During an introductory speech for Robert Smigel given by cartoon historian Jerry Beck at the San Diego Comic Con, the world's only insult comic dog, Triumph, popped up and went on a hilarious tirade about Beck's boring speech and the innumerable nerds who were in attendance. This is footage shot by someone who was actually there, so there's a lot of swearing and you also get to see Robert Smigel actually doing the voice and manipulating the puppet. Of course, they don't try very hard to hide that when he does his shtick on Conan, but Smigel is in the middle of a crowd and really has nowhere to hide. Beck actually posted the video on his Cartoon Brew site, but I stuck it after the jump for your viewing pleasure. My favorite part is when he tells a rather rotund attendee he must love the "Fantastic Four food groups." Click on and enjoy.

UPDATE: The video is no longer available, apparently.

There are no plans for a collaboration involving Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi and Robert Smigel of TV Funhouse and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog fame, but John K wrote on his blog recently about an encounter with Smigel at Comic-Con in which Smigel expressed his love for John K's "George Liquor" character, and K asked if Smigel would be interested in writing some episodes for a straight-to-video release. This was just two gents chatting, so it means nothing, but what do my fellow animation fans think of a collaboration between these two fellas? I think they have a similar sense of humor, and under the right circumstances they could probably come up with something pretty cool.

As I already mentioned, Conan O'Brien will be bringing his show to Chicago next week. He sat down (or maybe he was standing, I have no idea) recently with Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune for an insightful interview where he talked about wanting to do the show in Chicago for a long time. That's understandable, since Chicago, home of Second City, has been a place where a plethora of comedians were molded into the fleshy joke machines we know today. I found it very interesting that Conan once did a stage show in Chicago with Robert Smigel (creator of SNL's "TV Funhouse" segments and the voice of Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog) and Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show and Tom Goes to the Mayor) called "The Happy Happy Good Show," which I totally would have gone to see had I known it existed and had I not been twelve years old at the time. Well, his famous "In the Year 2000" sketch originated from that stage show, so I guess we all got a little taste of it after all.

Robert Smigel started airing his animated "TV Funhouse" segements on Saturday Night Live back in 1996. In 1998, he created a short called "Conspiracy Theory Rock" which poked fun at corporate ownership of television networks, and was especially scathing when it came to NBC and its parent company, General Electric. The segment aired only once and was never seen again. According to NBC, however, it wasn't pulled due to content, but to allow for a second Backstreet Boys performance when the episode was re-aired. Well, it is hard to say no to the Backstreet Boys, that's for sure. Anyway, you can check out the short here. Or alternatively, watch this Backstreet Boys video. Like NBC, I know it's often difficult to choose between the two.

Update: I left the link, but as of right now it appears to be broken. Sorry, guys.

[via Cartoon Brew]

I would say that there are two shows that I'm most looking forward to this year. One is Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60, which will debut on NBC this fall, and the other is the special that the same network has this Saturday night. The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse will run in the 11:30pm slot, and will feature the best of Robert Smigel's cartoons and other video projects. The show will be hosted by The Ambiguously Gay Duo (voices of Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell),  and we'll also see The X-Presidents, Fun With Real Audio, satires of Michael Jackson, Disney, and everything in between.

The New York Times has a story on the special and on Smigel himself.

Robert Smigel says that he meant nothing nasty by lampooning Disney and the Disney Vault on last week's Saturday Night Live. (YouTube has it, for now.)

"I didn't really look at it as mean-spirited...I know that some of these things that I talk about in that cartoon aren't true. I don't really know that anything in there is true."

And why the dig at Mickey Mouse?

"I never found Mickey Mouse funny...I have to admit that."

I can't wait for The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse, on NBC, April 29, at 11:30.

[via TV Tattle]

I haven't watched many of SNL's "Best of" specials, mainly because I don't particularly want to see sketches that I've already seen a number of times (although Chris Farley dancing at Chippendales never gets old). But the next "Best of" special I'm going to want to record. Why? Because on April 29, NBC will air The Best of TV Funhouse, hosted by Ace and Gary, otherwise known as the Ambiguously Gay Duo (voiced by Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell, by the way). Not only will the show air the best of Robert Smigel's shorts from the last 10 years -- a period where often the Funhouse segment was the only thing funny about SNL -- but there will also be a new AG Duo short.

I'm especially looking forward to the Charlie Brown Christmas parody, because Smigel so accurately apes the odd speaking patterns of the Peanuts kids-- and the ultra-cheap 1960's animation -- it's scary. If I had a TiVo, I'd probably put this on one "Save until I delete" status.

[via The Futon Critic]