awesome . channel awesome inc. current logo industry online media founded lombard illinois 2008 2008 founders mike michaud bhargav dronamraju mike ellis headquarters chicago illinois united states key people mike michaud ceo doug walker actor & presenter rob walker screenwriter and creative content officer cco revenue 150 000 2009 website http channelawesome.com channel awesome inc. is an online media production company based in lombard illinois . the company was created in 2008 by mike michaud mike ellis and bhargav dronamraju . channel awesome operated the that guy with the glasses website often abbreviated tgwtg until late 2014 when it was replaced by the current channel awesome website . that guy with the glasses previously hosted fellow channels by bar fiesta beginning in november 2009 blistered thumbs beginning in november 2010 . as of may 2015 channel awesome currently hosts a youtube channel of the same name with an emphasis on the walker brothers content as well as the youtube channel league of super critics that includes several of the site s other top producers . all of channel awesome s content is hosted by blip or youtube . 1 2 contents 1 origins 2 that guy with the glasses 3 subdivisions 4 channelawesome.com 5 long running series 5.1 nostalgia critic 5.2 atop the fourth wall 5.3 the angry joe show 5.4 todd s pop song reviews 5.5 the cinema snob 6 notable smaller series 6.1 the blockbuster buster 6.2 some jerk with a camera 7 awards 8 activism 9 references 10 external links origins edit mike michaud mike ellis and bhargav dronamraju created channel awesome after they were laid off from circuit city in 2007 . the three discussed the idea of such a company while still employed but their dismissal was the impetus to put their plans into action . michaud has stated that if we didn t lose our jobs the business wouldn t have happened anytime soon . 3 4 doug walker is an italian born american actor comedian writer and film critic . he first appeared on the web on youtube posting several satirical video reviews of films and other media entertainment of the past and present . initially walker viewed making the videos as a side hobby rarely interacting with his fans and did not reveal his real name until a video responding to the northern illinois university shooting . the series had its content withdrawn from youtube following complaints from 20th century fox and lionsgate over alleged copyright infringement . 5 walker attempted to re upload his content by assigning each video a new separate channel . however due to continuing issues walker decided to leave youtube altogether and create the website that guy with the glasses with webmaster mike michaud . that guy with the glasses edit that guy with the glasses was launched in april 2008 . it showcased satirical reviews of movies television shows music comic books and video games . the website was built around the work of doug walker the title character . walker had previously posted his videos on youtube but they were repeatedly removed for copyright infringement . the website was home to several series starring walker including 5 second movies hyper edited feature films nostalgia critic comedic recaps of bad movies ask that guy with the glasses a comedy question and answer show and bum reviews humorous plot summaries of theatrical releases . other videos and written articles were hosted on the site including some minor series and sketches starring walker . videos were primarily hosted by blip.tv after problems with earlier provider revver . 6 the website featured videos from a number of other internet producers who were steadily added as contributors over the course of several years . in december 2008 walker appeared in a commercial for the pbs documentary make em laugh the funny business of america performing a series of brief imitations of famous comedians from charlie chaplin to stephen colbert . 7 in 2009 doug and rob walker and brian heinz produced an iriff of the lion king for rifftrax . in march 2009 the iriff was chosen as the winner of the website s rifftrax presents contest . the performers received 1 000 and with instruction from michael j. nelson kevin murphy and bill corbett recorded a commentary for the film batman forever . 8 nostalgia critic averaged 100 000 to 300 000 viewers per week while on the site and one million page views per month . 3 9 this was expected to increase following content provider blip.tv s deal with youtube in july 2009 . 10 as of july 2009 the site earned more than 10 000 per month in advertising revenue and received more than 11 000 in online donations . in the third quarter of the 2009 fiscal year walker s shows earned 53 000 including 32 000 from the nostalgia critic alone . this revenue was generated by run of network from puma and starburst . 3 10 the success of his shows has allowed walker to make a living performing and to quit his previous job as an illustrator as well as pay the salary of co founder coo mike ellis . the site was featured in entrepreneur magazine on december 2009 11 where the history of the site was discussed as well as the plans for the future . a team shot of channel awesome producers and republic of molossia president kevin baugh c. the 2010 filming of their 2nd year anniversary feature length special kickassia during 2011 michaud was looking for warehouse space in suburban chicago . 4 he told the new york times my company has a lot of growing up to do but i believe that sometime in the next one to two years someone will create that one series that gets everyone talking ... and attract audiences to the endless options of online video . 4 as of june 2011 the company employed seven full time staff . 