Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is a stereotype of the male libido with an unquenchable sexual thirst and seemingly unlimited cache of comebacks, come-ons and put-downs to set gender equality back 50 years.
Lately, the dog — don’t call him a puppet — who coined the phrase “…for me to poop on” has been getting pooped on himself. Triumph, spawned from the talk show “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” hit Toronto two weeks ago along with O’Brien to film the show there.
During one segment, which was filmed in Quebec City, Triumph asked a passer-by, “So you’re French and Canadian, yes?” following with the insult “You’re obnoxious and dull.” This is but one mild example of the dog’s hijinks. A more extreme one might be Triumph telling the Québécois they ought to learn English since they live in North America.
Feb. 16, The New York Times reported: “Alexa McDonough, a member of Parliament from the social democratic New Democratic Party, demanded that the show return an estimated $750,000 it received in Canadian taxpayer’s promotional money for coming to Toronto.”
For those who remain unfazed by the remarks of that cigar-smoking dog, you might want to try sampling his album “Come Poop with Me.” It is nothing less than a singing, dancing, comedy glimpse into the dog’s soul. Part of the fun of this release is how far the production team (including executive producer Adam Sandler) went into exploring the character of Triumph. This is evident in the extensive liner notes written by MTV’s Kurt Loder.
Those who have seen Triumph on “Late Night” will consider such segments in a new light after spinning “Come Poop with Me” on your CD and movie players. Comparatively, those appearances on O’Brien’s show are tame.
The album is a two-disc set, containing one CD and one DVD. The DVD portion contains 12 different sketches, featuring guests such as Jared “Subway” Fogle, Janeane Garofalo and “Blackwolf the Dragonmaster.” The album contains many of the same songs and sketches on the DVD, but adds different tracks, including the brilliant “You Have To Work Blue.” This track begins with Triumph whimsically explaining, “I don’t apologize for my comedy. I don’t apologize for it. It harks back to a time of innocence.” However, following the French Canadian debacle, O’Brien apologized for Triumph’s words Feb. 17.
In tracks such as “Benji’s Queer,” Triumph’s latent liberalism is not well-hidden. Commenting on the breath of a man in the audience during a DVD segment called “Sense of Smell,” he says, “Don’t worry about it my friend — we all poop on both sides of the street these days.”
The highlight of the album is clearly the all-star sing-along “Together in Pooping,” which features Maya Rudolph, Conan O’Brien, Adam Sandler, Jack Black, Horatio Sanz and of course Triumph. The performers begin singing verses, such as O’Brien’s “Pooping saves the world/Pooping helps the environment,” before all merge into a call and response finale that answers “Needs a little pooping” to lyrics such as “Every actor who tries to sing,” and “Shitty movies made from crap TV.” Most of the band from O’Brien’s TV show provides the music.
Obviously, this album will rub up against the edge of some listener’s comfort zones. Laughter often requires a suspension of judgment. Just how much suspension will determine how much enjoyment laughter is elicited from a given person.