Zonker Harris

Last updated
Zonker Harris
Zonkerharris.jpg
Publication information
Publisher Universal Press Syndicate
Created by Garry Trudeau

Zonker Harris (his full name is revealed in Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy to be Edgar Zonker Harris) is the stereotypical unfocused confused hippie character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury . He made his first appearance as a perennial pot-smoking pest plaguing B.D.'s football team in 1971. He moved with Mike, B.D., and the gang to a rural commune (named Walden in homage to Thoreau's 19th century idyll).

Contents

Family

Zonker's family consists of his mother, father, "Uncle" Duke, his nephew Zipper, and his sister, Louise. His mother and father have a habit of fighting, which leads to the mother leaving for a short time to clear her head (but always returning in time to water the plants). Whenever this happens, Zonker's father becomes upset and visits Zonker, within minutes of the argument. Although Zonker's sister never appears in the series, she is the mother of Zipper Harris, Zonker's nephew.

Zonker's ancestors from Colonial America are mentioned several times in the series. Nathan Harris was a minuteman (who could literally be ready in one minute) as well as an activist for civil rights and was responsible for "freeing" a nearby slave (who was under the impression that they were in Virginia, where slavery was still legal. They were, in fact, in Massachusetts). Nathan's wife, Amy Harris, was equally revolutionary, fighting for women's equality in the Constitution and taking up an apprenticeship with Paul Revere to become a silversmith. Neither cause worked out very well however, as men weren't interested in women's civil rights and she was unable to even cast simple pewter tankards. She quits her apprenticeship when Nathan assures her that he needs her as a companion and equal as well as a wife.

History

While at Walden Commune, Zonker spent most of his time watching TV, getting high, and swimming around in a minuscule body of water called "Walden Puddle", which he considered to be a sacred and holy place. In his early years in the strip, Zonker had the ability to talk to plants. (Mike also talked to the plants during Zonker's stint as Lieutenant Governor of American Samoa.) In later stories, Zonker appeared to lose this ability, but it has sprung back up occasionally, and he has been seen conversing with a marijuana plant, and a scrawny Christmas tree in recent years. Other than these few exceptions, this power seems to have left him, and he misses it terribly. When wondering out loud why he had it in the first place, he was told "It was the drugs, man". Ironically, it was a plant that informed him of this.

Zonker is habitually unemployed, and is very protective of his slacker lifestyle. He has taken on temporary jobs as a bartender and a postman, but always leaves these careers as soon as he gets bored with them. The only "work" to which he has shown any diligence is acquiring a suntan. Throughout the 1980s, he spent more and more of his time trying to develop "the perfect tan", and even became a celebrity (on par with a professional athlete) for his accomplishments, with George Hamilton as his idol. Eventually he wised up to the damage the sun was doing to his skin, and has since appeared in public service announcements about sun safety.

After his graduation from Walden, Zonker eventually enrolled in "The Baby Doc College of Physicians" (which was run by Uncle Duke, an old family friend). However, he dropped out after winning $23 million from a lottery ticket. Shortly afterward, he had to spend most of it on saving Duke from being a zombified slave, but had enough left over to buy a British title (His Lordship the Viscount St. Austell-in-the-Moor Biggleswade-Brixham), which caused him to be called to England as a tie-breaker for a vote in the House of Lords over one of Margaret Thatcher's tax bills. He stayed at another lord's castle for several months, oblivious to many not-so-subtle hints to leave, and was eventually forcibly removed by a butler. He ended up as a live-in nanny for Mike and J.J. Doonesbury (who kicked him out in the early 1990s).

Lifestyle

Zonker spent several years as a live-in babysitter for B.D. and Boopsie's daughter Samantha in Connecticut. As they live on the former Walden Commune, Zonker was reunited with his beloved puddle. He contributed to the household by working at McFriendly's, apparently a portmanteau of McDonald's and Friendly's restaurants.

In 2012, with the legalization of marijuana in Colorado, Zonker and his nephew Zipper began to conceive a plan to move to Boulder and start a marijuana farm. They did this in early 2014. [1] [2] [3]

The Zonker Harris Access Way in Malibu, CA Zonker Harris Access Way.jpg
The Zonker Harris Access Way in Malibu, CA

Occasionally he travels back to his birthplace of California to commune with "Old Surfer Dude", an elderly man who preaches the virtues of the surfer lifestyle in a style reminiscent of both a kung fu master and Yoda. He has been in conflict for many years with David Geffen for denying the public access to his beaches, in conflict with California law. Geffen finally relented in 2005. There is an access way in Malibu named after Zonker. [4]

Zonker is entirely uninterested in sex and romance and has never pursued a romantic relationship. He claims that this is because his heart was broken by a girl when he was ten years old, and that this convinced him that love wasn't worth the trouble.

Zonker often supports political causes that are out of the mainstream. Zonker voted for Ross Perot in 1992 and worked for his Uncle Duke's 2000 presidential campaign. In a March 2010 strip, he told a Tea Party supporter that he has "always stuck it to the man".

Wesleyan University students hold an unofficial yearly event in April called Zonker Harris Day, celebrating psychedelic music and culture, with the Doonesbury character as a mascot. In early 2008, the new Wesleyan University president, Michael S. Roth, declared Zonker Harris Day to be "stupid", and the Residential Life office officially opposed its "hippie-druggie" image. Funding for the event was banned pending a new title. After prolonged disagreement, students renamed the event "Ze Who Shall Not Be Named Day". With a new name, the former Zonker Harris Day was held as usual on April 19, 2008. The students protested what they viewed to be unnecessary and irrelevant censorship, while the administration maintained that Zonker Harris Day gave the university a poor image. [5] A series of strips in late 2010 parodied this, with Zonker (having been told of the event's renaming) debating whether or not to personally intervene, especially in light of the major conflict on his calendar in April – the Royal Wedding of Prince William. In 2011, the name of the festival was reinstated. [6] The University of Miami named the scout team the Zonkers.

