Robert Smigel

Early life

Robert Smigel, who is Jewish and spent summers at Jewish camp, was born in New York City to Lucia and Irwin Smigel—an aesthetic dentist, innovator, and philanthropist. He initially studied pre-dental at Cornell University before earning a political science degree from NYU's College of Arts and Science in 1983. His comedy training began at Chicago's Players Workshop under Josephine Forsberg, where he met fellow student Bob Odenkirk. Smigel also performed with the Chicago troupe "All You Can Eat" in the early 1980s.

Career

Smigel joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live when Lorne Michaels returned as executive producer for the 1985–1986 season, after producers Al Franken and Tom Davis saw him in a Chicago sketch show. He was among the few writers retained after a purge following the disappointing 1985–1986 season, and then wrote more memorable sketches, including one where host William Shatner urged Star Trek convention attendees to "get a life." Though rarely on screen, Smigel was credited as a featured player in the early 1990s and played a recurring character in the Bill Swerski's Superfans sketches.

During a writers' strike after the 1987–88 season, he wrote for the Chicago improvisational comedy revue Happy Happy Good Show with fellow SNL writers Bob Odenkirk and Conan O'Brien. Smigel co-wrote the pilot Lookwell with Conan O'Brien for NBC; it never went to series but became a cult hit. He later became the first head writer at Late Night with Conan O'Brien, creating comedy bits including one where he performed only the lips of public figures superimposed on photos, a technique pioneered on the Clutch Cargo cartoon series known as Syncro-Vox.

In 1996, Smigel wrote and performed on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show, where he debuted his first cartoon The Ambiguously Gay Duo. After the show's cancellation, he developed more cartoon ideas and began airing them on Saturday Night Live under the TV Funhouse banner. His most famous creation, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a foul-mouthed puppet who mocks celebrities in the style of a Borscht Belt comedian, debuted on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in February 1997.

Personal life

Smigel met his wife, Michelle Saks, when she worked as a lighting technician for the theater in Chicago where he performed with the comedy troupe "All You Can Eat and the Temple of Dooom." They have three children together. Smigel and Saks serve on the board of NEXT for AUTISM, formerly New York Collaborates for Autism, a non-profit founded in 2003. Their eldest child has autism. Smigel created the Night of Too Many Stars, a biannual celebrity fundraiser for autism education, and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program for the 2012 broadcast at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards.