Texans Revolt Against TSA Tyranny, Storm Capitol

Harry Shearer is one of the most conscious, confrontational, comedic voices in America.

Harry has been creating original videos on My Damn Channel since we launched in July, 2007.

Search through Harry's channel and you'll find videos that make you laugh, dance and think about issues that keep appearing in headline news: waterboarding, church scandals, and unnatural disasters.

Harry's latest video is "Touch My Junk" and TSA groping is back in the news in a bad way on this Memorial Day Weekend:

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PROCRAST-ERRIFIC

Dobrow's Procrast-errific Web Video Destination

Media Reviews for Media People: My Damn Channel

By Larry Dobrow

Published: May 08, 2008

I spend 37 hours per day in front of the computer and have the attention span of a sugared-up first-grader, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I inhale a staggering amount of online video. Indeed, as I craft my masterworks of Western thought and struggle to locate that elusive mot juste ("luftmensch"? "jecoral"?), web video serves as the default procrastination apparatus. Mostly my wanderings lead to Springsteen clips, which I then forward to my similarly Jer-Z-fied pals. We've wasted 7,250 hours on low-res 1978 versions of "Prove It All Night" alone.



So no, I don't have a single regular supplier for my video fix, and I'm probably like the vast majority of web monkeys in that regard. For texty information and illumination and whatnot, there are 15 or so sites I'll check out every day. For video, I unthinkingly go wherever my idiot friends point me.


Happily, I've found a procrast-errific web-video destination in My Damn Channel, a better-realized version of the astronomically hyped, Ferrell-and-Apatow-backed Funny or Die. That's not a slap at Funny or Die, so much as an endorsement of the more comically consistent My Damn Channel. It's all well and good that the Ian Zierings and John Mayers of the world have chosen Funny or Die as their preferred venue for gentle image-tweaking, but such lazy bits pale next to the goodies tucked away in each of My Damn Channel's, uh, channels.


Where Funny or Die throws up a bunch of clips and calls it an afternoon, My Damn Channel showcases a range of distinct personalities. Funnyfolk like David Wain, Harry Shearer and Andy Milonakis get online mini-laboratories to call their own, and use them for everything from low-concept weirdness to wry political commentary. No one channel is like the next, though each shares a twitchy, absurdist comic sensibility that should resonate with fans of Andy Samberg's SNL Digital Shorts, "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" and anything involving alumni from MTV's "The State."


My Damn Channel has justly been lauded for the passive-aggressive (and educational!) comic gold that is "You Suck at Photoshop" series and Wain's vigorously quirky "Wainy Days" quest to find his fictional self a gal. The site's less-hyped content -- especially the soap opera spoof "Horrible People" and the self-explanatory "Cookin' With Coolio" -- similarly revels in its own silliness, especially the former's asides about how "a waxed ***hole is a window to the soul."


I also dig Grace, the gal who, for lack of a better way to put it, serves as My Damn Channel's hostess and hype woman. She has the Sarah Silverman I'm-adorable-so-I-can-get-away-with-saying-stuff-about-Hitler-and-weed thing down pat, but doesn't overplay the gimmick -- which makes it all the more rewarding when she sweetly intones "be nice to your mother, because you f*cked up her baby hole." Her presence keeps My Damn Channel from feeling like a guys-only clubhouse, a fate that Funny or Die hasn't been able to avoid.


My Damn Channel even pulls off the nifty trick of being entertaining in its advertising. Don Was' music channel boasts Lincoln as a primary sponsor, for example, but also tapes performances in the grungy "grand showroom of our sponsor, The Furniture Outlet, located in North Hollywood, California, at 13054 Sherman Way ... c'mon down for some great music and some great bargains on love seats and bedroom sets!" A bunch of brands that appeal to homebound drones like me -- iTunes, Wolfgang's Vault, National Geographic Channel -- have been in heavy ad rotation of late, as have web mainstays like Match.com and Peapod. They're all easy fits, just as cellphone tchotchkes and other portable media devices would be. Ads for new movies or records would probably get lost amid all the content, though.


The two potential worries here for marketers? One, that few of the clips are safe for work; and two, that almost none of the humor here is linear, meaning that devotees of Jay Leno and "Two and a Half Men" will furrow their brows in a futile attempt to grasp the punch lines.


In the end, you can easily lose yourself for 45 minutes at a time at My Damn Channel -- in fact, I kinda just now did, courtesy of the Lori McKenna and Jackshit clips on the Don Was channel. I've yet to feel a comparable pull to any other web-video destination not named YouTube, and YouTube's clip quality and smallish viewing window seem primitive nowadays when compared to MDC, Funny or Die, Hulu and the like. If you can visit My Damn Channel without meandering around for awhile, I applaud your self-discipline.

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WEBBY AWARDS SHOCKER

The NY Times calls the WEBBY AWARDS "the Oscars of the web."

Over 10,000 entries from over 60 countries & today's WEBBY announcements blew us away today with 7 honors in all.

4 nominations & 3 Honors. Only 5 others have more nominations.



Here's the list:

1. My Damn Channel (Honoree for Best Humor Site)

2. Harry Shearer - Found Objects / Katie Couric (Honoree for Best Viral Video)

3. Wainy Days - Episode 10 - The Future (Honoree for Best Indiv. Comedy Episode)

4. Wainy Days (Nominated for Best Comedy Series)

5. Big Fat Brain's You Suck At Photoshop (Nominated for Best Comedy Series)

6. Big Fat Brain's You Suck at Photoshop (Nominated for Best How-To / DIY Series)

7. Harry Shearer - "Waterboardin', USA" (Nominated for Best Music Video)

Nominations are decided by judges....and by you - so please vote!

A bit of a bitch - but it only takes a minute - here's how:

Click here - then register

Go to Online Film & Video

Find COMEDY LONG FORM OR SERIES (& vote for WAINY DAYS or YSAP)

Find MUSIC (& vote for HARRY SHEARER)

Find HOW-TO/DIY (& vote for YSAP)

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A song & a prayer (11.8.07 - 2:42 am)

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.

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