Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Finds Big Media Company for Him to Poop On
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog came out strongly in favor of a quick end to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA Hollywood strikes with a decisive victory for the creatives, saying that, if studios don’t get their act together, “There won’t be new episodes of Young Sheldon, or Night Court, or Emily in Paris… Hold on, what side am I on again?”
Yesterday, the impolite puppet operated by Robert Smigel joined the picket lines of the ongoing strikes to protest the AMPTP’s apathetic approach to the livelihoods of the artists whose work built their fortunes. Given that Triumph’s handler is a union member and one of the most prolific comedy writers of his generation, the character first created on Late Night with Conan O'Brien took shots at Amazon, Netflix and the rest of the power brokers pushing to break the wills of their writers and actors — but he saved plenty of heat for his friends on the front line, too.
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In his first of hopefully many dog-on-the-street videos from the protests, Triumph proved that, at 182 dog years old, his bark still has plenty of bite.
This isn’t the first time that Triumph has lent his trash-talking talents to the strikers’ cause — the “WGARAGE SALE,” an online fundraiser in which writers sell services and collectibles to support the Entertainment Community Fund, currently has an auction up that entitles the winner to “Get pooped on by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog!” Triumph has also been photographed on the picket lines holding up punchy signs with slogans like, “I’ve pooped a better offer than the AMPTP’s!”
On Tuesday, AMPTP president Carol Lombardini reached out to WGA leadership to schedule a meeting for this Friday in order to resume contract talks, the first such communication between the two parties since the strike began on May 1st. Though the union’s negotiating committee is a closed group, they might do well to take a page out of the AMPTP playbook and leverage some freelance talent to get the job done. Imagine Triumph at the negotiating table. The AMPTP would have to come correct with both poop bags and body bags.
