Review: Triumph’s Summer Election Special

For the price of an hour, you will learn why this election is important.

Some Spoilers Below

Political variety specials are all the rage right now. Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah, and more have all done politically-charged episodes, however the jokes levied by those very good comedians are usually aimed at Republican candidate Donald Trump. Really, no one has taken on both sides of the aisle with such vigor and fervor…until now.

Robert Smigel’s latest special featuring his handy pal “Triumph the Insult Comic Dog” makes sure that both Trump and Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton get it right up their respective asses like no other. As a matter of fact, the host of the “Summer Election Special” made sure to accentuate the notion that we are in fact picking between piss and shit and really Triumph couldn’t be more accurate. Look no further than the immense amount of time Triumph spends at both the Democratic and Republican rallies where extremes from both sides of the aisle, are in fact, directly out of there fucking mind. This premise is taken even further, when Triumph sets up a focus group that checks out phony Donald Trump commercials with ludicrous ideas, only for Trump followers to absolutely take everything they are fed and accept it without any argument.

Fortunately, Triumph has an esteemed guests panel featuring such noteworthy participants as Barney Frank, the Dragon Wizard kid, and the Dell Guy together with experts from both sides of the political spectrum and try to offer their respected takes on where the hell we are in this political journey all the while their host mauls through no less than 12 cigars. Speaking of the host, Rob Smigel is way more visible this special, though not all of that is his fault. In fairness, what are you supposed to do when a merch table rips off the head of a rare puppet and throws it on the ground?

Actually, the merch tables isn’t even the weirdest shit that goes on when Triumph hits the streets surrounding the local political conventions Rather, it’s the extra stuff that Triumph does that kills. While not as affluent nor cleanly executed as the Emmy-nominated effort, tanks with Trump’s name on the side coupled with fake Benjamin Franklins running around do enough to justify your attention and thus gives us a Summer Election special that the other big names in political comedy can really only dream about thanks to the restrictions of their networks’ standards & practices. I mean, there is NO friggin way Colbert would be able to get away with dunking shouting Muslims and political activists beating the shit out of a polar bear…not even close.

Rob Smigel knows which  buttons to press to make sure you remember that you are in fact watching a Hulu special and not simply a bit on television and that’s the beauty of it all. There was a time when Triumph the Insult Comic Dog would maybe only come up once every couple of years and that would be enough. Fortunately, 2016 is his hottest year, and I can’t wait to see what he does the rest of the election season.