Robert Smigel
| Robert Smigel | |
|---|---|
at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con with Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog
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| Born | February 7, 1960 New York City, New York, U.S |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Genres | Insult comedy |
| Spouse | Michelle Saks (3 children) |
| Notable works and roles | Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog |
Robert Smigel (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor, humorist, comedian and writer known for his Saturday Night Live "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. He also co-wrote both Hotel Transylvania films and You Don't Mess with the Zohan, all starring Adam Sandler.
Contents
Early life
Smigel was born in New York City. His father is Dr. Irwin Smigel, DDS, "The Father of Cosmetic Dentistry",[1] and the founder and president of the American Society for Dental Aesthetics. His mother is Lucia Smigel, president and CEO of Supersmile.[2] He is Jewish and frequently went to Jewish summer camp.[3] He attended Cornell University, studying pre-dental[4] and graduated from New York University in 1983 with a degree in Political Science.[5][6]
Smigel began developing his comedic talent at The Players Workshop in Chicago, where he studied improvisation with Josephine Forsberg. Fellow students included Bob Odenkirk. Smigel was also a member of the Chicago comedy troupe "All You Can Eat" in the early 1980s.
Career
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. Smigel was hired after then-SNL producers Al Franken and Tom Davis saw Smigel in a Chicago sketch show.[7] 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 canceled by the last episode of season 11 due to its sliding ratings),[8] Michaels fired most of the cast and writers, retained the cast 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.
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.
Smigel co-wrote Lookwell with Conan O'Brien for NBC. 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 by Un-Cabaret, featuring live and taped intros by Smigel. 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.)
In 1996, Smigel wrote and performed on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show, a primetime sketch comedy program on ABC. Despite its premature end, the show provided Smigel the opportunity to debut his first cartoon, The Ambiguously Gay Duo. Upon the show's cancellation, Smigel continued developing more cartoon ideas the following summer and would begin airing them on Saturday Night Live under the TV Funhouse banner. Smigel would later claim, "My whole career came out of the impulse to do cartoons on The Dana Carvey Show."[9]
Smigel's most famous creation, however, would be the foul-mouthed puppet Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, who mercilessly mocks celebrities and others in the style of a Borscht Belt comedian. This character debuted on Late 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 on Saturday Night Live by producing infamous, provocative, short animated segments under the title TV Funhouse, which usually satirizes 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 occasionally appears in films (usually alongside SNL veterans such as Adam Sandler). According to interviews, Smigel helped punch up the scripts for Little Nicky and The Wedding Singer. Smigel acted alongside fellow SNL writer Bob Odenkirk in Wayne's World 2 as a nerd backstage at an Aerosmith concert. His contributions were uncredited.
No TV Funhouse segments were produced for the 2009–10 season of SNL, and his future with the show is unknown.
Currently Smigel is working on an animated sitcom for Fox called Animals. Fox has not made any official statement regarding the show. Additionally, Smigel played a gay mailman in the Adam Sandler film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and Yari the Mechanic in the "Mister Softee"[10] episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
In 2000, he voiced a sage bulldog in "Little Nicky". Smigel, along with Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow, wrote the script for the film You 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. Presently living in New York, he co-wrote and co-executive produced the films Hotel Transylvania (2012) and Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), in which he voiced Marty, a fake version of Dracula, and Harry Three-Eye, respectively. In the 5th Season of the FX Show Louie Smigel got a story credit on the episode "Cop Story" because an incident like that really 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 wasn't based on the guy Smigel knew, however, since all Smigel ever told Louis CK about was the gun itself. [11]
Smigel has a wife, Michelle, and has a child with autism. They serve on the board of New York Collaborates for Autism (NYCA), a non-profit organization founded in 2003 to address the needs of individuals and families who are living with autism.[12]
He voiced Ray and a parody of the Star Wars character, Emperor Palpatine, in the first episode of Robot Chicken Star Wars, as well as the monster 100 in the episode of the same name of Aqua Unit Patrol Squad on Cartoon Network's [adult swim].
