Doonesbury Characters - Main Characters

Main Characters

• Mike Doonesbury (10/26/1970) - Former Walden College student and commune member, ex-advertising man and then co-founder of a software start-up; ex-husband of JJ, husband of Kim, dad to Alex. Originally from Tulsa.
• B.D. (10/26/70) - Husband of Boopsie. A reservist and veteran of Vietnam and both Gulf Wars, he lost a leg in Iraq. Known for his conservative views and (until 21 April 2004) wearing a series of helmets (originally football helmets, and later desert camouflage, riot gear, and California Highway Patrol). A running gag involves his name never being revealed; when his own future-wife queried him on his surname, he replied "D." The only hint as to his full name came in the Doonesbury musical, in which he's referred to as "B. John Downling." The character was originally inspired by Brian Dowling, the captain of Yale's football team in 1968.
• Mark Slackmeyer (11/19/70, unnamed until 11/30) - Former campus revolutionary turned radio commentator, and one of several openly gay characters in the strip.
• Zonker Harris (9/21/71) - Stereotypical hippie and founder of the Walden Commune, during college he was also a football player, briefly Lieutenant Governor of American Samoa, and a professional tanner. After graduation he went to Haiti to study medicine, won $23 million in the lottery, and spent most of it to buy his Uncle Duke out of zombie slavery and the remainder to become an ennobled British lord. Also works occasionally as a nanny. After his campaign to enable public access to some of California's beaches, a beach access road in Malibu was named in his honor. He now works at McFriendly's.
• Joanie Caucus (9/10/72) - Ex-housewife and "libbie" who left her first husband Clinton Caucus and daughter J.J. to join Mike and Mark "on the road" in Colorado, went to law school, and worked with Mike on the John Anderson campaign, was chief of staff to Congresswoman Lacey Davenport, and worked in the Clinton Justice Department. She lived with and eventually married journalist Rick Redfern, with whom she had a child, Jeff.
• Rick Redfern - Husband to Joanie and father to Jeff. Used to be a reporter for The Washington Post before being laid off. Generally portrayed as very weary/phlegmatic and somewhat clueless as a father. The character is based on Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward as he was portrayed by Robert Redford in All the President's Men.
• J.J. Caucus (possibly 4/22/73, as a child, unnamed until 9/10/79) - Daughter of Joanie (JJ is 'Joan Junior'). She was originally engaged to Zeke, but married Mike, left Mike for Zeke, and later won a MacArthur Fellowship (but still doesn't know that she was nominated by Mike, who did so in the hope that her winning would relieve him of paying alimony). Performance artist. Mother of Alex Doonesbury. Uninvited and reluctant attendee of her ex-husband's wedding to Kim (on the grounds that the barge which she and Zeke were using to transport a commissioned piece got lost in the Puget Sound fog and run down by the cruiser on which the reception was being held; she and Zeke were picked up by the wedding party but not made welcome). Refused to attend her daughter's wedding (when Alex refused to let her turn it into another performance art piece and banned Zeke from attending), but attended secretly disguised as a bartender (not that anyone was fooled).
• Zeke Brenner (heard 7/24/77, appears 6/25/79) - Former caretaker for Duke's house and responsible for it burning down. He married JJ on the second try. Despised by his wife's daughter Alex, who refers to him as "Uncle Stupidhead." Zeke doesn't really like Alex either. Recently increased Alex's dislike of him by his hitting on her best friend Drew. Still does not hold a job. Also secretly attended Alex's wedding disguised as a bartender.
• Kim Rosenthal (5/5/75) - Jewish-raised Vietnamese orphan (the "last orphan out of Vietnam"), geek and Mike's second wife. Dropped out of a program towards a Doctorate in Computer Science at MIT because it was "too easy".
• Alex Doonesbury (born 11/30/88, named 8/9/89) - Daughter of Mike and J.J. who lived with her father and Kim, before attending and graduating from MIT. A techie, Alex bonded with Kim over the computer and holds several patents. More or less a liberal foil for her more moderate father. She met Toggle on line (3/21/2009) but B.D., who knew both, facilitated their meeting (4/6/2009). The two hit it off and began dating. They got engaged in early March 2012 and married in June (sequence 6/11 - 6/22/2012).
