Robert Smigel (born February 7, 1960) is an American humorist and performer best known for his Saturday Night Live "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer behind Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. Smigel was once a member of the Chicago comedy troupe All You Can Eat. February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 90-minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City which has been broadcast live by NBC on Saturday nights since October 11, 1975. ... A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object—a puppet— in real time to create the illusion of life. ... Best of Triumph DVD Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is a puppet created and performed by Robert Smigel premiering in 1997 on NBCs Late Night with Conan OBrien. ...

Career

A native of New York City, Smigel first established himself as a writer on Saturday Night Live by joining the writing staff when Lorne Michaels returned as executive producer for the 1985-1986 season. After the 1985-1986 season proved to be a disappointment with critics, in the ratings, and with Brandon Tartikoff (who was planning to have SNL cancelled by the last episode of season 11 due to its sliding ratings (see note on [1], scroll down to read), Lorne fired most of the castmembers and writers, retained the castmembers and writers who were standouts during the otherwise dismal season (Smigel being one of them), and hired new ones for the 1986-1987 season. This is when Smigel began to write more memorable sketches, including one where host William Shatner urged worshipful attendees at a Star Trek convention to "get a life." Smigel rarely appeared on screen, although he was credited as a feature player in the early 1990s and has played a recurring character in the Bill Swerski's Superfans sketches. New York, NY redirects here. ... Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 90-minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City which has been broadcast live by NBC on Saturday nights since October 11, 1975. ... Brandon Tartikoff (July 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was a popular NBC executive who was credited with turning around NBCs low prime-time reputation with such hit series as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Family Ties, The Cosby Show, Cheers, Miami Vice, The Golden Girls, Knight Rider, The... William Shatner (born on March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor who gained fame for his starring role as Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the television show Star Trek from 1966 to 1969 and in seven of the subsequent movies. ... The current Star Trek franchise logo Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series. ... Bill Swerskis Superfans was a recurring sketch on the American sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live. ...

While on a writers' strike from Saturday Night Live following the 1987–88 season, Smigel wrote for an improvisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellow SNL writers Bob Odenkirk and Conan O'Brien called Happy Happy Good Show. Improvisational comedy (also called improv) is comedy that is performed with a little to no predetermination of subject matter and structure. ... Nickname: Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook & DuPage Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government  - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area  - City  234. ... Robert Bob Odenkirk (born October 22, 1962, in Naperville, Illinois) is an American actor, writer, director and producer. ... Conan Christopher OBrien (born April 18, 1963[2]) is an Emmy-winning American television personality best known as host of NBCs late-night talk/variety show Late Night with Conan OBrien. ... Happy Happy Good Show was an improvisational comedy revue held at the Victory Gardens Studio Theater in Chicago during the summer of 1988. ...

Smigel later became the first head writer at Late Night with Conan O'Brien, where he created numerous successful comedy bits, including one where Smigel performed only the lips of public figures which were superimposed on photos of the actual people. (This technique was pioneered on the Clutch Cargo cartoon series as a cost-saving measure, and was known as Syncro-Vox.) Late Night with Conan OBrien is an American late night talk show on NBC, that is also syndicated world-wide. ... Clutch Cargo was an animated television series produced by Cambria Productions and syndicated beginning in March 1959. ... Syncro-Vox (sometimes spelled Synchro-Vox) is a filming method which combines static images with moving images, the most common effect of which is to simulate talking lips on a photograph of a celebrity or a cartoon drawing. ...

Smigel's most famous creation, however, is the foul-mouthed puppet Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, who mercilessly mocks celebrities and others in the style of a Borscht Belt comedian. Smigel also wrote and performed on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show. Best of Triumph DVD Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is a puppet created and performed by Robert Smigel premiering in 1997 on NBCs Late Night with Conan OBrien. ... Borscht Belt is an informal term for the summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in Sullivan and Ulster Counties in upstate New York which were frequented by Ashkenazic Jews. ... The Dana Carvey Show was a half-hour sketch comedy television show on the U.S. television network ABC during the 1996 season. ...

Smigel continued to establish himself on Saturday Night Live by producing infamous, provocative, short animated segments under the title TV Funhouse, which usually satires public figures and popular culture. It spawned a TV show on Comedy Central featuring a mix of puppets, animation, and short sketches. Although only eight episodes were aired (during the winter of 2000 - 2001) Smigel continues to create TV Funhouse segments for Saturday Night Live and occasionally appears in films (usually alongside SNL veterans such as Adam Sandler). TV Funhouse is the title of a recurring skit on NBCs Saturday Night Live featuring cartoons created by longtime SNL writer Robert Smigel, as well as a short-lived spinoff series that ran on Comedy Central. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel in the United States and, as of October 19, 2006, in Poland[1], of January 15, 2007 in Germany[2], of April 30, 2007 in the Netherlands[3] and in Italy of May 1. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, producer, and musician. ...

Smigel's father is Irwin Smigel, DDS, "The Father of Cosmetic Dentistry," [2] and the founder and president of the American Society for Dental Aesthetics. DDS can refer to: Doctor of Dental Surgery, academic degree Data Distribution Service Data Design System, DDS-CAD software vendor Data Declaration System, a software development tool by Visu-IT! GmbH Data Dissemination Service, a US Army net-centric follow-on to PASS Davao Death Squad, the monicker used to...

For a time, Robert attempted to follow in his father's footsteps and studied dentistry at Cornell University and New York University; in the Adam Sandler feature film Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Robert Smigel actually played a dentist. He has recently written, along with Adam Sandler, "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" set for release 2008. A Dentist and Dental Assistant perform surgery on a patient. ... Cornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and in Education City, Qatar. ... New York University (NYU) is a major research university in New York City. ... Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, producer, and musician. ... Punch-Drunk Love is a 2002 film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. ...

Recurring Characters on SNL

• Carl Wollarski, from "Bill Swerski's Superfans"
• Hank Fielding, a two-time Weekend Update commentator
• One of the Hub's Gyros employees

Bill Swerskis Superfans was a recurring sketch on the American sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live. ...

Celebrity Impersonations on SNL

• Alan Dershowitz

Alan Morton Dershowitz (born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and law professor. ...

Sources

• "Triumph Sniffs a Hit" by Frank DiGiacomo, The New York Observer, October 20, 2003.

The New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987 by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. ... October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 72 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Official website of Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog
• Robert Smigel at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with The AV Club