Robert Smigel
Smigel at the 2025Tribeca Festival
Born	(1960-02-07)February 7, 1960 (age 66) New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	Cornell University New York University (BA)
Occupations	Actor comedian writer director producer puppeteer
Years active	1985–present
Notable work	TV Funhouse Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
Spouse	Michelle Saks
Children	3
Father	Irwin Smigel

Robert Smigel (born February 7, 1960)^[1] is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, producer, andpuppeteer, known for hisSaturday Night Live "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behindTriumph the Insult Comic Dog. He also co-wrote the first twoHotel Transylvania films,You Don't Mess with the Zohan, andLeo, all starringAdam Sandler.

Robert Smigel was born in New York City, to Lucia andIrwin Smigel, an aesthetic dentist, innovator and philanthropist. He isJewish and frequently went toJewish summer camp.^[2][3] He attendedCornell University, studying pre-dental,^[4] and graduated fromNew York University'sCollege of Arts and Science in 1983 with a degree in political science.^[5][6]

Smigel began developing his comedic talent atThe Players Workshop in Chicago, where he studied improvisation withJosephine Forsberg.Bob Odenkirk was a fellow student there. Smigel was also a member of the Chicago comedy troupe "All You Can Eat" in the early 1980s.

Smigel first established himself as a writer onSaturday Night Live by joining the writing staff whenLorne Michaels returned as executive producer for the1985–1986 season. Smigel was hired after then-SNL producersAl Franken and Tom Davis saw Smigel in a Chicago sketch show.^[7] Smigel was among the few writers who survived a purge of writers and cast at the conclusion of the "disappointing" 1985–1986 season. This is when Smigel began to write more memorable sketches, including one where hostWilliam Shatner urged worshipful attendees at aStar Trek convention to "get a life." Smigel rarely appeared on screen, though he was credited as a featured player in the early 1990s and played a recurring character in theBill Swerski's Superfans sketches.

While on a writers' strike fromSaturday Night Live following the1987–88 season, Smigel wrote for animprovisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellowSNL writersBob Odenkirk andConan O'Brien calledHappy Happy Good Show.^[8]

Smigel co-wroteLookwell withConan O'Brien forNBC. The pilot never went to series, but it has become a cult hit and has screened live at "The Other Network", a festival of un-aired TV pilots produced byUn-Cabaret, featuring live and taped intros by Smigel. Smigel later became the first head writer atLate 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 theClutch Cargo cartoon series as a cost-saving measure, and was known asSyncro-Vox.)

In 1996, Smigel wrote and performed on the short-livedDana Carvey Show, a primetimesketch comedy program onABC. Despite its premature end, the show provided Smigel the opportunity to debut his first cartoonThe Ambiguously Gay Duo.^[9] Upon the show's cancellation, Smigel continued developing more cartoon ideas the following summer and would begin airing them onSaturday Night Live under theTV Funhouse banner. Smigel would later claim "My whole career came out of the impulse to do cartoons onThe Dana Carvey Show."^[10]

Smigel's most famous creation, however, would be the foul-mouthed puppetTriumph the Insult Comic Dog, who mercilessly mocks celebrities and others in the style of aBorscht Belt comedian. This character debuted onLate Night with Conan O'Brien in February 1997 and would continue to make appearances on the show, as well as others, for many years to come.

Smigel continued to establish himself onSaturday Night Live by producing short animated segments under the titleTV Funhouse, which usuallysatirizes public figures and popular culture. It spawned a TV show onComedy Central featuring a mix of puppets, animation, and short sketches, although only eight episodes were aired (during the winter of 2000–2001). Smigel occasionally appears in films (usually alongsideSNL veterans such asAdam Sandler). According to interviews, Smigel helped punch up the scripts forLittle Nicky andThe Wedding Singer. Smigel acted alongside fellowSNL writerBob Odenkirk inWayne's World 2 as a nerd backstage at anAerosmith concert. His contributions were uncredited.

In 2000, he voiced a sage bulldog named Mr. Beefy inLittle Nicky. Smigel, along with Adam Sandler andJudd Apatow, wrote the script for the filmYou Don't Mess with the Zohan in which Smigel played Yosi, an Israeli electronics salesman. Smigel is also one of the executive producers of the film, which is a first for him despite his frequent collaborations with Sandler.

