Robert Smigel on Triumph, SNL, Conan and More

<p>In 1997, Robert Smigel put a dog puppet on his hand, started making poop jokes in a thick Russian accent and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was born. 25 years later, he’s still going strong. In this rare long form conversation, Smigel talks about how he pulls off his epic confrontations of politicians like Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham. He also opens up about his time writing for Conan O’Brien, ‘The Dana Carvey Show’ and SNL, where he created ‘TV Funhouse’ and ‘The Ambiguously Gay Duo’—an animated sketch he readily admits would not work today. Robert explains why his eventual exit from SNL was “not pretty” and weighs in on Alec Baldwin’s “easy” satirical take on Donald Trump.</p><p><br></p><p>This episode was originally published on June 30th, 2020.</p><p><br></p><p>Follow Robert Smigel on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TriumphICDHQ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@TriumphICDHQ</a> and Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/triumphicdhq" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@triumphicdhq</a></p><p>Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/mattwilstein" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@mattwilstein</a></p><p>Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lastlaughpod/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@lastlaughpod</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Highlights from this episode and others at <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/keyword/the-last-laugh" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Daily Beast</a></p> &#10;&nbsp;<br /><hr><p style='color: grey; font - size: 0.75em; '>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>