Portnoy is a character in Berke Breathed's comic strip Bloom County. Portnoy was one of the critters that could talk, and was often surly mouthed and bigoted, usually leading Hodge-Podge, his best friend, to have to cover his mouth. When Bill the Cat became a televangelist denouncing "penguin lust", Portnoy helped run Opus the penguin out of town. The character was named for Portnoy's Complaint, a novel about sexual frustration.
Portnoy changed physically over the years; sometimes into an entirely different animal. It was initially unknown what species he was; sometimes a squirrel, a possum, or a gopher. Finally he was revealed as a groundhog, which he had hidden because Hodge didn't associate with "pigs". Eventually the two made up.
Portnoy and Hodge enjoy human-like entertainment, such as strip bars and playing jokes on others (Portnoy once pretended to be stuffed).
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Famous quotes containing the word county:
“Don’t you know there are 200 temperance women in this county who control 200 votes. Why does a woman work for temperance? Because she’s tired of liftin’ that besotted mate of hers off the floor every Saturday night and puttin’ him on the sofa so he won’t catch cold. Tonight we’re for temperance. Help yourself to them cloves and chew them, chew them hard. We’re goin’ to that festival tonight smelling like a hot mince pie.”
—Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)