References and in-jokes

Related Research Articles

Doonesbury is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college student to a youthful senior citizen over the decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garry Trudeau</span> American cartoonist (born 1948)

Garretson Beekman Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the Doonesbury comic strip. Trudeau is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series Alpha House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freedom fries</span> Politically-motivated euphemism for French fries, US

Freedom fries was a politically motivated renaming of French fries in the United States. The term was created in February 2003 in a North Carolina restaurant, and was widely publicized a month later when the then Republican Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, Bob Ney, renamed the menu item in three Congressional cafeterias. The political renaming occurred in context of France's opposition to the proposed invasion of Iraq. Although some restaurants around the nation adopted the renaming, the term became unpopular, in part due to decreasing popularity of the Iraq War. After Ney's resignation as Chairman in 2006, the change of name in congressional cafeterias was reverted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uncle Duke</span> Comics character

Uncle Duke is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau. He is nominally Zonker Harris's uncle, albeit an "uncle by courtesy" only. Duke appeared in the strip July 1974 and was originally a straightforward caricature of the gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, but eventually took on a life of his own and a succession of ill-fated ventures in the areas of politics, business and crime.

Andy Lippincott is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury. An attorney, he is the openly homosexual best-friend of Joanie Caucus, one of the core members of the strip's ensemble cast. Although Joanie initially sees Andy as a potential romantic partner, the two become best friends, and she supports him as he navigates the difficulties of gay culture in the 1980s, including his eventual contraction of HIV and subsequent death from the disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Slackmeyer</span> Comics character

Mark Sheldon Slackmeyer is a character in the comic strip Doonesbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Butts</span> Comics character

Mr. Butts is a character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury. When Mike Doonesbury was asked to create an ad campaign aimed at teenage smokers, he suffered a morality crisis, and the hallucinatory Mr. Butts was the result. An eight-foot-tall cigarette with a goofy smile, Mr. Butts is the anthropomorphic personification of the tobacco industry. Stylistically he is reminiscent of Zap Comix, as pointed out by J. J. when first described to her by Mike.

Michael James "Mike" Doonesbury is the main character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury. He started out as a nerdish freshman from Tulsa at the fictional Walden College, and shared a dorm room with B.D. Currently he is married to Kim Rosenthal, and divorced from J.J. Caucus. Mike's daughter, Alex continued to live with Mike and Kim, until she left to attend MIT. He has a younger brother, Benjamin, and a widowed mother who died in late 2010.

B. D. (<i>Doonesbury</i>) Fictional character

B.D. is a fictional character in Garry Trudeau's popular comic strip Doonesbury. In the comic strip, nobody is certain what "B.D." is short for, but he was based on Brian Dowling, quarterback at Yale University, where Trudeau attended college. In the 1983 stage adaptation of the strip, Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy, his full name was revealed to be Brian John Dowling.

Joanie Caucus is a fictional character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury.

Jimmy Thudpucker is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury, created by Garry Trudeau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roland Hedley</span> Comics character

Roland Burton Hedley, III is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau, inspired by the on-air style of the veteran US reporter Sam Donaldson.

Ron Headrest is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist</span> American comic series

"The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist" was an American comics series, written by Michael O'Donoghue and drawn by Frank Springer. From January 1965, it was serialized in the magazine Evergreen Review, and later published in book form as a Grove Press hardcover in 1968 and trade paperback in 1969. It was reissued as a trade paperback in 1986.

<i>Doonesbury</i> (musical) 1983 Broadway musical

Doonesbury, also known as Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy, is a 1983 musical with a book and lyrics by Garry Trudeau and music by Elizabeth Swados.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael S. Roth</span> President of Wesleyen University

Michael Scott Roth is an American academic and university administrator. He became the 16th president of Wesleyan University in 2007. Formerly, he was the 8th president of the California College of the Arts (2000–2007), associate director of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, and Director of European Studies at Claremont Graduate University. He was also the H.B. Professor of Humanities at Scripps College, where he was the founding director of the Scripps College Humanities Institute.

Barry Svigals, FAIA is a Connecticut-based architect and sculptor. He is the founder and Partner Emeritus of Svigals + Partners, an architectural design firm in New Haven, Connecticut. Svigals + Partners was founded in 1983 and has a staff of about 35. Svigals served on the faculty of Yale School of Architecture from 2003-2009, and has frequently acted there as a visiting critic.

Rap Master Ronnie is the name of several musical comedies developed by Garry Trudeau and Elizabeth Swados throughout the 1980s, including a 1984 off-Broadway "partisan revue," a music video, and a made for TV movie starring The Smothers Brothers, Carol Kane, and Jon Cryer. The shows all share the same basic structure of a faux campaign ad for Ronald Reagan, satirizing his social policies, particularly those regarding drugs and minorities. The shows received largely mixed reviews.

References

  1. 'Doonesbury' Goes to Colorado. Celeb Stoner, 2013-11-08.
  2. Charlie Brennan, 'Doonesbury' mainstay Zonker eyeing marijuana grow 'outside Boulder'. Boulder Daily Camera, 2013-04-23.
  3. 'Doonesbury' Celebrates Legal Marijuana in Colorado. Celeb Stoner, 2014-01-05.
  4. Legal Affairs
  5. Wesleying: Zonker Harris Day
  6. Schwartz, Amanda. "Zonker Harris Day Makes a Comeback". Wesleyan Argus.
  7. Trudeau, G.B. Dude: The Big Book of Zonker.