"BACK ON TOPPS" IS SHOWN THE LOVE

The Back On Topps season two opener is a hit, its a grand slam, its a real crowd pleaser its a ...uhhh... uhh... let’s leave the sports comedy to the Sklar brothers. They’re much better at it than we are and the internetz agree.

In its first week, the season two premiere, Rejuvenate, has over 100,000 views on the web. We post new episodes every Tuesday, so keep coming back for the good stuff.

Thanks to our friends at BaseballMusings.com, The Best Damn Sports Comedy, and The Cardboard Connection for supporting the show in their blogs.

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BACK ON TOPPS - SEASON 2 PREMIERES

We hate when people make announcements and always say they're "thrilled."

We're PSYCHED to announce the Season 2 premiere of "Back on Topps."

New episodes premiere Tuesdays at: http://www.MyDamnChannel.com/BackOnTopps

Our fave sports comedy series stars The Sklar Brothers, Randy and Jason as Leyland and Leif Topps, heirs to the Topps Trading Cards fortune until their uncle sold the company to Michael Eisner.

The series is directed by one of our favorite humans, Michael Blieden. 

Actors include My Damn Channel co-con, Jason Nash (Reno 911), Phil LaMarr (MadTV, Family Guy, Pulp Fiction) and Janet Varney (Entourage, How I Met Your Mother).

Big ticket cameos have included Dennis Rodman, Julio Franco, Russell Martin, David Robinson, Baron Davis, Kevin Millar, Jim Palmer, Juan Samuel, Rudy Gay, David Ortiz, Jonathan Papelbon, Evan Longoria, Matt Holiday and Kevin Love. 

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WAINY DAYS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

MY DAMN CHANNEL LAUNCHES SEASON FOUR OF “WAINY DAYS,”

2009 webby award official honoree and 2008 WEBBY AWARD WINNER OF “BEST COMEDY SERIES”  

 

DAVID WAIN TO STAGE FIRST-EVER LIVE PERFORMANCE OF “WAINY DAYS” AND SNEAK PEEK OF UPCOMING EPISODE AT 92YTRIBECA ON THURSDAY, MAY 7^TH

 

NEW YORK, April 23, 2009 - My Damn Channel (www.MyDamnChannel.com), the entertainment studio and new media platform, today announced that one of its most popular original web series, “Wainy Days” (www.MyDamnChannel.com/WainyDays), is returning for a fourth season on Thursday, May 7^th.  

“Wainy Days” is the brainchild of its creator, writer and director, David Wain (writer and director of last year’s hit film “Role Models” starring Seann William Scott, Paul Rudd, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Banks and Christopher Mintz-Plasse).  The comedy series, developed and produced exclusively for My Damn Channel, follows the romantic misadventures of Wain and has featured past celebrity guest appearances by Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Elizabeth Banks, Lee Majors, A.D. Miles, Rob Corddry, Jason Sudeikis, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Ed Helms, Joe Lo Truglio, Janeane Garofalo and Alicia Witt.  A recap from David Wain of the past 3 seasons of “Wainy Days” and a tease of the new episodes can be viewed at www.MyDamnChannel.com/WainyDays. 

In the new season of “Wainy Days,” the cast of name co-stars from film and television includes Amanda Peet, Lake Bell, Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married, Mad Men), Michelle Federer (Wicked), and Frederick Weller (In Plain Sight).  In the first episode of the season, David meets a sexy woman, Jill (played by Amanda Peet), who appreciates him for all that he isn’t.    

On May 7, 2009 at 9:00PM, at 92YTribeca (located at 200 Hudson Street in New York) My Damn Channel will be presenting “Wainy Days LIVE,” a Wainy-themed comedy/variety evening.  The event will hosted by David Wain and will feature live musical performances from past and upcoming episodes.  Michelle Federer, Amy Miles and Ben Shenkman will be on-hand to help Wain with this feat as well as the recurring cast of the series (Zandy Hartig, A.D. Miles and Matt Ballard).  There will also be a showing of the premiere episode as well as a sneak peek of an upcoming episode.  (Tickets are $15 advance/$18 door and can be purchased at: http://www.92ytribeca.com/ or by calling 212,415.5500.

