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THE DOONESBONUS
30 years of cartoons, 60 minutes of trivia
The early years
- The first Doonesbury strip was published on October 26, 1970. Who was the first character readers encountered?
B.D., waiting to meet roommate Mike
- Before syndication by UPI, a "proto-Doonesbury" strip by Gary Trudeau appeared in the Yale daily paper. What was it called?
Bull Tales
The early Doonesbury books were titled with a quote from one of the characters in the book. For the following books, who is being quoted, and to whom (if anyone) are they speaking?
- Ask For May, Settle For June
JJ, to Joanie
- Wouldn't A Gremlin Have Been More Sensible?
Ginny, to Clyde
- We're Eating More Beets!
USA Today
- Call Me When You Find America
Zonker, to Mike and Mark
- In Search Of Reagan's Brain
Roland Hedley
Character Basics
Identify the following characters:
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Phred the Terrorist
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(Rufus, Mike's student
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Ray, B.D.'s army pal
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Ellie
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Lava Lava Lennie
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Elmont
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Zipper
- Doonesbury charcters are generally human, with a few notable exceptions. Who and what are the non-human characters in the strip?
Mr Jay - a joint
Mr Butts - a cigarette
Miss Nicky - nicotine gum
Joe Camel - a camel
Character Details
Doonesbury characters tend to have held a multitude of careers over the years. Below we give sets of jobs that a character has held (not comprehensive). You have to name the character.
- Drug dealer, US House candidate, Cookie mogul
Clyde
- Preschool teacher, DA (that's District Attorney, not Daily Advisor)
Joanie
- Professional tanner, Lt. Governor of Samoa, Nanny
Zonker
- Computer Programmer, Construction Worker, Activist
Mark
- Speaking of multiple careers, Duke's had a lot of careers, more than we care to count. Circle the jobs he really has had (in the strip), cross out the fakes:
- Duke ran for president in 2000 on a platform of Compassionate Fascism. Who was his running mate, and who did he favor for secretary of housing?
Kathy Lee Gifford, Martha Stewart
- What's Zonker's real first name?
Edgar. We learn it when he graduates from Walden.
- Two major characters have died in the 30 years of the strip. Name them and their causes of death.
Andy - AIDS. Dick - heart attack.
- We meet Kim much earlier than Mike does. When do we meet her and why is she important?
In the mid-1970s - she's the last war orphan out of Vietnam. We meet her again, briefly, as she's finishing high-school and kicking ass on standardized tests.)
- Who does Boopsie primarily channel for?
Hunk-Ra, an ancient, very handsome warrior.
- We never get to see BD without a helmet on. (He claims he has bad hair.) Over the course of the strip we've seen him in seven different helmets:
- LA Rams
3
- LAPD motorcycle helmet
6
- gulf war combat helmet
4
- Walden football helmet
1
- riot helmet
5
- Vietnam combat helmet
2
- Walden football helmet
7
But not in this order. Put (label) BD's helmets in the proper chronological order.
Icons Of Our Times
Several prominent politicians have appeared in Doonesbury represented by icons. For each world leader, describe, or draw, the icon by which they are represented in the strip:
- George Bush
asterisk or blip
- Pat Buchanan
swastika
- Bill Clinton
waffle
- Dan Quayle
feather
- Newt Gingrich
bomb
- George W. Bush
blip with cowboy hat
- Before the Clinton icon was finalized, readers were given a chance to vote on two possibilities. What icon for Clinton didn't make the cut?
A flipping coin
- In a series on the NRA, Gingrich is portrayed with a slight change to his icon. What does the changed icon represent?
A pipe bomb - the debate was about traceability of explosives in the wake of the Oklahoma bombing.
Plotlines
- Mike and Kim start a dot.com business together when Mike leaves Bernie's Byte Shack. What's the name of the business, and why does it fail so catastrophically?
Mikim. It dies an ugly death when Microsoft releases a competitive piece of software for free.
- Give a concise business plan for myVulture.com, Mike and Kim's new venture.
They buy the inventory of defunct dot.coms and sell it online.
BONUS: What is the origin of the business plan?
- How does Zonker become Lord Zonker?
He buys a title from a peerage broker for $17,000. The money comes from his lottery winnings. Extra bonus points for his complete title.
BONUS: What is his complete title?
Doonesbury is, at heart, a strip about relationships. What's the connection between the following pairs of characters - i.e., how/where did they meet?:
- Mike and B.D.
college roommates
- Joanie and Ginny
law school roommates
- JJ and Jeff
half-siblings
- Zonker and Alex
he was her nanny
- Mark and Neil
Neil was Mark's imaginary boyfriend
- Duke and Alice
Alice loans Duke money to make a movie about John Delorean
Doonesbury and Real Life
- Who's Barry Svigals?
He was GBT's college roommate. He is often mentioned in the strip as a reader who's written in.
- What real-life celebrity is Uncle Duke based on? Describe the relationship between this celeb and Trudeau.
Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson has publicly threatened Trudeau's life on several occasions.
- Gary Trudeau won a Pulitzer in 1975 for cartooning. What was his reaction to the award?
He co-signed a resolution that the Pulitzer never again be awarded to the writer of a strip cartoon.
- What was "The Doonesbury Bill", passed in Palm Beach in the mid-eighties?
A bill revoking a law that required domestic servants to carry ID cards. GBT reported on the law in the strip and outraged legislators introduced the bill as a result of his strips.
- Gary Trudeau took a sabbatical from the strip in 1983 until late 1984. The Wisconsin state legislature declared a state of emergency and issued a public appeal for people to remain calm in the face of this emergency. What project did he take on during this time off?
He wrote Doonesbury - The Musical.
- GBT got into an awful lot of trouble for publishing a phone number, which character Ron Headrest recommended kids call for safe sex information. For what was this actually the number?
It was the phone number for the Reagan White House press office. Marlin Fitzwater received thousands of calls and eventually retaliated by giving callers the number of GBT's publisher
BONUS: GBT once published another phone number, which resulted in his being sued for campaign finance law violations. To whom did this number belong?
Jerry Brown's campaign contribution HQ
- What's the connection between character Jimmy Thudpucker and guitarist Steve "The Colonel" Cropper?
Cropper orchestrated the CD that Thudpucker, in real life, released.
- GBT satirized Al Gore during his first presidential campaign, calling him "The Prince", a reference to his upbringing as a Senator's son. How did Gore react?
He sent GBT a Jack Daniel's baseball cap, a bottle of champagne and a note signed "The Prince".
- Which character has appeared on Larry King Live?
Duke, as part of his 2000 presidential campaign.
- Which character received a law degree from Berkeley's Boalt Hall?
Joanie. GBT was the graduation speaker.
The Contemporary Doonesbury
What is the current career/situation for the following characters?
- Mike Doonesbury
- Roland Hedly
- Barbara Ann Boopstein (Boopsie)
- B.D.
- JJ
Fill in the punchlines:
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That's GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!
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FLAWED! FLAWED! FLAWED! FLAWED!
- Describe the final panel of this famous comic (which many newspapers refused to run.)
Joanie and Rick in bed together, Joanie's head on Rick's chest.
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his weight in fine, uncut Turkish hashish.