If you haven’t read or heard about it, Loren Feldman (1938 Media) has a new show, which is a parody of Shel Israel’s Global Neighbourhoods show, recently launched on FastCompany.tv. (Shel co-authored the book Naked Conversations with Robert Scoble in 2006).

If it were as simple as a little parody, we’d all be laughing as hard as I was at the puppet’s guest appearance on NewsGang Live today, but it’s not. This is partly because Shel Israel had not registered his own name as a vanity URL (Yes, I’ve done it for the whole family, just to reserve our little piece of the ‘Net), and Loren bought it and is using it to broadcast his shows.

Shel was understandably pissed about someone using his name on a site that wasn’t his work and said so. On Twitter. Broadcast out to everyone, which sparked a debate over personal brand, and ultimately a really thoughtful post about why he reacted as he did, what he took from the critics, and what he learned as a result. It was a truly honest response to some pretty harsh criticism.

Further complicating things, Loren’s show was picked up by a sponsor today and Shel’s hasn’t been. Yet. They are looking for one.

If peace were an objective here (though I don’t believe it is) Loren would transfer Shel’s domain namesake to Shel, buy the available ‘Fake Shel Israel’ domain (at least, available as of this writing), and continue on with what is a very, very funny parody, enjoy his success, fame and fortune.

Another possibility is the one I suggested to Robert Scoble on Twitter tonight: Shel might consider attempting a puppet-napping and interview on his own show, before handing it back in exchange for his namesake site. Or partnering with the puppet occasionally, embracing the puppet as his own, blessing the parody, not killing it.

Loren Feldman is one of those guys who runs hot and cold. His Jason Calacanis parodies were hysterical, the stuff he did over on Huffington Post, not so much. In fact, I ended up unsubscribing because they (and he) had become incredibly unfunny. And then he comes back with a raging act of genius in this puppet, yet once again hasn’t figured out (or doesn’t care) that it can be funny without being mean.

My appeal to Loren: I would enjoy the show more and the puppet even more if you settled the domain name issue. Yes, you own it. Yes, you can use it. But to me, it’s a small thing that can find a compromise solution that is less hurtful to others. It would really bother me to build up your show at Shel’s expense. Since he has made the gesture of standing down on it, perhaps there is a compromise. I hope so.

Here’s one that’s on the 1938 Media site, so I don’t feel badly linking to it. It’s my pal Steve Gillmor, trying his best to be serious:

Technorati Tags: 1938Media, ShelIsrael, Global Neighborhoods, video, puppet, Newsgang, Steve Gillmor