Wainy Days has been viewed over 9 millions times on My Damn Channel and throughout its syndication network, was just named an official honoree for "Best Comedy Series" for the 2009 Webby Awards, was the winner of the 2008 Webby Awards' "Best Comedy Series" as well as the 2009 Streamy Awards' "Best Guest Appearance" for Paul Rudd, and has been called "an unmissable Web series by the Associated Press. Wainy Days is produced by Jonathan Stern.

"I love that the world keeps wanting to follow my pathetic (albeit fictional) quest to meet women,” says Wain.  “As long as the audience demands it, I will continue to hire actresses to make out with me and put it on the web."

“If My Damn Channel is a new world version of an old NBC, then David Wain would definitely be our ‘Seinfeld,’” says Rob Barnett, Founder/CEO. “David continues to earn all the accolades that ‘Wainy Days’ has won by topping himself every season. His series turns sexual angst into uniquely twisted comedy.”

About David Wain
David Wain is a director, writer, actor, producer and comedian. He co-wrote and directed the recent major motion picture "Role Models" starring  Seann William Scott, Paul Rudd, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Banks and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, now on DVD. As a founding member of the comedy troupe, "The State," he co-starred in an MTV series in the 1990's (coming to DVD in July). Wain's web hit, live show and Comedy Central series, "Stella," is an ongoing collaboration with his longtime collaborators Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter. Wain also co-wrote and directed comic cult classic features "Wet Hot American Summer" and "The Ten." For additional information on David Wain, visit www.davidwain.com.

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. The network has aired some of the most successful professionally-produced comedy series on the web, including You Suck at Photoshop, Wainy Days, Horrible People, and videos by Harry Shearer.  My Damn Channel has been selected for 4 official honoree awards and nominated for one 2009 Webby Award, won 7 accolades from the 2008 Webby Awards, garnered worldwide media coverage, secured major national advertisers, earned 50,000 subscribers on YouTube, racked up a bazillion views on My Damn Channel and in syndication and blah, blah, blah…Are you still reading?  Stop now and start exploring: www.MyDamnChannel.com. 

 

About 92YTribeca:

92YTribeca is the 92nd Street Y’s new downtown arts and culture venue in New York City . Opened in October 2008, 92YTribeca presents music, comedy, film, theater, talks, classes, Jewish community and holiday programs, and family events; the venue also houses an art gallery, lounge, bar, and cafe. Among the talented performers who have graced its stage are Zach Galifianakis, Will Arnett, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Adam Yauch, Dustin Hoffman, Janeane Garofalo, Chairlift, Charlie Louvin, Q-Tip and Questlove.  Time Out New York named it the Best New Comedy Venue in 2008, and New York Magazine ranked it as “Highbrow and Brilliant” in their Approval Matrix.  For more information, visit www.92YTribeca.org.  

TO REQUEST REVIEW COPIES, INTERVIEWS WITH DAVID WAIN, TICKETS TO THE MAY 7^TH 92YTRIBECA EVENT, INTERVIEWS WITH THE CEO OF MY DAMN CHANNEL, PHOTOS OR VIDEO CLIPS FROM THE SERIES OR FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

 

Marnie Black

(917) 828-7308

marnieblack@yahoo.com

 

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COMING UPs

First, let's clean up a rumor. As far as we know, Keith Richards was (not) at the Was (Not Was) gig last night. His 'people' were there. So was Paul McGuinness, manager of the little four piece rock band, U2.  

If you wuz not at the Blender Theatre in NYC, you missed one of the funkiest, tightest nights of dance grooves in a dog's age. Was (Not Was) is essential live music medicine. SEE THIS TOUR - BUY THIS ALBUM. Here's a clip from Wednesday night in Boston of their BADASS Temptations cover.


Here's what's in the My Damn Channel pipeline.


ANDY MILONAKIS shot a short film for us with JASON MEWES (Clerks & more) - premiering next week with a chance for you to create alternate endings to their oddly artful piece o' cinema.




HARRY SHEARER is about to shoot a new My Damn Channel video and stick another swift boot in the ass of the sitting President of the United States. More on this next week.




DAVID WAIN is about to start filming Season 3 of WAINY DAYS next week!!!  Debuting in June. Rumors that Elizabeth Banks is returning as "Shelly."

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THE COUNCIL OF CO-CONS

We just completed the first, unofficial, official, virtual meeting of the newly-formed COUNCIL OF CO-CONS.

Thank yous to our first victims: Miss Malevolent, ZehnKatzen, Jason Elliot, Ryan Hunter.

