Tonight’s live Comedy Central special, “Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education,” is truly packed with so many stars – including Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell and host Jon Stewart – that we asked someone deeply involved in the production for his perspective on the night’s star-studded roster: Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.

“You’re asking me to give you dirt, aren’t you?” says the sarcastic pooch. “I know the New York Post. I read your paper every day. It’s very absorbent.”

We waited for more juicy hilarious morsels to follow, but, alas, they did not come. Triumph’s creator and voice, veteran “SNL” and “Conan O’Brien” writer Robert Smigel, is an executive producer (along with Stewart) of tonight’s massive Beacon Theatre event, and is handling much of the coordination and writing for the evening. He’s a bit frazzled.

Plus, having Triumph dish dirt on Smigel’s longtime pals can put the writer in a weird position.

“It’s always awkward for Triumph at these events,” says Smigel, back in natural voice. “Here I am inviting all my friends, and then I’m supposed to do Triumph, and Triumph’s supposed to make fun of the people he’s standing next to.”

Smigel conquered that problem at the last such event, in October 2006, with a song in which Triumph, backed by a fake version of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, trashed a slew of celebrities who were mostly not present.

Much of the humor that evening played off the bizarre traditions of celebrity telethons, such as the shameless begging for donations. Carell, for example, appealed to cats who had been left money by crazy old ladies by meowing at them while information about autism ran as subtitles.

Another bit featured Brian Williams reading fake news items with the names of people who donated money inserted into them, such as: “Pope Benedict met with the Dalai Lama this week. He’s the first pope to meet with a Buddhist leader since Pope Bob Johnson of Lincoln, Neb.”

Tonight, says Smigel, look for more of the same from Tom Brokaw.

While Smigel is focused on the comedy, the cause is never far from his mind. His 10-year-old son, Daniel, is severely autistic, and despite his showbiz clout, Smigel and his wife, Michelle, were unable to place Daniel in any of the city’s high-quality schools for autistic children, forcing them to move to New Jersey.

As such, “Night of Too Many Stars” seeks to raise money for educational programs, new schools and the training of qualified educators for autistic children. (The 2006 event raised more than $2.5 million.)

So if Smigel is a bit too harried to toss off clever Triumph one-liners on request, it’s understandable. Tonight, he’s a man with two missions – create the funniest event he can while raising as much money as possible.

“It’s hard enough to have a kid diagnosed with this. The idea of not being able to do everything you can as a parent is so painful,” he says. “Michelle and I are acutely aware of how fortunate we are to at least be doing everything we can for our son.”