sunday is? That’s right: Mother’s Day.

What’s that? You demand My Damn Channel videos with an extremely tenuous link to a Mothers’ Day theme? Well don’t worry, YOU WILL NOT BE DENIED.

Everyone’s favorite newly-minted American, Gigi, falls for a very pretty, very pregnant library patron, played by Gigi star Josh Gad’s real-life wife, Ida Darvish.

Two grown children of an eccentric, mostly awful dead actress try to figure out what made their mom tick in the new series Versailles, premiering Monday!

And last but not least, David Wain shoves a new mother to the ground and tries to drown her baby. Spoilers.

So show a little respect, you little shit, and send the old crone a card. Who knows? Maybe she’ll write you back into the will after all.

---

Gigi: SPACE COWBOY

Posted with tags Gigi, Almost American, My Damn Channel, Josh Gad, Book of Mormon, South Park, Matt Stone, Trey Parker, Lost Nomads, nysnc, space, cowboy, space cowboy on 5/4/2011 9:33:17 AM by DannyMoney

NSYNC said it best: "If you want to fly/Come on take a space ride with the space cowboy - BABY!"

And that's exactly what you will be doing during this week's episode of Gigi.  Gigi is in space.  Saving the world.  Winning the heart of the woman he loves.  What more could you possibly want?  Oh, Hank "The Rock" Goldberg?  You get that, too!  No big deal, just Gigi delivering the GOODZ - again!

So check out SPACE COWBOY and you will be lifted to a higher plane of comedy.  I guarantee it!  Just look at the still above!  LOOK AT IT!

---

FREEDOM WINS

Posted in Obama with tags Obama, freedom, 911, Osama Bin Laden, White House on 5/2/2011 7:23:11 AM by Rob Barnett

It's an historic day on planet earth. We salute every family who's suffered terror. We salute our President. We salute every woman and man serving freedom on the frontlines of a war that goes on.

We'll continue to entertain you at My Damn Channel as we honor and praise what's right and what's just.

"Justice has been done." (President Barack Obama, 5.1.11)

---

My Damn Channel: Our 3rd Birthday

Posted in My Damn Channel, Rob Barnett with tags My Damn Channel, 3rd birthday, Harry Shearer, Don Was, David Wain, Illeana Douglas, Warren Chao, IKEA, Nixon on 7/31/2010 1:52:32 AM by Rob Barnett

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.

---

Older Posts »