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Robert Smigel
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What do you do when your father is known as "the father of cosmetic dentistry"? You put your hand up the backside of a cigar-chomping dog puppet and let the insults fly. Robert Smigel, the son of famous dentist Irwin Smigel, was born in New York in 1960. For a time, he flirted with going into the family business, but the pull of comedy was too strong.

In 1985, he was hired by SNL as a writer. In the early '90s, he started appearing in bit parts and producing a series of cartoons called "TV Funhouse" that caricatured various animation styles while skewering many celebrities along the way. In 1993, he was hired by "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" where he created his most famous character: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Triumph has gone on to lead a life of his own, appearing in TV specials, CDs, toys, and other outlets.

In 2000, he took the ideas behind his SNL cartoons and turned them into Comedy Central's "TV Funhouse," a mock kid's show that blended animal puppets with new cartoons every week. Though the show only lasted for eight episodes, its dead-on animation satires and unusual puppets found a dedicated, if small, fan following. Today, Smigel continues to write for SNL and Conan O'Brien; he's also kept busy with Triumph and with penning various television specials.
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