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Doonesbury Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Doonesbury Quizzes, Trivia

Doonesbury Trivia

Doonesbury Trivia Quizzes

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3 Doonesbury quizzes and 50 Doonesbury trivia questions.
1.
  Real Life People in "Doonesbury"    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
Many real life people, both famous and infamous, have appeared in "Doonesbury" over the years to help or hinder the strip's imaginary cast over the course of their careers. How well can you remember those who have been thus honored?
Tough, 15 Qns, Finduskeepus, Mar 27 08
Tough
Finduskeepus
388 plays
2.
  20 Questions: Doonesbury Multiple Choice Quiz    
Multiple Choice
 20 Qns
Garry Trudeau's 'Doonesbury' has been one of my favorite comic strips for years. Here's a quiz about it. Good luck!
Average, 20 Qns, ashlybug, Mar 02 06
Average
ashlybug
726 plays
3.
  Questions on Doonesbury    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
How well do you know this famous politically driven cartoon?
Average, 15 Qns, Czolgolz, Jul 06 18
Average
Czolgolz
Jul 06 18
599 plays
trivia question Quick Question
Duke, under threat of terrible bodily harm, was forced to give John Gotti a controlling interest in a company. What kind of company was it?

From Quiz "Real Life People in "Doonesbury""





Doonesbury Trivia Questions
1. While he was Ambassador to China, which high-level member of the Chinese Communist Party did Duke visit in prison?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: Deng Xiaoping

Deng, later to oversee China's rise to its much-improved status, was purged and sent to a re-education camp during Duke's tenure; one of the old-time leaders who fell from grace in the Cultural Revolution. In the strip, his name was Romanized according to Wade-Giles as "Teng Hsiao-ping". Duke, hearing that he was in prison, paid a visit to his former diplomatic sparring partner. Jiang Qing, Mao's wife, was a perpetrator of the afore-mentioned Cultural Revolution, and was also mentioned in the strip - Honey Huan was called to testify at her trial after her own fall from grace. Mao himself died during Duke's time in China, and Zhou Enlai, the second man of China's revolution, was already dead.

2. J.J. once created a large mural for Donald Trump. Where was it?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: His big, obnoxious boat

She felt she was selling out, painting a mural in a billionaire's boat (in the bathroom, no less).

3. 'Doonesbury' was originally called 'Bull Tales' when it appeared in a college newspaper. What college was that?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: Yale

Garry Trudeau is a graduate of Yale University and 'Bull Tales' was first seen in the Yale 'Daily News' on September 30, 1968.

4. Barbara Ann Boopstein, aka Boopsie, sometimes channels the spirit of an ancient warrior. What's his name?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: Hunk Ra

Boopsie grows fangs and a pointed tongue when she channels the Hunk.

5. When 'Bull Tales' became 'Doonesbury', in how many newspapers did it first appear?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: 28

'Doonesbury' appeared in 28 newspapers when it debuted on October 26, 1970.

6. Which political figure was represented as a floating white feather?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: Dan Quayle

Possibly, just possibly, trying to imply that Quayle was a lightweight, Garry Trudeau portrayed him as a floating quail feather. This didn't annoy Quayle as much as did a series of strips about his DEA file, which got Trudeau into a certain amount of hot water. Clinton was portrayed as a waffle (possibly, just possibly to imply that he had trouble taking a firm stand on the issues of the day), Schwarzenegger, struggling with a sexual harassment scandal, as a giant groping hand, and the hot-tempered Gingrich as a bomb with a lit fuse.

7. One trademark of the strip is the use of icons to represent famous people. How was Bill Clinton shown?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: A waffle

Reagan was Max Headroom, Bush, Sr. was a point of light, Bush Junior an asterisks in a cowboy hat, Dan Quayle a feather, Newt Gingrich a bomb, and David Duke a swastika.

8. One of the first characters to appear in the strip was B.D. On whom was the character based?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: Brian Dowling, Yale's starting quarterback

B.D. was a star quarterback just like the inspiration for his character, Brian Dowling. B.D. became the football coach at his alma mater, Walden College.

9. Duke, under threat of terrible bodily harm, was forced to give John Gotti a controlling interest in a company. What kind of company was it?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: condoms

Duke has indeed trafficked in orphans, stem cells and stolen beanie babies, but it was over one of his more legitimate enterprises - Dr Whoopee condoms - that he got into trouble with the mob. The condoms themselves were above-board; the business deals that financed their manufacture were not.

