Triumph is back with insults, and Jack McBrayer

PASADENA, Calif. — Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was a frequent guest for Conan O'Brien. where his creator (and voice) Robert Smigel was once the head writer. Now he's got his own show on Adult Swim.

The Jack and Triumph Show, premiering Feb. 20 (11:30 p.m.), stars Triumph and Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) as the former stars of a Lassie-type series called Triumph's Boy who are reunited and become roommates in a gentle mocking of a laugh-track sitcom.

Now grown up, Jack and his mom (June Squibb) are surprised when Triumph shows up and moves in. "The premise is they're sort of has-beens; he's been out of show business all this time and wants back in," Smigel says, while McBrayer's character is well-adjusted in acting retirement.

But times have changed: "He's not running around trying to hurt people's feelings for 30 minutes," Smigel says. "It's such an odd experiment to try to put Triumph in an ensemble show, much less a multi-camera sitcom. We have a real concern that people are just going to look at the aesthetic and dismiss it." Instead, they're "jumping into a format and messing with it. There's going to be a learning curve for the audience."

Guest stars including Chris Meloni, Paul Rudd and Joey Fatone might help; some play buddies from Triumph's 1990s glory days. So might Adult Swim's guarantee of 20 episodes.

McBrayer's last go-round with Triumph came during a classic Conan remote segment in which Triumph leaps to his defense against abusive staffers at a Chicago hot-dog stand.

But McBrayer has also cozied up to puppets on Sesame Street and elsewhere. Why does he spend so much time with puppets? "Because I don't get along with people," he says.