Robert Smigel Speaker & Booking Information

Robert Smigel 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.

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.  After the 1985–1986 season proved to be a disappointment with critics, in the ratings, and with Brandon Tartikoff, Michaels fired most of the cast and writers, retained the cast and writers who were standouts during the otherwise dismal season, 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.

 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." Robert Smigel performing Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog 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. Smigel occasionally appears in films. 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" 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 is the co-writer and executive producer of the new films Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2, in which he respectively voiced Marty, a fake version of Dracula, and Harry Three-Eye. 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. Smigel has a wife, Michelle, and has a child with autism. They serve on the board of New York Collaborates for Autism, a non-profit organization founded in 2003 to address the needs of individuals and families who are living with autism. 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.'