Robert Smigel’s Triumph the Insult Comic Dog returned Thursday in a video that recalled his heyday at Late Night With Conan O’Brien.
Former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial—the one in which he’s charged with 34 felony counts surrounding an alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels—kicked off in Lower Manhattan with jury selection this week, and Smigel wasted no time getting the cigar-chomping puppet down on the scene.
The video finds Triumph interacting with the crowd of Trump supporters outside the courthouse — or as he puts it, “a real who’s who of who’s off their meds.”
At times, the jokes get lost among the clash of arguing bystanders, but the ten-minute video is full of Triumph’s typically cutting quips: “I think Trump’s kind of losing it. He’s even starting to slur his slurs,” he tells two Trump supporters at one point.
“I feel bad for Trump…” Triumph tells another onlooker. “He finally pays someone what he owes them, and they indict him for it. The guy can’t catch a break.”
Smigel/Triumph teased the video release on Twitter/X last night, explaining simply: “I had to.”
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog first appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 1997, and went on to contribute to some of the show’s most fondly remembered moments.
Smigel has forged ahead with other Triumph projects in the years since, including a sitcom with Jack McBrayer, and appearances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Most recently, he dropped a live special on YouTube, “Let’s Make A Poop,” recorded earlier this year at the San Francisco Sketchfest.
If Trump can’t handle Jimmy Kimmel’s jabs, one wonders how he’d respond to Triumph’s barbs.
