Not that we need any more reason to tune into Conan O’Brien every night, but now there’s news that Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was at the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee this weekend — mainly to do four live sets, but more importantly (for us) to film his first segment since Conan moved to “The Tonight Show.” And I haven’t seen any of it, but I’m guessing that dirty hippies are in Triumph’s wheelhouse.
He also appeared, in character, at a backstage press conference, where Triumph sat on a folding chair with [Robert] Smigel operating him, shrouded behind a black cloth. He offered pithy observations about the festival like: “They’ve got more stages than syphilis.” About one Bonnaroo act, the now middle-aged Beastie Boys, he said: “They’re a little more like the Pep Boys logo.”
More serious musicians sharing the press conference stage with Smigel and Triumph — Elvis Perkins, Tift Merritt and Alejandro Escovedo — had to take their licks. When the moderator suggested they weren’t accustomed to sharing a panel with a dog, Triumph protested that that was no way to talk about (the very attractive) Merritt. [AP/SF Chronicle]
That’s right, not only am I writing about the return of Triumph to late night TV, but I’m doing it because the AP saw fit to make it a story. Think about the impact of a late-night puppet character being national news. Now fast forward to three or four months from now. Who’s gonna give a f-ck when “Jaywalking” comes back?
(Side note: Triumph’s Star Wars fan report gets the most love, but my favorite is him doing the weather for a local affiliate in Hawaii.)
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Will this air tonight then?
/don’t you forget to eat your Filet-O-Fish
I wish I wasn’t 124 years old, then I might know what Bonnaroo was. But it looks like it involves a lot of hippies so I guess I don’t care anyway.
** goes back to tying fly fishing hooks while smoking a pipe**
Bonnaroo used to involve a lot of hippies, but has changed its overall line-up in the past few years to bring a wide array of talent. The second year I went the headliners were Tool, The Police, and WSP. THis year though, I’m sure the hippies flooded back into Manchester with Phish playing two nights. Best show I ever saw there though were Pearl Jam, Mastodon, and Clutch. Oh, and Zach Galifianakis’ stand-up.
Bonnaroo is a great time, if you can look past all the hippies and 3-4 days of being absurdly filthy (in true nerd fashion, my biggest problem the whole time was allergies from the insane amount of dust).
As for Triumph, the Star Wars bit was probably his best but I can’t ever remember laughing harder than his first time at the Westminster Dog Show. That put Triumph on the map.
I saw the first live set. It was amazing!!!!!
He did film it and it will be on the Bonnaroo DVD. I was near the front back six rows. He made alot of jokes about Conan and made it very clear he was there with Conans crew.
One of my favorites was when he pulled out a doggy bong, that was supposed to have a sound affect. That didn’t work. and he immediately went to, “Yes folks, Conan’s prop department still sucks an hour earlier in case you were wondering.”
Also joining him for a special finale was the mastrabating bear. Yes I said it, live and in all its glory the mastrabating bear may make a return to late night tv. In fact smigel brought out most of the tv funhouse charachters for a finale involving the mastrabating bear in a song decrying the fact TN passed an anti bestiality law in 2007. He wants it repealed.
He was realy hard on Phish and NIN of course not hard on Bruce springsteen. He should have been. Bruce sucked and drew mostly the over 30 crowd which isn’t the majority at Bonnaroo. He was a terrible fit to Bonnaroo and drew mostly headlines not fans.