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Rob Smigel
Robert Smigel (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, producer, and puppeteer, known for his ''Saturday Night Live'' "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. He also co-wrote the first two ''Hotel Transylvania'' films and '' You Don't Mess with the Zohan'', all starring Adam Sandler. Early life Smigel was born in New York City, to Lucia and Irwin Smigel, an aesthetic dentist, innovator and philanthropist. He is Jewish and frequently went to Jewish summer camp. He attended Cornell University, studying pre-dental, and graduated from New York University in 1983 with a degree in political science. Smigel began developing his comedic talent at The Players Workshop in Chicago, where he studied improvisation with Josephine Forsberg. Bob Odenkirk was a fellow student there. Smigel was also a member of the Chicago comedy troupe "All You Can Eat" in the early 1980s. Career Smigel first establishe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triumph The Insult Comic Dog
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is a puppet character created, puppeteered and voiced by Robert Smigel. As his name indicates, Triumph's comedic style is almost exclusively insult comedy. A Montenegrin Mountain Hound, Triumph often puffs a cigar, which usually falls out of his mouth when he starts talking. He first appeared in 1997 on NBC's ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', and also appeared on ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' from time to time, as well as the short-lived ''TV Funhouse'', TBS's '' Conan'', Adult Swim's ''The Jack and Triumph Show'', and ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert''. Smigel and Triumph have been ejected from several events for Triumph's antics, including the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the Honolulu line for auditions for ''American Idol'', and the 2004 Democratic National Convention (while shooting an aborted movie project). Creation and debut Triumph was created by Robert Smigel in 1997 for a segment on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josephine Forsberg
Josephine Forsberg (January 28, 1921 – October 3, 2011) was an American comedian, teacher and author. Biography Josephine Forsberg, ex-wife of film director Rolf Forsberg, was hired by Paul Sills and Viola Spolin to join the original Second City in 1959 as the female understudy and Spolin's teaching assistant. She became an expert in improvisational techniques for the theater, and by the mid 1960s she had taken over most of Spolin's and Sills's classes, as well as Spolin's children's theater company. From that point on most of the young performers that wanted to go onto the Second City stage studied with Forsberg for at least a year. These included Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Betty Thomas, Shelley Long, George Wendt, David Mamet, and Robert Townsend. In 1971, Forsberg opened up an official school of improvisation called Players Workshop, hiring her nephew Martin de Maat and her daughter Linnea Forsberg to teach alongside her. In terms of accepting students who were not necessa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Night With Conan O'Brien
''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. ''Late Night'' aired weeknights at 12:37 am Eastern/11:37 pm Central and 12:37 am Mountain in the United States. From 1993 until 2000, Andy Richter served as O'Brien's sidekick; following his departure, O'Brien was the show's sole featured performer. The show's house musical act was The Max Weinberg 7 and led by E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg. The second incarnation of NBC's ''Late Night'' franchise, O'Brien's program debuted in 1993 after David Letterman (who hosted the first incarnation of ''Late Night'') moved to CBS to host '' Late Show'' opposite ''The Tonight Show''. In 2004, as part of a deal to secure a new contract, NBC announced that O'Brien would leave ''Late Night'' in 2009 to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lookwell
''Lookwell'' was a television pilot written and produced by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel, the latter of whom would become a primary creative voice for O'Brien's late night show. It starred Adam West. Despite being a "personal favorite" of NBC chairman Brandon Tartikoff (who had left that position by the time the pilot aired and was replaced by Warren Littlefield), the pilot was not picked up as a series. It was broadcast on NBC on July 28, 1991, in a summer weekend timeslot reserved for burning off pilots which the network had passed on. The pilot has since become a cult classic. Plot A washed-up TV action hero—who at the peak of his career was ceremonially deputized by local law enforcement—falsely believes he can solve crimes in real life. His student Jason (played by Todd Field) becomes his sidekick. Cast * Adam West as Ty Lookwell *Todd Field as Jason *Ron Frazier as Detective Kennery *Ann Weldon as Hyacinth * Bart Braverman as Alberti * Deborah Richter as Miss Roy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Happy Happy Good Show