It was reported in 2006 that Smigel and Adam Sandler were working on an animated sitcom forFox calledAnimals. Fox has not made any official statement regarding the show.^[11] Additionally, Smigel played a gay mailman in the Adam Sandler filmI Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and Yari the Mechanic in the "Mister Softee" episode ofCurb Your Enthusiasm.

He voiced Ray and theStar Wars character,Emperor Palpatine, in the first episode ofRobot Chicken: Star Wars, as well as the monster One Hundred in theepisode of the same name ofAqua Teen Hunger Force.

Currently living in New York, he co-wrote and co-executive produced the filmsHotel Transylvania (2012) andHotel Transylvania 2 (2015), in which he voiced Marty, a fake version ofDracula, and Harry Three-Eye, respectively. In thefifth season of theFX show,Louie, Smigel received a story credit on the episode "Cop Story", as a similar incident as to what appears in the show actually happened to him, down to the cop crying in his apartment while Smigel went out, found the missing gun and carried it home, terrified that anyone would notice.Michael Rapaport's character Lenny wasn't based on the man Smigel knew, however, since all Smigel ever toldLouis C.K. about was the gun itself.^[12]

Smigel created, wrote, executive produced, and starred as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog inThe Jack and Triumph Show, alongsideJack McBrayer in 2015. It was announced in January 2016 that Smigel would be starring as Triumph inTriumph's Election Special 2016 onHulu the following February.^[13]

In September 2020, after being brought on to develop the project in 2019, Fox announced that Smigel would executive produceLet's Be Real — a one-off adaptation of the French satirical seriesLes Guignols.^[14]

On June 16, 2022, Smigel was arrested for unlawful entry of theLongworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C., along with eight other individuals associated withThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert.^[15]CBS released a statement saying that “Their interviews at the Capitol were authorized and pre-arranged throughCongressional aides of the members interviewed", and that "After leaving the members’ offices on their last interview of the day, the production team stayed to film stand-ups and other final comedy elements in the halls when they were detained by Capitol Police.”Fox News punditTucker Carlson accused Smigel of "insurrection" and that it was "exactly like what happened" in apparent reference to the2021 United States Capitol attack.^[16]Stephen Colbert addressed the incident in his monologue, stating that Smigel had committed "First-DegreePuppetry" and that "Drawing any equivalence between rioters storming our Capitol to prevent the counting of electoral ballots and a cigar-chomping toy dog is a shameful and grotesque insult to the memory of everyone who died.” TheUnited States Capitol Police released a statement saying that “This is an active criminal investigation, and may result in additional criminal charges after consultation with theU.S. Attorney.”^[17] On July 19, it was announced no charges would be filed.^[18]

Smigel met his wife, Michelle Saks, when she worked as a lighting technician for the theater in Chicago where he performed as part of the comedy troupe "All You Can Eat and the Temple of Dooom."^[19][20][21] They have three children together.^{[citation needed]}

Smigel and Saks serve on the board ofNEXT for AUTISM, formerly New York Collaborates for Autism, a non-profit organization founded in 2003 to address the needs of autistic individuals and their families, as their eldest child hasautism.^[22] Smigel created theNight of Too Many Stars, a biannual celebrity fundraiser to benefit autism education.^[23] He won anPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program for the 2012 broadcast ofNight of Too Many Stars at the65th Primetime Emmy Awards.^[24]

• Carl Wollarski, from "Bill Swerski's Superfans"
• Hank Fielding, with "The Moron's Perspective" onWeekend Update
• One of the Hub's Gyros employees (aka the "You like-ah the Juice?" guys)
• Avi, theSabraPrice is Right announcer
• Bighead, inThe Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoons

• Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
• "Clutch Cargo" celebrity interviews (Bill Clinton,George W. Bush,Arnold Schwarzenegger,Don King, Bob Dole, etc.)
• One of the "Nicknames for Conan" guys (aka the "Conan the Barbarian" guys)
• One of the "Ameri-clan" guys (withDoug Dale,Louis C.K. andDino Stamatopoulos)
• Voice of "The Late Night Emergency Guest" mannequin
• Gibberish SpeakingRonald Reagan on the Phone
• Ira, O'Brien's publicist

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRobert Smigel.

• Robert Smigel atIMDb
• Interview with The A.V. Club

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