Triumph the insult dog explains how he saw the fall of the DNC chairwoman coming
In an interview for the puppet's last election special on Hulu, Triumph interviewed Schultz about her favoring of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.
In July, DNC emails were hacked and released publicly, showing top staffers considering leaking negative information about Sanders. Schultz resigned from her position.
For Robert Smigel, the puppeteer and voice of Triumph, the apparently prophetic interview with Schultz was just the result of good research.
"It was before the leak, but it was a fairly common criticism of Debbie Wasserman Schultz," he told Business Insider this week. "If you're going to talk to Debbie Wasserman Schultz at the time, it seemed like that's what we had to ask her about."
What really felt unique to Smigel was that Schultz was a fan of Triumph, which resulted in a fairly lighthearted interview and, later, a huge save for the production.
"It's funny, sometimes they're just fans," he said. "And sometimes that's a problem, because you want to be a troublemaker. But other times it's great, because you get access that you wouldn't normally get. She really wanted to talk to Triumph. As a matter of fact, our cameraman checked in late to the debate and Debbie Wasserman Schultz's people went out of their way to get him in. As the debate was starting. I was, like, 'Is this really happening?'"
Smigel told us he's more used to being thrown out of places when he arrives with Triumph.
"I feel bad, because I was very grateful for all the access and all the candor when we had that video," he said. "I hesitated momentarily and then thought, 'This is silly, this isn't about you, this is about the character.' And it turns out what the character would do is put fusilli pasta on his head and confront the Bernie Sanders people. It's like 'Hillary needs me'-type stuff."
Watch the trailer for Triumph's new election special, which features the Schultz gag, below: