Saturday Night Live, The Chappelle Show and Mad Tv have all been proven methods of entertainment. One day in 2016, combat veteran Donny O’Malley asked himself: why is there not something like this for veterans? Something that creates targeted and therapeutic entertainment for the veteran community in order to promote camaraderie and prevent veteran suicide? After becoming the third-highest funded comedy project in Kickstarter history, VET Tv was born.
Known as “The Comedy Central of the military,” the controversial material VET Tv has produced has been deemed “too dark” and “offensive” by some, but it has been met with high praise by many in the veteran community. Ranging from stand-alone comedy skits to multi-seasoned programs, they have created a network that is loved by many.
The VET Tv staff is comprised of a small group of veterans of different backgrounds who have come together to share their passion for creating hilarious and meaningful entertainment for their fellow veterans.
You can watch VET Tv from nearly any platform – desktop, mobile or tablet. It’s basically a streaming service that works like Netflix. It’s free for three days and you can cancel any time. If you want to continue the laughs, you only pay $5/month or $55/year. That is incredibly low for the amount of content being offered. Part of the reason there is a free trial is that most people who actually watch the content created by VET Tv become hooked.
I had the pleasure to fly out to San Diego to meet with CEO and retired Marine Donny O’Malley.
“My long term goal is to create content dedicated to every branch and MOS in the military. To be able to give humor to even the most mundane task in the military,” he said.
“Dark humor is not specific to veterans,” O’Malley pointed out. “Firefighters, cops, EMTs, ER doctors, ER nurses and anyone who works in a job that deals with tragedy, develops the dark humor as a coping mechanism.”
His successful book “Embarrassing Confessions of a Marine Lieutenant” is proof of that fact.
“This business will only survive if the community wants us to. I just want everyone to at least see it and make the judgement for themselves,” O’Malley added.
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