• Toggle (real name Leo DeLuca) - a veteran of the Iraq war. Toggle, a young heavy metal fan, was wounded in an ambush while serving as Ray Hightower's driver, and has returned home with expressive aphasia and a loss of sight in one eye. B.D., his former commanding officer, often checks in to see how he is doing. He juggles music studies with working as an engineer in a recording studio. While recovering from his injuries, Toggle met Alex Doonesbury through Facebook. The two hit it off and began dating. They got engaged in early March 2012 and married in June (sequence 6/11 - 6/22/2012).
• Jimmy Thudpucker (mentioned 9/23/75, appears 9/25/75) - Overnight success as a rock star at 19. Later caught politics and moved to Vietnam. Modelled partially on a combination of Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and John Denver.
• Barbara Ann "Boopsie" Boopstein (9/15/71, as "Boopsy")- Cheerleader turned actress, model, New Age channeler, and generic starlet. She is married to B.D.; they have a daughter named Sam.
• Zipper Harris (9/7/98) - Zonker's nephew and current Walden undergraduate; his roommate was Jeff Redfern.
• Nguyen van Phred (2/16/72)- "Phred" for short. The Viet Cong "terrorist" who became friends with B.D. when B.D. was deployed to Vietnam and got lost and captured by Phred while out on patrol; later Vietnamese delegate to the United Nations, last seen working for Nike in Vietnam.
• Roland Burton Hedley, III (mentioned 3/4/74, appears 3/5/74) - Former print journalist (to use that term generously), moved to television and then the Internet. Currently working for Fox News.
• Jeff Redfern (born 12/31/82, appears 1/1/83) - Joanie and Rick's son. Jeff graduated from Walden (and stopped rooming with Zipper Harris), formerly worked for the Central Intelligence Agency with Havoc, and was in Afghanistan working for contractor Jack Overkill. Through social networking, Jeff established himself as the mysterious but fictional anti-Taliban fighter known as the "The Red Rascal". In early 2012, he received a seven-figure advance for his next two books, enabling him to purchase a 12-bedroom trophy mansion, but was evicted in October 2012 when he was unable to keep up the payments.
• Uncle Duke (mentioned 7/5/74, appears 7/8/74), "Uncle" of Zonker, former Rolling Stone writer, governor of American Samoa and ambassador to China, once the proconsul of Panama, former owner of "Club Scud" in Kuwait City, ex-orphanage manager (where he realized one of the orphans, Earl, was his illegitimate son), and former mayor of the fictional Al Amok, Iraq. He has also been a drug smuggler (and heavy user), an enemy of John Denver, manager of the Washington Redskins, toady to Donald Trump, and a zombie slave to ex-Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier. Currently works as a super-lobbyist for his son Earl's lobbying firm (which seems to specialize in representing dictators and tyrants); one of his biggest clients was Trff Bmzklfrpz, the now-former President-for-Life of the Republic of Berzerkistan. His character was initially based on Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson's pseudonymous self-portrait, Raoul Duke.
• Ching "Honey" Huan (1/22/76) - Duke's constant companion until 2006 when she grew disillusioned with him. - Inspired by Tang Wensheng (Mao's interpreter when meeting with Nixon) and partially Marcie of Peanuts.
• Mr. Butts (4/19/89) - A hallucinatory walking, talking cigarette - Represents the tobacco industry.
• Alice P. Schwarzman (8/24/73) and Elmont - Two homeless people, Alice first appeared as a garment worker who was a regular at a bar where Zonker was bartender. She later re-appeared as a homeless character and subsequently married Elmont, a deranged man, in order to move up the list for public housing. Rev. Sloan performed the ceremony. As the affluent Rep. Lacey Davenport became senile, she began to believe Alice was her deceased sister Pearl.
• The Rev. Scot Sloan (1/10/72) - Chaplain at Walden - Named for the Rev. William L. "Scotty" McLennan, Jr., Trudeau's undergraduate roommate, and the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Yale's chaplain when Trudeau attended.
• Sid Kibbitz - Sid first appeared in 1982 to help Duke and Alice Schwarzman produce a movie on the life of John DeLorean, and later became Boopsie's agent.
• President King (11/30/70) - 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.)