Loren Feldman’s puppet video show, which parodies a video interview show run by Shel Israel called Global Neighborhoods, has landed an official sponsor, Feldman says. Meanwhile, Global Neighborhoods itself remains sponsorless.
In the videos, a naked puppet interviews people (or other puppets) to talk about “social media,” making fun of Israel’s interview style. The puppet is naked as a spoof on Israel’s book, Naked Conversations, about the importance of blogging for companies.
The new sponsor, Zong, a Switzerland-based mobile platform company, is providing “significant funding” to sponsor the parody Shel Israel show created by Feldman.
This will be a serious ego blow to Israel, who has been mocked by Feldman and bloggers around the quality of the show and has publicly attacked Feldman over the parody.
The fact that the parody, but not the official show, is now receiving financial support from third parties is a reflection of the entertainment value of the two shows. Not only do some people find the parody very funny, Feldman has also landed fairly well known entrepreneurs in his interviews. Now that Feldman is making money from the show, it’s probably here to stay, much to the real Israel’s chagrin.
As I’ve disclosed before, Feldman and Israel are both friends of mine. I hosted the launch party for Shel’s book, Naked Conversations at my house in February 2006, and Feldman is staying at my house this week.
Keep feeding the machine, and its appetite grows larger by the day, until it finally collapses upon itself.
When do we stop to ask questions about what really matters in life?
i love it, congrats loren!
hilarious.
Hopefully he will add other puppets !!
Nice. I laughed really hard at some of those videos.
Loren reminds me of Eminem.
When asked for comment, Feldman said funds would allocate towards a new puppet play set, a new interchangeable mustache, and towards the development of the Feldman Puppet House Podcast, starring the re-incarnation of Lamb Chops.
/sarcasm.
I almost laughed out loud at “Robert Scoble’s” tour of Half Moon Bay.
Does this mean that “zong” has become a verb (”Shel Israel got zonged when shelisrael.com secured sponsorship)?
mindless drivel to say the least – I guess camping out at Mikes house is a key factor in driving page views and sponsorships, note to self: update the PR and revenue model section of my business plan to incorporate these cutting edge strategies.
That’s funny! I love the puppets and am glad they will have food to eat. Make sure mine gets caviar, OK?
Arrignton, this is bullying to the worst degree. I thought you were against that.
http://www.tech...leywag-suicide/
so when do we get the Arrington interview or have I missed that one.
ROFL.
Hashim – I certainly considered that when posting, but this is about two startups more than it’s about Shel. I don’t think the comparison is appropriate. Also…Shel lashed out pretty hard at Feldman, which is what got my attention on this in the first place. If he hadn’t done that, I doubt I would have ever written about this, and I also doubt that Feldman would have gotten a sponsor.
@Scoble: You dear friend are an idiot if you think this is funny considering Shel is on your FastCompany.tv lineup and gets mocked constantly. There is nothing funny about this for you and for you to even say that is funny publicly can only be a blow to Shel’s confidence. Hell, if I owned FastCompany I would be wondering how a puppet gets more play then someone I am paying.
I’m not saying you should be irate or go apenuts, but please man, get some sense into your head. Your man got clowned and will apparently now get repeatedly clowned and this adds no respect for you or whatever other shows you have coming up.
I’m not the greatest business person in the world, but I do know how to be a man so let me give you some advice. Grow a sack and support your people, not jump on the bandwagon to laugh at them with everyone else.
I thought FastCompany was sponsored by S—A—-P—-serving the greater Milwaukee area with the finest in tupperware and tupperware related products and services?
@ Ronald Lewis – That’s up to you. I suggest you keep repeating that question to yourself.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to watching a naked puppet sleeping next to a fake owl…
Given the way things are going I doubt the videos will stay limited to the Shel anyway.
If I had to guess, I’d say that any consultant who likes to pass off phrases like “social media” and “user created content” in lieu of actual advice should probably be afraid. In fact, they should probably be very afraid.
Paul: I love Shel dearly and am supporting him in tons of ways. But I’ve already learned from his own response that supporting him by doing anything other than laughing along at the joke at this point won’t be productive. The puppets are funny. Fast Company.tv isn’t funny and isn’t meant to be. It’s a show/network about innovative business people.
Would I want a brand that’s all about attacking other people? No. Would I want to hook my brand to that? No.
So, what would you do at this point if you were in my shoes? I’ve learned in life that it’s best to make lemonade from lemons. I’m doing my best lemonade act I can.
I’m sitting here at Rocky’s house and we’re getting some great videos up. Our daily show starts tomorrow at http://www.fastcompany.tv . Shel has interesting videos up too, including an interview with GM’s CEO. That’s stuff that puppets just can’t do.
But, would love to know what you all will do when the puppet comes after you? What is the correct response? Silence? Anger? Laughter?
But, would love to know what you all will do when the puppet comes after you?
sorry but thats the funniest one liner ever.
