Triumph the Insult Comic Dog thinks he was braver than CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, following the shooting at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Triumph, the dog puppet voiced by Saturday Night Live alum Robert Smigel, worked the red carpet on The Daily Show‘s behalf on Saturday, after which he told Stewart he deserved a “medal” for his “heroic” bravery in the face of the “traumatic event.”
Triumph dropped in on Monday’s show to share some of his red-carpet insights with Stewart, who used the conversation to call out adulatory media coverage of the event. “You got to admit, ‘hero’ is a little bit much,” Stewart told him.
That’s when Triumph singled out Blitzer, 78, who was photographed after the shots were fired, shaken and wearing just one shoe, in photos published by The Daily Mail. “Oh, so what? Wolf Blitzer’s a hero?” Triumph mocked, “Oh, he reported without one shoe.’ Seriously, man. I’m out there with my balls hanging out!”
Blitzer told CNN that he had “coincidentally” left the event area to find the restroom when shots rang out and came just “a few feet away” from the shooter.
“Of course, the first thing that went through my mind was whether he was going to shoot me,” the Situation Room anchor said. “All of a sudden, a guy with a weapon–and it was a very, very serious weapon—just starts shooting, and I happened to be a few feet away from him as he was shooting. The first thing that went through my mind was, ‘Is he trying to shoot me?’ And I don’t think he was trying to shoot me, but I was very close to him as the gunshots were fired.”
Blitzer hid out in the bathroom where he waited for the all clear without the shoe he’d lost after being rushed back inside. “At some point, the shooter went down, but they still kept us in the bathroom for about 25 minutes until they kicked us out of the event,” an eyewitness reported.
Stewart had Triumph’s help to roast the responses of some government officials, who, despite the evening’s harrowing events, have not expressed any interest in tackling gun accessibility.
“But you know, Triumph, I have to tell you the larger issue that we continue to have is gun violence and no effort to pass legislation to stop it,” he said. Interjected Triumph, “Jon, Jon, Jon, please don’t do this. Don’t politicize a political event.”
“I’m not politicizing it, Triumph,” Stewart said, “It is a fact. It is a fact that in America, another event is ruined by gun violence. And we’re lucky this time.” Triumph tried shushing him on the topic, prompting Stewart to go on. “No, I’m going to keep talking!”
“Jon—now is not the time,” Triumph insisted.
Stewart then asked if Triumph “wiped his feet” before the puppet quipped, “Yes. I used the same bathroom as Wolf Blitzer.”