Maria Diokno from My Damn Channel is reaching out to a rotating group of humanoids who've contributed to the building of our baby so far with comments, feedback, emails, video uploads, hate mail n' flowers.

As we head past our first 21 million views into phase 2 of DAMN - we're recommitting to opening up more access, control, and LIVE interaction into your heads and hands.

Feedback from Friday:

- overall site navigation scored as high as 9 on the 10 scale, but one neg called it a "shrinking violet" ? have to revisit the notes to ponder?

- Home Page scorecard gets a 7.5 on the 10 scale with requests for a bit more about WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO to be added for the uninitiated

- this Blog (The Night Feed) & the Damn, News items are lost to many since they sit at the bottom of the home page, better placement needed & their text makes them look like google ads

- predictable mega great grades for YSAP & for the brand new Big Fat Brain series: SNATCHBUCKLER's SECOND CHANCE

- surprisingly good grades for the new experimental home page feature: DAILY GRACE from Grace Helbig....they like you! they really like you! - cautions for us not to overproduce or muck it up were heard

- lower grades for Andy Milonakis....hey Andy: the peops want MORE !

- suggestions went round a bit about a 'point system' for 'super-users' (more later)

- DEMAND FOR BETTER BRANDED USER PROFILES

- asks for more 'behind the scenes' with our artists/channels & a PRIVATE PHOTOSHOP LESSON WITH DONNIE HOYLE if he ever comes back

- more later> THANKS as well to My Damn Channel humans: Paul Gallagher, Kim Brannon, Brad O'Farrell for making this happen

- Commercialus Interruptus gets pretty good grades with most able to swallow the new Google Adsense for Video for its relevance to the video you're watching & for your ease at swatting away the flies for good with just one X off the ad.

- these lower third ads scored better than pre-roll - of course - but some are open to the reality of bringing in a few bucks this way - IF - the pre-rolls are no longer than :15 - and - if there's a frequency cap so the same damn ad doesn't keep returning during the same visit to our site

- email Maria@MyDamnChannel.com if you wanna be a future CO-CON

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FAREWELL TO DANNY

This eulogy was delivered by Bruce Springsteen at Danny's funeral on April 21 in Red Bank, New Jersey:

FAREWELL TO DANNY



Let me start with the stories.

Back in the days of miracles, the frontier days when "Mad Dog" Lopez and his temper struck fear into the band, small club owners, innocent civilians and all women, children and small animals.

Back in the days when you could still sign your life away on the hood of a parked car in New York City.

Back shortly after a young red-headed accordionist struck gold on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and he and his mama were sent to Switzerland to show them how it's really done.

Back before beach bums were featured on the cover of Time magazine.

I'm talking about back when the E Street Band was a communist organization! My pal, quiet, shy Dan Federici, was a one-man creator of some of the hairiest circumstances of our 40 year career... And that wasn't easy to do. He had "Mad Dog" Lopez to compete with.... Danny just outlasted him.

Maybe it was the "police riot" in Middletown, New Jersey. A show we were doing to raise bail money for "Mad Log" Lopez who was in jail in Richmond, Virginia, for having an altercation with police officers who we'd aggravated by playing too long. Danny allegedly knocked over our huge Marshall stacks on some of Middletown's finest who had rushed the stage because we broke the law by...playing too long.

As I stood there watching, several police oficers crawled out from underneath the speaker cabinets and rushed away to seek medical attention. Another nice young officer stood in front of me onstage waving his nightstick, poking and calling me nasty names. I looked over to see Danny with a beefy police officer pulling on one arm while Flo Federici, his first wife, pulled on the other, assisting her man in resisting arrest.

A kid leapt from the audience onto the stage, momentarily distracting the beefy officer with the insults of the day. Forever thereafter, "Phantom" Dan Federici slipped into the crowd and disappeared.

A warrant out for his arrest and one month on the lam later, he still hadn't been brought to justice. We hid him in various places but now we had a problem. We had a show coming at Monmouth College. We needed the money and we had to do the gig. We tried a replacement but it didn't work out. So Danny, to all of our admiration, stepped up and said he'd risk his freedom, take the chance and play.

Show night. 2,000 screaming fans in the Monmouth College gym. We had it worked out so Danny would not appear onstage until the moment we started playing. We figured the police who were there to arrest him wouldn't do so onstage during the show and risk starting another riot.

