Doonesbury

Doonesbury is a comic strip by Garry Trudeau, popular in the United States and other parts of the world. The title comes from the name of one of the main characters, Michael Doonesbury, a character Trudeau originally modeled after himself. The character's name is a combination of the word doone — 1960s prep school slang for "someone unafraid to appear foolish" — with the surname of the roommate who was given that nickname, Charles Pillsbury.

Other characters

• Honey Huan, Duke's constant companion - Inspired by Tang Wensheng (Mao's interpreter when meeting with Nixon) and partially Marcie of Peanuts.
• Lacey Davenport, Republican U.S. Congresswoman, now deceased - Heavily based on Millicent Fenwick.
• Phil Slackmeyer - Father of Mark. A wealthy, conservative, corporate businessman. He died in 2003.
• Doc Edgerton - Himself.
• Ron Headrest, computer-generated alter ego of President Reagan - Composite of Max Headroom and Ronald Reagan. A similar feature appeared in the film Back to the Future Part II.
• Rev. Scott Sloan, chaplain at Walden - Named for Rev. William "Scotty" McLennan, Jr., Trudeau's undergraduate roommate, and Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Yale's chaplain while Trudeau was there.
• President King, the president of Walden College - Based on Kingman Brewster, Jr., president of Yale when Trudeau was a student. (Indeed, the same character appeared in Bull Tales more directly as Brewster.)
• Mr. Butts, hallucinatory walking, talking cigarette - Represents Tobacco industry.
• Donald Trump, the greedy, rich man many would say he is in real life.
• Andy Lipincott - Joanie fell in love with him, but on a date, he revealed that he was gay. Was later diagnosed with and died of AIDS.
• Mini-D, the small man who sometimes pops out of Duke's head (via a flip-top scalp) when Duke is stoned. Based on "Mini-Me" from the Austin Powers movies.

In addition, many other minor characters have graced the series, serving a variety of functions from radio announcers to teenagers to waitstaff and with a wide range of ages and characteristics (male / female, young / old, gay / straight etc), often wryly commenting on social issues.

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