A very funny guy -- really. Among other things he's the voice behind Triumph, the Insult-Comic Dog, a repeating character on the Conan O'Brien show. Outrageously funny.
"The 38-year-old Smigel, who spent eight years on the ``SNL'' writing staff until he became the first head writer and a producer for ``Conan,'' says he was daunted by the prospect of imitating Clinton when he first did it on O'Brien's second show five years ago. What made it worse was the excellent Clinton impersonation by his late friend Phil Hartman, which Smigel admired. Still he successfully performed his already planned surreal and over-the-top impression of Clinton -- ``a Bruce Springsteen-from-the-South Hardy Boy.'' A New York native, Smigel lives in a Greenwich Village penthouse apartment with his wife, Michelle, and their 7-month-old son, Daniel. He thought about following his father into dentistry, attending a pre-dental program at Cornell University for two years before switching to communications at New York University. After winning a stand-up comic contest, he joined a comedy troupe in Chicago, where then ``SNL'' staffers Al Franken and Tom Davis saw the group and hired him as a writer for the show. Smigel helped O'Brien get his show started, but after two years, he says, it began to wear on him. When he proposed the animated segment to ``SNL'' executive producer Lorne Michaels, a deal was quickly made. And now he's beginning his third season of the cartoon gig. With the success of ``The Simpsons,'' ``King of the Hill'' and ``South Park,'' Smigel knows he's benefiting from the fact that cartoons for grown-ups are bigger than ever. And he thinks it could have happened sooner -- if networks had been willing to take the chance. ``I think everybody's sort of behind the curve. I think it's something that could have worked years ago,'' he says. ``I remember the audience response for Mr. Bill (in the early years of `SNL') was unlike any other part of the show. As popular as other parts were, I'll never forget how people reacted to Mr. Bill and that whole visceral chopping of a kiddie icon. It seems like people have been ready for this thing for years.''