Let me set the scene for you. Danny is hiding, hunkered down in the backseat of a car in the parking lot. At five minutes to eight, our scheduled start time, I go out to whisk him in. I tap on the window.

"Danny, come on, it's time."

I hear back, "I'm not going."

Me: "What do you mean you're not going?"

Danny: "The cops are on the roof of the gym. I've seen them and they're going to nail me the minute I step out of this car."

As I open the door, I realize that Danny has been smoking a little something and had grown rather paranoid. I said, "Dan, there are no cops on the roof."

He says, "Yes, I saw them, I tell you. I'm not coming in."

So I used a procedure I'd call on often over the next forty years in dealing with my old pal's concerns. I threatened him...and cajoled. Finally, out he came. Across the parking lot and into the gym we swept for a rapturous concert during which we laughted like thieves at our excellent dodge of the local cops.

At the end of the evening, during the last song, I pulled the entire crowd up onto the stage and Danny slipped into the audience and out the front door. Once again, "Phantom" Dan had made his exit. (I still get the occasional card from the old Chief of Police of Middletown wishing us well. Our histories are forever intertwined.) And that, my friends, was only the beginning.

There was the time Danny quit the band during a rough period at Max's Kansas City, explaining to me that he was leaving to fix televisions. I asked him to think about that and come back later.

Or Danny, in the band rental car, bouncing off several parked cars after a night of entertainment, smashing out the windshield with his head but saved from severe injury by the huge hard cowboy hat he bought in Texas on our last Western swing.

Or Danny, leaving a large marijuana plant on the front seat of his car in a tow away zone. The car was promptly towed. He said, "Bruce, I'm going to go down and report that it was stolen." I said, "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Down he went and straight into the slammer without passing go.

Or Danny, the only member of the E Street Band to be physically thrown out of the Stone Pony. Considering all the money we made them, that wasn't easy to do.

Or Danny receiving and surviving a "cautionary assault" from an enraged but restrained "Big Man" Clarence Clemons while they were living together and Danny finally drove the "Big Man" over the big top.

Or Danny assisting me in removing my foot from his stereo speaker after being the only band member ever to drive me into a violent rage.

And through it all, Danny played his beautiful, soulful B3 organ for me and our love grew. And continued to grow. Life is funny like that. He was my homeboy, and great, and for that you make considerations... And he was much more tolerant of my failures than I was of his.

When Danny wasn't causing chaos, he was a sweet, talented, unassuming, unpretentious good-hearted guy who simply had an unchecked ability to make good fortune and things in general go fabulously wrong.

But beyond all of that, he also had a mountain of the right stuff. He had the heart and soul of an engineer. He learned to fly. He was always up on the latest technology and would explain it to you patiently and in enormous detail. He was always "souping" something up, his car, his stereo, his B3. When Patti joined the band, he was the most welcoming, thoughtful, kindest friend to the first woman entering our "boys club."

He loved his kids, always bragging about Jason, Harley, and Madison, and he loved his wife Maya for the new things she brought into his life.

And then there was his artistry. He was the most intuitive player I've ever seen. His style was slippery and fluid, drawn to the spaces the other musicians in the E Street Band left. He wasn't an assertive player, he was a complementary player. A true accompanist. He naturally supplied the glue that bound the band's sound together. In doing so, he created for himself a very specific style. When you hear Dan Federici, you don't hear a blanket of sound, you hear a riff, packed with energy, flying above everything else for a few moments and then gone back in the track. "Phantom" Dan Federici. Now you hear him, now you don't.

Offstage, Danny couldn't recite a lyric or a chord progression for one of my songs. Onstage, his ears opened up. He listened, he felt, he played, finding the perfect hole and placement for a chord or a flurry of notes. This style created a tremendous feeling of spontaneity in our ensemble playing.

In the studio, if I wanted to loosen up the track we were recording, I'd put Danny on it and not tell him what to play. I'd just set him loose. He brought with him the sound of the carnival, the amusements, the boardwalk, the beach, the geography of our youth and the heart and soul of the birthplace of the E Street Band.

Then we grew up. Very slowly. We stood together through a lot of trials and tribulations. Danny's response to a mistake onstage, hard times, catastrophic events was usually a shrug and a smile. Sort of an "I am but one man in a raging sea, but I'm still afloat. And we're all still here."

