Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog
It's a Dog-Sue-Dog World
You've probably heard about the infamous lawsuit
filed by the now-defunct Pets.com online pet
store on behalf of their well-known spokesdog
'Sock
Puppet' against Robert Smigel's Triumph
the Insult Comic Dog, a frequent guest on NBC's
Conan O'Brien show.
Triumph hurls foul-mouthed, frequently sexist
insults, and has a habit of showering compliments
on his targets, then adding, "For me to poop
on!", a phase that has become his trademark.
Smigel stated in a letter to Pets.com that its
ubiquitous Pets.com dog was actually based on
Triumph, and he was threatening to file a lawsuit
for trademark infringement. Then he went public.
During Triumph's appearance on Comedy Central's
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the puppet
griped that the Pets.com spokesdog was "a rip-off
artist." Triumph also accused Kermit the Frog
of "having no scruples" and Howdy Doody of stealing
his routine.
Pets.com reacted by filing a 15 page lawsuit
in the San Francisco U.S. District
Court. Pets.com claims Smigel created "an undesirable,
unwholesome and unsavory mental association"
between the puppets and that Triumph is seen
as demeaning to the entire canine-hand-puppet
community. "Triumph
is a rubber-dog that ... regularly uses vulgarity,
insults both the humans and other dogs around
him and often conducts physical attacks of a
sexual nature on female dogs," the complaint
says.
"As a result of Smigel's conduct, we felt forced
to take the normal steps to obtain a ruling
from the court that protects our intellectual
property. We believe that the claims made in
Smigel's letter are meritless."
Triumph triumphed, having made his TV debut
two and a half years before the Pets.com Sock
Puppet appeared on the scene, when Late Night
with Conan O'Brien presented "talent from the
Westminster Dog Show" on February 13th 1997,
introducing audiences to "Triumph, the insult
comic dog," one of its most successful characters.
He went on to steal the show during NBC's presentation
of its fall prime-time schedule.
Triumph even had public support with an internet
website community at MSN dedicated to saving
Triumph from the Pets.com lawsuit.
Triumph gave a press conference on the May 4th,
2000 episode of Late Night in which he nicknamed
the Pets.com puppet "Crappy" and taunted Pets.com
for a stock slump:
"This is what I hear, Pets.com: I hear your
stock is going down faster than me on a Pekingese!
If you go down the toilet, I'm going to be drinking
from it!" The press conference concluded with
Triumph singing a parody of Every Breath You
Take:
"Every joke you take
Every ripoff you make
Every rule you break
Like a dot-com fake
I will POOP ON YOU!"
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The
Story of Triumph
Triumph spent two years at Eastern
Illinois University as a sociology
major before being expelled.
Switching to comedy, the cigar-smoking
rotweiller spent years opening at dog
shows and getting kicked out of many New
York clubs before becoming Triumph the
Insult Comic Dog on NBC’s Late Night With
Conan O’Brien.
Rumours that Conan's sidekick Andy Richter
was being replaced by Triumph were quickly
dispelled by Triumph himself: "Triumph
ain't nobody's sidekick, Baby! I'd be
happy to guest host if Conan wants to
slide his bony ass over to the couch for
some desk-training. I'd have him deskbroken
in two weeks."
Triumph's trademark line "For me to poop
on!" evolved from a much tamer catch phrase:
"In the early days of television,
you see, you couldn't say "poop." For
years, I used, "...for me to relieve myself
on." It didn't have the same kick."
- Triumph
One of Triumph's 'finest' moments came
when he crashed the Westminster Kennel
Club's annual dog shows at Madison Square
Garden. There, he provided his own crass
commentary on the show before going "doggy
style" on several real pets, and eventually
getting booted from the event.
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Check
out photos
of Triumph at the Westminster Dog
Show!
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Triumph is currently based
in NY, NY - "a very nice island,
for me to poop on!" - is age 4 (28 in
dog years) and is currently listed
as as being married with mistress.
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Get
"Late Night with Conan O'Brien
- The Best of Triumph the Insult Comic
Dog" on DVD at
Amazon today!
"For Triumph fans, this DVD is a
tremendous, exciting experience... FOR
ME TO POOP ON!" --Donald Liebenson,
Amazon.com |
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Click
on a celebrity critter above to read more
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Triumph misbehaves at the MTV
2001 Video Awards
Triumph propositioned Jennifer Lopez by asking to
sniff her butt:
"J. Lo, J. Lo -- Please, J. Lo, please let me
sniff your butt. Come on! J. Lo! I don't get it, J.
Lo. It -- she doesn't understand. For a dog, it's
like climbing Mt. Everest."
Shortly afterwards, Triumph answered press questions:
"I don't know if you saw it, but I was up there
and I feel a little guilty. I -- I used MTV's offer
as a means of trying to sniff J. Lo's butt. And as
you could see, I didn't get the opportunity. I can
only continue to imagine the aroma -- Which I imagine
to be pungent, yet sweet."
One reporter asked, "You did not smell J. Lo's
butt, but I noticed that she said something to you
when she pushed you away. I'm just wondering what
J. Lo said to you."
Triumph answered, "It was a Spanish curse. It's
a language I don't understand, but I could tell that
it was vulgar. No, she was very nice. Honestly, J.
Lo rules. Her butt rules. Let's face it, it's all
about the butt. I mean, have you heard her album?
I think -- I think her butt actually sings on it!"
For a transcript to everything that transpired,
including slags at NSYNC, Jessica Simpson, and others...
click
HERE.
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