Five Time People Got Legitimately Mad at Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
No matter how offensive he’s being, there’s just something about Triumph the Insult Comic Dog that people find charming. Ever since he first appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in in 1997, he’s gotten away with humiliating Star Wars nerds and crashing political conventions mostly without consequence. He’s even managed to endear himself to everyone from Stephen Colbert to Mike Huckabee.
On occasion, however, Triumph — and, by extension, his performer Robert Smigel — have managed to antagonize the wrong person. And, instead of laughing things off, Triumph’s target has responded with genuine fury. Here are five such times when Triumph has truly pissed someone off, very much finding himself in the doghouse.
Security at the 1999 Westminster Dog Show
When Triumph attended the Westminster Dog Show in 1999, the Montenegrin Mountain Hound wasn’t yet the canine insult institution he is today, so not everyone was entertained by his antics. After repeatedly antagonizing a judge and humping several contestants, security personnel were tasked with throwing Triumph out of the convention, but not before he told one of them, “Look, Chubby, don’t mess with me. I know Conan O’Brien — he could have all of you killed!”
The Pets.com Sock Puppet
In the late ‘90s, Pets.com, a one-stop shop for pet supplies, was the Chewy of its day. And in the summer of 1999, the company’s profile exploded with the birth of a new mascot: a sock puppet performed by Michael Ian Black. Thanks to its funny commercials, the puppet was an overnight superstar, appearing on talk shows and even the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade just three months after its debut.
Still early into Triumph’s career, Smigel didn’t think much about the Pets.com puppet until others — most notably Daily Show host Jon Stewart — accused the online store of ripping off Triumph. Soon, Triumph joined the pile-on, and Smigel even wrote a letter to Pets.com threatening a lawsuit. Before Smigel could sue, however, Pets.com sued Smigel for $20 million for defaming their mascot. The mascot, though, was the only successful part of the company. Pets.com itself was bleeding cash. They ended up going out of business about six months after the lawsuit was filed. A month after that, Pets.com’s lawsuit against Smigel was dismissed.
Michael Jackson Supporters
In a 2015 interview on The Dan Patrick Show, Smigel said that the most he ever pissed someone off as Triumph was at the 2005 Michael Jackson trial. At the time, the King of Pop was charged with molesting a child, and droves of his delusional supporters were camping outside the courthouse in Santa Maria. For days on end, Triumph showed up at the trial asking questions like, “On a scale of one to ten, how old is Michael’s boyfriend?” In a particularly funny moment, he asked a Jackson impersonator to sing like Michael, then to moonwalk and finally to “do Michael masturbating to Home Alone!”
Eminem
Of all the times Triumph really pissed someone off, most people will remember the incident at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. Triumph was a hit the previous year for sniffing J.Lo’s ass, so he was asked back for a segment with Moby. When Smigel was prepping the bit, the MTV producers encouraged him to also go after Eminem, seated just a few rows up. The only problem? No one told Eminem. The Real Slim Shady was unfamiliar with Triumph, so when the puppet dog got into his face during the awards, Eminem grabbed Triumph and pushed him down, saying, “I already had my TV time.” A member of Eminem’s entourage also threw Smigel’s script. Following that, Triumph did a press conference about the incident on Late Night with Conan O’Brien wearing a neck brace.
Eminem later admitted that his temper and self-seriousness got the better of him during the incident. A few years later, Eminem wrote a song about Triumph — “Ass Like That” — in which he imitates Triumph’s voice.
A Bunch of Fox News Douchebags
On June 16, 2022, Triumph, Smigel and their crew from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert were arrested at a U.S. Capitol office building for unlawful entry. Earlier in the day, they had been filming authorized, pre-arranged interviews with representatives and other Capitol staffers, but they ended up staying past operating hours to film various pickups as part of the segment. According to Colbert when he addressed the incident on The Late Show, the arrest was very orderly and the Capitol police were just doing their jobs.
But Fox News personalities like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Pete Hegseth feigned outrage at the offense. They furiously complained to their viewers that the “Colbert 7” — as Fox News pundit Joe Concha called them — got off with just a minor arrest. They even unironically compared the episode to the treatment of January 6th insurrectionists, citing a double standard. Nevermind the fact that this was seven people with a dog puppet trying to film some extra comedy bits, whereas the insurrection was perpetrated by a 2,000-person mob of Trump supporters who forcefully entered the Capitol building in an attempted coup of the American government and to hang Vice President Mike Pence.
The insurrectionists were, of course, eventually pardoned by Trump. The rubber dog, however, remains a menace to society.