I watched Danny fight and conquer some tough addictions. I watched him struggle to put his life together and in the last decade when the band reunited, thrive on sitting in his seat behind that big B3, filled with life and, yes, a new maturity, passion for his job, his family and his home in the brother and sisterhood of our band.

Finally, I watched him fight his cancer without complaint and with great courage and spirit. When I asked him how things looked, he just said, "what are you going to do? I'm looking forward to tomorrow." Danny, the sunny side up fatalist. He never gave up right to the end.

A few weeks back we ended up onstage in Indianapolis for what would be the last time. Before we went on I asked him what he wanted to play and he said, "Sandy." He wanted to strap on the accordion and revisit the boardwalk of our youth during the summer nights when we'd walk along the boards with all the time in the world.

So what if we just smashed into three parked cars, it's a beautiful night! So what if we're on the lam from the entire Middletown police department, let's go take a swim! He wanted to play once more the song that is of course about the end of something wonderful and the beginning of something unknown and new.

Let's go back to the days of miracles. Pete Townshend said, "a rock and roll band is a crazy thing. You meet some people when you're a kid and unlike any other occupation in the whole world, you're stuck with them your whole life no matter who they are or what crazy things they do."

If we didn't play together, the E Street Band at this point would probably not know one another. We wouldn't be in this room together. But we do... We do play together. And every night at 8 p.m., we walk out on stage together and that, my friends, is a place where miracles occur...old and new miracles. And those you are with, in the presence of miracles, you never forget. Life does not separate you. Death does not separate you. Those you are with who create miracles for you, like Danny did for me every night, you are honored to be amongst.

Of course we all grow up and we know "it's only rock and roll"...but it's not. After a lifetime of watching a man perform his miracle for you, night after night, it feels an awful lot like love.

So today, making another one of his mysterious exits, we say farewell to Danny, "Phantom" Dan, Federici. Father, husband, my brother, my friend, my mystery, my thorn, my rose, my keyboard player, my miracle man and lifelong member in good standing of the house rockin', pants droppin', earth shockin', hard rockin', booty shakin', love makin', heart breakin', soul cryin'... and, yes, death defyin' legendary E Street Band.

(video tribute to Danny at www.BruceSpringsteen.net)

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'Dirty Seinfeld' (11.12.07 - 3:47 am)

We should be out on the picket lines handing out Krispy Kremes, but we're at work honoring creative veterans of show business battles by building a new stage for their next works. My Damn Channel is built to last longer than just another sugar rush. After years of leading insurgencies on missions up steep hills in Old Media, U.S.A., we commissioned a new band of sisters and brothers to start a war we knew we could win. There's a strict dress code for management: no suits. We swore a sacred oath to insure total artistic freedom - at all costs - with all treasure split equally with soldiers in the field. 3 simple promises to every new media web warrior on "My Damn Channel": - No "Notes" - No Hidden Costs - 50/50 splits It took about ten minutes to put these war plans on the table and ask David Wain to join this year's army. It took David about ten seconds to say "YES." 'Wainy Days' is our most successful episodic web series. In our first 100 days, David's comedies have been seen one million times and today marks the premiere of Season 2. Old media management can be secretly baffled when they stumble upon a hit. But they quickly race to take credit (and profit) away from every rare smash. Scores of imitators crop up instantly every time there's a hit to try and recapture lightning in a bottle.... and sell it for twice as much. We know why David Wain has hits on "My Damn Channel." We pay him and his production AND we leave him the hell alone. He's a writer, director, producer, actor who's spent enough time on both sides of the camera to know how to conjure up exactly what he wants to present on the screen. I've spent enough time on all sides of the game to know how to support this kind of talent well. 'Wainy Days' works because it's insanely funny. David's series is a cross between 'Dirty Seinfeld' and Woody Allen on acid. Guest stars have included Jonah Hill, Rashida Jones, Michael Ian Black, Zandy Hartig, A.D. Miles, Rob Corddry, Jessica Westfeldt, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Sudeikis, Ken Marino, Thomas Lennon, and Kerry Kenney-Silver. Much respect and thanks to Producer Jon Stern; to my head of production, Paul Gallagher; to all at My Damn Channel; to Zandy + to everyone working on 'Wainy Days;' and especially to you Mr. Wain.....we owe you a whole lotta Krispy Kremes.

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