That’s tough to do for many reasons, and even when you can do it, it’s pretty hard to scale. But here’s what it’s supposed to look like: Starbucks sponsoring a 25-song video series put on by The Onion.

Simon Dumenco has details on the campaign, but at its core it’s the most basic kind of video advertising, and the kind we saw at the beginning of video advertising. It’s a back-to-the-future version of TV’s early days, when brands like Texaco and Ford (F) sponsored shows called “Texaco Star Theater” and “The Ford Show.”

Back to the present: Look at how much plugging Starbucks (SBUX) has plugged in here! A preroll, plus what amounts to a preroll at the beginning of the video, plus more Starbucks references as the clip goes on. Don’t know what the coffee chain is paying for sponsoring this stuff, but the company seems determined to get its money’s worth.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists cover the Tears for Fears song, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”:

And with no Microsoft-Yahoo deal pending, he also must be pretty depressed right about now.

Who could blame him (well, I could!) for thinking he could overcome the quicksand of Yahoo (YHOO) that has mired even Microsoft (MSFT)?

And even though his many irked letters to the Yahoo board and CEO Jerry Yang definitely came with a cup full of crazy, BoomTown finds we miss him.

Thus, it seems like a good time to repost two videos of the ornery shareholder activist cracking wise at Caroline’s Comedy Club in New York in 2003 about the Texaco/Getty Oil lawsuit and also another about U.S. Steel.

Here’s hoping he can get some good material from this Yahoo stock debacle.

Here are the videos: