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12 Reasons Robert Smigel Is The Comedy Terminator

Fearless comedy writer Smigel creates in-your-face content ... for Triumph to poop on.

12 Reasons Robert Smigel Is The Comedy Terminator

December 27, 2021

Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's new deep-dive series on funny business. (Also, you can stay up to date with the ComedyNerd newsletter -- sign up here.)

Fearless comedy writer Smigel creates in-your-face content ... for Triumph to poop on.

12

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Triumph the Insult Comic Dog showed no mercy. From celebrities to politicians to sci-fi dorks, Triumph was an equal-opportunity provocateur. Не took it to a poor Jedi wannabe: You are dressed as a ... huge nerd, yes? You know what's good about this costume, folks? Не can crap his pants and no one will notice. — YouTube

11

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM TV Funhouse was Triumph times twelve. Featuring a menagarie of talking animal puppets, TV Funhouse was the show the New York Times said transcended taste and species. The low-brow humor included puppet dogs discussing the relative pleasures of licking versus sniffing. — New York Times

10

Robert Smigel

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM No one has more unproduced SNL movies. Smigel is the king of writing SNL movies that never got made, including flicks about the Ambiguously Gay Duo, the Superfans and Hans and Franz. Schwarzenegger killed the Hans and Franz movie after Last Action Hero tanked. — AV Club

9

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Choke down some ribs with Chicago's Superfans. CHICAGO B BEARS y When Smigel performed at Second City, he was inspired by real-life fans he saw at White Sox games: All these guys with Mike Ditka walrus mustaches that were their badge of virility. They were wearing these aviator shades ... And they just had this whiff of arrogance about them. — Chicago Tribune

8

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM The funny animal obsession started early. The first sketch Smigel wrote for SNL was a parody of a prank show that pulled practical jokes on animals. Get a load of this goat react to the moving mailbox! — Howard Stern YouTube

7

Conspiracy Theory Rock!

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Good luck finding reruns of Conspiracy Theory Rock. CONSPIRACY THEORY ROCK! Smigel created a parody explaining how huge corporations were buying up all the major media outlets. It just struck me as really funny to do it on our own network, says Smigel. SNL has never rebroadcast the cartoon after its initial airing. — Snopes

6

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Smigel pushed limits on The Dana Carvey Show. Carvey's show notoriously made advertisers uncomfortable with sketches like Bill Clinton breastfeeding puppies. Hopefully I'll watch this show ... and for a day I'll feel good about it, says Smigel. Then back to abject regret. — New Yorker

5

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Why is Cluckin' Chicken so chickalicious? In Smigel's favorite SNL sketch, Clucky, the Cluckin' Chicken mascot. explains the whole delicious process, which includes cutting off his head before getting plucked and gutted. Whee, look at me-I'm getting quartered and split! — Howard Stern YouTube

4

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Не was Conan's first head writer. When Conan got Late Night we would finally have a playground for all our pent-up idiocy, remembers Smigel. Their first big bit? Conan interviewing pictures of celebrities, who would talk via Clutch Cargo mouth. — Washington Post

3

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Political puppets are as weird as the real thing. Smigel's latest venture, Let's Be Real, uses puppets to skewer real people, including Biden, Trump, Kim Kardashian, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Ted Cruz. Tune in and enjoy the agony of 73 Questions with Marjorie Taylor Greene. — Distractify

2

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Ambiguously Gay Duo almost became a movie. Alec Baldwin and Jimmy Fallon were keen to star in a live-action adaptation, but got held up over rights issues. A second shot with Jim Carrey and Steve Carell also fell through. Jon Hamm and Fallon finally brought the crimefighting pals to life on SNL. — Cinemablend

1

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Smigel and Sandler got down for the Count Adam Sandler goes back to his SNL days with Smigel, and the two have collaborated on all of the Hotel Transylvania flicks. Smigel has even done some voice acting, pretending to suck blood as Fake Dracula. — Behind the Voice Actors

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