Recurring characters on SNL
- Carl Wollarski, from "Bill Swerski's Superfans"
- Hank Fielding, with "The Moron's Perspective" on Weekend Update
- One of the Hub's Gyros employees (aka the "You like-ah the Juice?" guys)
- Avi, the "Sabra Price is Right" announcer
- Bighead, in "The Ambiguously Gay Duo" cartoons
Celebrity impressions
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Recurring characters on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
- 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 (with Doug Dale, Louis CK and Dino Stamatopoulos)
- Voice of "The Late Night Emergency Guest" mannequin
- Gibberish Speaking Ronald Reagan on the Phone
- Ira, Conan's publicist
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985–2013 | Saturday Night Live | Various | Writer, producer |
| 1991 | Lookwell | N/A | Television pilot; co-writer |
| 1993 | Wayne's World 2 | Concert Nerd | |
| Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (voice) | Also writer and producer | |
| 1995 | Howie Mandel's Sunny Skies | Phillip | 1 episode |
| Billy Madison | Mr. Oblaski | ||
| 1996 | The Dana Carvey Show | Various | Writer |
| 1998 | Tomorrow Night | Mail Room Guy with Glasses | |
| The Wedding Singer | Andre | ||
| 1999 | LateLine | Pearce Dummy | Episode: "Pearce on Conan" |
| 2000 | Little Nicky | Mr. Beefy (voice) | Episode: "Pearce on Conan" |
| 2000–2001 | TV Funhouse | Various (voices) | Also creator, writer, and producer |
| 2002 | Punch-Drunk Love | Walter the Dentist | |
| It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (voice) | ||
| 2003–2007 | Crank Yankers | Lawer / Samir / John Tierney | Three episodes |
| 2004 | Space Ghost Coast to Coast | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (voice) | Episode: "Dreams" |
| 2005 | Arrested Development | Motherboy Member | Episode: "Motherboy XXX" |
| 2006–2015 | Night of Too Many Stars | Himself / Triumph the Insult Comic Dog | Five TV Specials; writer |
| 2007 | Robot Chicken: Star Wars | Palpatine Parody / Ray (voices) | |
| I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry | Mailman | ||
| 2008 | You Don't Mess with the Zohan | Yosi | Also co-writer and producer |
| Lewis Black's Root of All Evil | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (voice) | Episode: "NRA vs PETA" | |
| 2009–2010 | The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (voice) | 3 episodes |
| 2010 | Aqua Teen Hunger Force | One Hundred | Episode: "One Hundred" |
| 2011 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Yari | Episode: "Mister Softee" |
| Jack and Jill | N/A | Executive producer | |
| 2011–2013 | Conan | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog | 10 episodes |
| 2012 | Hotel Transylvania | Fake Dracula / Marty (voices) | Also co-writer and executive producer |
| This Is 40 | Barry | ||
| 2012–2015 | Bob's Burgers | Security Guard | 2 episodes |
| 2014 | Comedy Underground with Dave Attell | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (voice) | 1 episode |
| 2015 | Park Bench with Steve Buscemi | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (voice) | Episode: "Every Dog Has Its Day" |
| The Jack and Triumph Show | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (voice) | Also creator, writer, and executive producer | |
| Pixels | White House Reporter #2 | ||
| Louie | Episode: "Cop Story"; story | ||
| The Jim Gaffigan Show | Cory | Episode: "Red Velvet If You Please" | |
| Hotel Transylvania 2 | Marty / Harry Three-Eye / Navigator (voices) | Also co-writer and executive producer |
Further reading
- DiGiacomo, Frank. "Triumph Sniffs a Hit". The New York Observer (October 20, 2003).
References
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ https://www.supersmile.com/content/print/lucia-smigel-featured-in-march-magazine
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- ↑ http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/robert-smigel-556-v17n10
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- ↑ http://www.nyu.edu/alumni.magazine/issue10/10_culture_snl.html
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- ↑ Heisler, Steve Interview – Dana Carvey and Robert Smigel AV Club (June 15, 2009). Retrieved on 5-09-10.
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1640888/
- ↑ http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/how-louie-got-a-shorter-season-because-louis-ck-got-high#c26jcPl3TElThwXL.99
- ↑ http://www.nyc4a.org/boardofdirectors
- Pages with reference errors
- Use mdy dates from December 2013
- Pages with broken file links
- 1960 births
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