Robert Scoble, you raise some interesting and thought provoking points. Though I’d note there are many instances where advertisers seemingly have no problem at all attaching brands to things that make fun of other people.
I’m thinking particularly about some of the unscripted television programming that performs well ratings-wise these days.
While I understand the human nature of it makes it extremely difficult, I think the correct response is this: be flattered. If you’re a big enough deal to be parodied…
I love it all. The drama, the crying, the puppets, and the back and forth between FastCompany.tv, Shel, and of course Loren. Unfortunately for FastCompany.tv – who seems to totally be on the receiving end of this – there’s little they can do I think.
@ Scoble – I have a suggestion: Produce better content and get better Video Producers/Reporters. Frankly, Shel just isn’t that good, and I find your style to be equally bad also at times. The information in the video interviews is very good, but you guys just don’t do well on camera. You’re both pretty dorky and I think that caught Loren’s attention and will turn away younger more mainstream viewers. Loren’s a professional videographer and it shows. His stuff is hilarious, entertaining, and usually informative.
I don’t want to watch an interview on a cell phone. I don’t want to see Shel drinking coffee while shoving a mic in someone’s face, and I don’t want to see you sitting on a beach w/ the wind blowing in your hair. Hate to say it b/c it sounds so cliche, but I would much rather see well produced ‘cool’ content.
@Scoble: You are missing so many points here it baffles me. Yes I understand FastCompany.tv isn’t meant to be funny (wouldn’t hurt to inject some entertainment here and there), but the point is you guys are being made fun of for how boring you actually are. So what do you do in response? You laugh along with the people who are laughing at you for being so boring.
You don’t want to hook your brand to attacking people and that’s great, but guess what? Now your brand is being hooked to boring and being clowned by the puppet master. That is your brand. Hey you heard about FastCompany.tv? Oh yeah, those are the guys who get clowned.
As for Shel, I can understand you support him in other ways, but I wouldn’t bother writing publicly how much you love the puppets. If you don’t want to get into a fight that is cool, but why show your support for them at all? It doesn’t come off as “Scoble is so cool for laughing with all of us” so if that is your intention maybe you should stop.
I’m not in the position to tell you what you should do though. It’s your company and your shows so I’m going to assume you know how best to handle these things. You are in a power position that I may probably never be in so who I am to advise the man at the top of the mountain?
It’s great to know you have more videos coming out, but guess what people are going to assume about them already because of the puppet? I don’t think you are stepping outside to take a look and that is what baffles me.
“That’s stuff that puppets just can’t do.”
In that sense could I say puppets get funding and entertain a mass of people who seem to ask for more, that’s something FastCompany.tv can’t do? Not trying to pull a slight on you, but that’s what I’m seeing.
What will I do when the puppet comes after me? I don’t think I’m worth Loren’s time to come after since I provide no benefit for him. Besides you guys are passed the correct response stage already.
Seidman: exactly.
MistOne: you’re next!
And now the puppet is being used to introduce Flickr Video via TechCrunch video. Not only is FastCompany losing in this, but poor Shel is losing his own personal brand in the process.
Kind of surprised that Arrington would carry it that far, but hey, it’s all for the ratings…errr pageviews right?
>Now your brand is being hooked to boring and being clowned by the puppet master.
Some other brands that are being hooked to?
Puppets: funny.
FastCompany: educational.
Puppets: fake.
FastCompany: authentic.
Puppets: short.
FastCompany: long. (can you really learn anything of value in 120 seconds? If so, why aren’t all college courses 120 seconds?)
Puppets: interview egotistical bloggers.
FastCompany: interviews geeks and business people who build stuff. Like tomorrow you’ll meet the Rackspace team on FastCompany.tv.
Listen, if everyone is laughing at you, the only correct response is to laugh with them.
And then show everyone something better.
I give up. Best of luck Scoble.
>You’re both pretty dorky and I think that caught Loren’s attention and will turn away younger more mainstream viewers.
Did I want mainstream viewers? If I wanted that I’d stop talking about technology and business innovation and would start doing a puppet show. Exactly.
Funny, if you take a college course are those taught by puppets? Why or why not? Aren’t those taught by people who are, um, a little “dorky?”
You’re defined by the content you consume. If you eat nothing but junk food, which is what funny short videos are, then do you get smarter? No.
I’ll be there when you need some vegetables in your media diet.
>I give up. Best of luck Scoble.
I appreciate the support and the conversation, actually. It’s nice to talk with a real person instead of an annonymous jerk or, even, a puppet. Thanks. You can call me anytime, by the way. Would love feedback on how to be better. +1-425-205-1921.
Poor Shel, I’d change my name if I was him.
iviva la Shel Puppet!
mike, how many times did loren suck your dick to close that deal ?
this is just pathetic to see how Loren
look how Lorren is talking about you with your beloved friend TED MURPHY not long ago : http://rockstar...episode_31.html the funny part is @5min13sec
funny to see how loren is gonna kiss the ass of zong now, after bashing and ranting so many times after the french and europe in general.
so let’s sum up for a minute…
loren managed to lick the ass of Arrington, Scoble and Lemeur (check all 3 videos on his website), people he kept insulting for the past year, and all that in less than 2 days ! wow !
when is shel’s blow job coming ?