4 according to walker these people are cheap to get because we are happy to see any amount of money . channel awesome s ability to attract a significant audience with a low expenditure was proclaimed to be having an effect on video entertainment production . 10 the site gained a wealth of personalities and shows quickly reaching twenty plus . the first time the producers made an initiative to put each other in the same universe or reviewniverse as was coined by some of the producers was with their first anniversary video which was a twenty minute fight between each other with set up and dialogue only stating it was video game reviewers vs. movie reviewers egged on by the nostalgia critic nc and avgn rivalry that had been going on for a while . a full length site crossover movie was what was decided for the next year s. it ended up being a trilogy kickassia which had the plot of the nc getting a number of the personalities together to takeover a micro nation in nevada ; suburban knights where the nc got together much of the same personalities with a few new ones including lupa and todd to find a mystical gauntlet via forced larping by the hider of the lost gauntlet ; and to boldly flee where the nc got them together with new additions including an anime review of the site hope chapman and french contributor sadpanda to travel to space to stop an anomaly somehow tied to the comedy sidekick the critic had had up to that point an in universe parody of ma ti from captain planet played by site founder bhargav dronamraju who died at the end of the last movie and fight some super powerful and evil corporate entertainment people . on june 28 2012 channel awesome content producers doug walker lindsay ellis the nostalgia chick brad jones the cinema snob and todd nathanson todd in the shadows signed exclusivity deals with blip.tv 12 the video website which directly hosted most that guy with the glasses and channel awesome programming from 2008 until blip.tv was shut down in august 2015 . 13 14 the deal did not affect the appearance of the producers videos on channel awesome s that guy with the glasses website and would assist the increase of budget of the four series as well as provide technical improvements . 12 an extension of this deal was a blip run youtube channel called league of super critics which also uploaded the unedited videos of all four producers with the exception of the cinema snob whose videos were edited down from the original version so that the only way one can see the full video is to go to blip . 15 on december 3 2014 it was announced that the site would shut down and rebrand itself as channelawesome.com . 16 subdivisions edit channel awesome expressed plans to build on the success of that guy with the glasses with a network of subdivisions of the channel awesome website including bar fiesta for covering chicago entertainment and nightlife and inked reality for anime and comic books . blistered thumbs began in 2009 as a subdivision of that guy with the glasses for housing its video game content . it gained popularity and blistered thumbs launched as its own website on november 4 2010 . joe vargas angry joe was already an established video game reviewer on that guy with the glasses was the initial editor in chief . staff writers were drawn from various websites including that guy with the glasses techraptor and normal boots . austin yorski eventually replaced vargas as editor in chief . in late november 2014 the blistered thumbs website was shut down . channelawesome.com edit the new channel awesome website debuted in late 2014 . all content from that guy with the glasses was relocated to the newly established channelawesome.com . each week there is a spotlight section to promote a website producer as well as a featured blogger . in january 2015 four of the site s long time associates departed including andrew dickman kyle kallgren oancitizen 17 allison pregler obscurus lupa and phelan porteus phelous . 18 upon leaving allison pregler accused the site management of abusing talent hypocrisy and scamming nearly 90 000 from fans with an indiegogo campaign . 19 dickman porteus and pregler went to being exclusively on phelan s site phelous.com . kyle went to producing videos exclusively for chez apocalypse . later that same month lindsay ellis announced that she was ending her long running show the nostalgia chick which had been created as a companion show to the nostalgia critic and premiered in september 2008 . 20 she announced her intention to continue to producing videos for league of super critics on youtube and her own website chez apocalypse . 21 these weren t the first times a site producer had left . noah antwiler and his reviewer persona the spoony one went to being exclusively on his site the spoony experiment a little before the fourth anniversary film but still had a prominent role in it with his consent . long running series edit nostalgia critic edit main article nostalgia critic the nostalgia critic is the most popular video series created by doug walker in which he plays the titular reviewer . the show is written by him and his brother rob walker . the series was initially launched on youtube before moving to blip tv in 2008 . it is the flagship show for channel awesome which has since built on it with additional content additional websites and the spin off show nostalgia chick . 22 atop the fourth wall edit atop the fourth wall at4w for short is the leading comic book review show on the site hosted by minnesota native lewis linkara lovhaug . his nickname comes from a character he created when he was a teen writing amateur fantasy novels . his