Fictional Character Biography
Unlike many of the other parodied and fictional celebrities in the strip, who are often portrayed as shallow and conceited, Jimmy is essentially a good person. He is very moral and not afraid to turn down money for what he feels is right. He even wrote a song about Doonesbury character Ginny Slade to help her raise money for her campaign for free, because he agreed with her politics. Jimmy is also extremely devoted to his fans.
Jimmy expatriated to Vietnam during the 1990s, and became the number one act in the country. While there he performed in a benefit organized by Kim Rosenthal to help the poorly paid workers at a Nike plant. He has since returned to America.
Jimmy's biggest fault seems to be his habit of "reinventing" himself, often switching musical genres on a whim. When he does so he changes his name to match his new style; he became Jimmy Ray Thudpucker to perform country music, MC Jimmy to perform rap music, Jimmy T. to record a Christmas album, and James R. Thudpucker III to make an album of standards.
Jimmy supports file sharing, and firmly believes that in the future artists will make a modest living by touring because the recording industry will collapse and all music will be free. He has released all of his own music on the internet, to be freely shared, emulating the real world practice of Janis Ian (who has seen sales of her music radically rise after making her songs freely available on her website). As of January 2009, he has branched out into recording and selling ringtones. In February 2010, he visited Afghanistan with the USO show. On the return journey his helicopter was accidentally shot down by Jeff Redfern (who was on duty for the CIA). However, Jimmy and the other helicopter passengers survived unharmed.
Read more about this topic: Jimmy Thudpucker
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