''Happy Happy Good Show'' was an improvisational comedy revue held at the Victory Gardens Studio Theater in Chicago during the summer of 1988. The cast and writers were largely made up of writers on strike from ''Saturday Night Live'' after the 1987–1988 season. The show is most notable for showcasing the performance talents of Bob Odenkirk, Robert Smigel, and Conan O'Brien, as the three had previously only showcased their writing talents. The revue was directed by Mark Nutter. Video clips of ''Happy Happy Good Show'' were shown on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' in 2006, when the program was taped for a week in Chicago. Cast * Conan O'Brien * Bob Odenkirk * Robert Smigel * Rose Abdoo * Hugh Callaly * Debby Jennings * Dave Reynolds * Jill Talley * with Joe E. Dale Reviews A review of the show in the ''Chicago Tribune'' was fairly negative, stating that "most of the skits in this show fall flat, underdeveloped and incomplete, little more, really, than blueprint works-in-progre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (1993–2009) and ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' (2009–2010) on the NBC television network, and '' Conan'' (2010–2021) on the cable channel TBS. Before his hosting career, he was a writer for ''Saturday Night Live'' (1988–1991) and ''The Simpsons'' (1991–1993). He has also been host of the podcast series ''Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend'' since 2018 and is expected to launch a new show on HBO Max. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, O'Brien was raised in an Irish Catholic family. He served as president of ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series ''Not Necessarily the News''. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of ''Sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Improvisational Comedy
Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script. Improvisational theatre exists in performance as a range of styles of improvisational comedy as well as some non-comedic theatrical performances. It is sometimes used in film and television, both to develop characters and scripts and occasionally as part of the final product. Improvisational techniques are often used extensively in drama programs to train actors for stage, film, and television and can be an important part of the rehearsal process. However, the skills and processes of improvisation are also used outside the context of performing arts. This practice, known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Swerski's Superfans
"Bill Swerski's Superfans" was a recurring sketch about Chicago sports fans on the American sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live''. It was a prominent feature from 1991 to 1992, and its characters have made various other appearances since its inception. The sketch is notable as a media portrayal of the Inland North dialect of American English that predominates in Chicago, most famously through the distinctive pronunciation of the phrase "Da Bears" (IPA: ). Background Shortly after Robert Smigel moved from New York to Chicago in 1983 to start his career in comedy, he made his first visit to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play. He noticed a prevalence of large men who wore walrus mustaches and aviator sunglasses, a look similar to Mike Ditka, who had been hired to coach the city's NFL team, the Chicago Bears, the year before. "There was just a swagger among these very virile-looking men", he recalled. "All sports fans kind of have it." In the following years, that swagger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into various films, television series, video games, novels, and comic books. With an estimated $10.6 billion in revenue, it is one of the most recognizable and highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The franchise began with ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', which debuted in the US on September 8, 1966 and aired for three seasons on NBC. It was first broadcast on September 6, 1966 on Canada's CTV network. It followed the voyages of the crew of the starship USS ''Enterprise'', a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century, on a mission "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before". In creating ''Star Trek'', Roddenberry w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Shatner
William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), ''Enterprise'' in the Where No Man Has Gone Before, second pilot of the Star Trek: The Original Series, first ''Star Trek'' television series to his final appearance as Captain Kirk in the seventh ''Star Trek'' feature film, ''Star Trek Generations'' (1994). Shatner began his screen acting career in Canadian films and television productions before moving into guest-starring roles in various US television shows. He appeared as James Kirk in all the episodes of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', 21 of the 22 episodes of ''Star Trek: The Animated Series'', and the first seven List of Star Trek films, ''Star Trek'' movies. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences before, during and after his time in a Starfl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was the president of NBC from 1981 to 1991. He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as ''Hill Street Blues'', ''L.A. Law'', ''Law & Order'', '' ALF'', ''Family Ties'', ''The Cosby Show'', ''Cheers'', ''Seinfeld'', ''The Golden Girls'', ''Wings'', ''Miami Vice'', ''Knight Rider'', ''The A-Team'', ''Saved by the Bell'', ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', '' St. Elsewhere'', and ''Night Court''. Tartikoff also helped develop the 1984 sitcom ''Punky Brewster''; he named the title character after a girl he had a crush on in school. He was also involved in the creation of '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' and '' Beggars and Choosers''. Biography Early life and career Born to a Jewish family in Freeport, New York, Tartikoff was a graduate of the Lawrenceville School and Yale University, where he contributed to campus humor magazine ''The Yale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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