Just an idea …
> Julia allison could be Miss Piggy
> Scoble could be Fozzie
> Loren would be witty Kermit
There’s enough material to create a weekly show with a kind of “triumph the insult comic dog” puppet (remember Moby vs Eminem ?) that’d be interviewing net CEOs, such as GM’s CEO or even Bill Gates. Why not, after all ?
Loren could sell his show to Comedy Central or … TECHCRUNCH TV !!!
Michael, please write about how Loren can completely bash you, your business, and your sexuality and then become your friend…I’m baffled!
This post sure stirred up some feelings. Interesting to watch it unveil while eating munchies.
matt – keep your friends close, you enemies closer. I’ll get him in the end, I’m just setting it all up.
Again the majority of TechCrunch commenters miss the best nugget of information in the entire discussion:
Scoble: “Funny, if you take a college course are those taught by puppets? Why or why not?”
That is an amazing question, and a brilliant observation by Robert. Why are we NOT taking college courses taught by puppets?
As is evidenced by Loren’s very popular work, puppets are beloved and respected – at times even more than those we hold up as industry leaders themselves.
Not only do I think puppets would make a revolutionary teaching device, but I think they also offer a tremendous opportunity to prepare today’s college students for the current social media revolution…where increasingly a large percentage of the discussion is driven by sock puppets.
Dave – pass the bong please.
Dave: start with the fact that most geeks are not comedians. If a college professor (or me) tried to do a puppet show it probably wouldn’t be funny at all. That’s why I don’t try to do anything but be myself. It’s too hard to do anything else.
How exactly are the Fastcompany videos supposed to make me smarter when I feel like my brain is trying to escape my head every time I watch more than 60 seconds of shakey, coffee-drinking blowjob-cam?
@ Scoble > is Fastcompany going to address all of this in a video at some point? Your show seems like it wants to be about social media and communities and whatnot; to ignore all of this and make lemonade (as you put it) would be to ignore the very topic you try to cover – Loren is using social media to build his brand (whether you personally take his brand seriously or not) and building a community. All of this would simply not be possible say, a decade ago. It’s also happening very quickly – yesterday I didn’t know who these two people are, Shel and Loren. Today I find myself a “supporter” of one side and I’ve also been through and had a look at his other videos. Can’t say that Shel has convinced me to do the same. I think there’s the potential for some interesting commentary and by, you know, doing your freaking jobs as “social media consultants”, you might actually come out of this looking better than you do now; the coward who just laughs along with everything as it’s the path of least resistance, and the raging maniac who threatens physical / legal action via the interwebs.
Just sayin’.
Robert,
I am _AMAZED_ at your acumen. Everyone makes mistakes, but you have proved you can learn from them and keep your message clear.
YOU understand the new Web . The puppets are kinda silly, but they are a flash in the pan. Scoble is here to stay.
BTW – This is NOT just some fanboy comment. Scoble posts his phone in a public blog and he ANSWERS it – even to nobodies like me.
Also – I am not just another anonymous commenter – I purchased the FIRST dotTV ( http://Free.TV ) and I was doing video on the web BEFORE web 2.0, but the dotCom bomb wiped me out. I learned from Robert – to succeed, you have to take the pain to make it. Edison failed over one thousand attempt to create the lightbulb.
@Michael,
Oh jeez, this is worse the “Rock of Love 2″ and all the games
Mike,
I think you mean pass the ZONG
Ric
>How exactly are the Fastcompany videos supposed to make me smarter when I feel like my brain is trying to escape my head every time I watch more than 60 seconds of shakey, coffee-drinking blowjob-cam?
It’s pretty clear you’ve only been watching my cell phone videos on http://www.qik.com/scobleizer
Instead, you should just stick to http://www.fast...v/scobleizer-tv — those are all tripod driven stuff on HD camcorders.
Dave, Good to see someone take the lighter side here amongst this warzone
Is this Tech Crunch or Valleywag? I know the chicken in Palo Alto made threatening gestures and all that, but seriously, what’s this all about?
Shel and Scoble are doing interesting and worthwhile things, Loren picks a fight to get page views, and everyone jumps on the bandwagon.
Mike, you were played by Loren. Sorry, dude, but that’s what happened.
Michael Krigsman
http://blogs.zd...projectfailures
The way the Web 2.0 works.
http://www.meet....com/index.html
Internet Web Meeting
Wait, did Scoble take me seriously up a few lines?
Oh, and thanks for the compliment, Mike.
And thanks as well to all the TechCrunch readers that go into Fight Club mode immediately when the see something they don’t like or agree with. You keep my entertainment stream running like clockwork.