10. Comics can have an effect on real life. The so-called 'Doonesbury Amendment' of Palm Springs dealt with what unfair practice?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: The requirement of domestic employees to carry passcards.

In the 1980s, domestic employees of Palm Springs were required to carry a passcard. Since many of them were black or Hispanic, it essentially became a crime to be an undocumented minority. After the comic spoofed this law, it was quickly changed.

11. Which writer guested on Mark's radio show reading from a book about his or her hedonistic journeys in the swinging subculture?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: Gay Talese

Mark had numerous interesting guests back in his college radio days, including author and journalist Talese, who read from his book "Thy Neighbour's Wife", an exploration of the free love subculture. Erica Jong's book "Fear of Flying", although a landmark of the sexual revolution, is a novel rather than a nonfiction work. Xaviera Hollander, former madam, is the author of the nonfiction work "The Happy Hooker". I'm not sure if Hefner has ever written a book about his experiences, but if he has, Mark's listeners have yet to hear from him.

12. After a serious injury in 2004, we got to see B.D. without his helmet for the first time. Which kind of helmet had he never worn?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: batting

He never played baseball. He played football, both in college and professionally, was a veteran of Vietnam and both Iraqi wars, and was a motorcycle cop for a bit.

13. Which President had a virtual copy of himself made, which then escaped to roam the airwaves?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: Ronald Reagan

Inspired by Max Headroom, Reagan's team created the virtual "Ron Headrest" to fill in for the President during his lengthy vacations. Headrest, however, proved uncontrollable, escaping into the ether and appearing in America's living rooms to mock his fellow Republicans. Headrest created further problems for his party in 1988, when he sought to run for President on the Republican ticket in his own right.

14. Everyone's favorite character is Duke. What football team was he the assistant manager for?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: The Redskins

After a little problem with his liberal distribution of pills to the players, he was forced to look for work elsewhere.

15. Over which famous actor did Joanie once make a fool of herself?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: Clint Eastwood

In 1986, Joanie was thrilled when her boss, congresswoman Lacey Davenport, campaigned on behalf of fellow Republican Eastwood when he ran for Mayor of Carmel and she got a chance to meet him. When the moment came, however, Joanie's flirting skills deserted her and she burbled at Eastwood like a starstruck airhead.

16. What celebrity neighbor did Duke always fight with near his house in Colorado?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: John Denver

He went after Denver with a gun on more than one occasion.

17. Which character in 'Doonesbury' won $23 million in a lottery?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: Zonker Harris

Zonker won the lottery, but it didn't change him one bit. He began working as a nanny, helping raise B.D. and Boopsie's daughter Sam.

18. In which real life movie franchise did Boopsie have an acting role?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: The "Porky's" franchise

Alas, Boopsie's movie career never reached the level of "Rocky", "Friday The 13th" or "Police Academy". Her role in "Porky's IX" (as "Third girl in shower") is more representative of her filmography. But Boopsie doesn't need the movies; in recent years she's shown that there's more to her than the bimbo of yesteryear.

19. Joanie once fell for a fellow legal student named Andy. Why didn't it work out?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: He was gay

Joanie: "Are they sure?" Andy: "Joanie, I'm sure."

20. In 1973, one of the Watergate conspirators resigned from office, causing Garry Trudeau to withdraw a weeks worth of 'Doonesbury' strips. Which Watergate figure was it?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: John Ehrlichman

Ehrlichman later wrote Trudeau, "I hear that my resignation fouled up your series. Sorry. Next time let me know what you are planning and I'll try to cooperate".

21. Whose course did Honey attend while she was a student at Georgetown University?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: Henry Kissinger

Like Kissinger, the three red herrings on this list are all associated with Harvard. Schlesinger, an adviser to JFK, and Wilson, author of "Sociobiology" were professors there (as was Kissinger himself). Halberstam, a journalist who once appeared in "Doonesbury" interviewing Rick Redfern, was a graduate. It was at Georgetown, however, that Honey encountered Kissinger, heading her geopolitics course. They had both recently vacated the corridors of power - he having ended his years in the White House, she her years as translator at the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party.

22. Several characters have died in the strip. Who died of a heart attack?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: Dick

Dick died of a heart attack while birdwatching. His wife, Lacey, died about ten years later, of Alzheimers. Andy died of AIDS, Phil of old age.

23. Which 'Doonesbury' character revealed that he was gay on the radio?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: Mark Slackmeyer

Slackmeyer, along with his life-partner Chase Talbot III, began to host a radio show on National Public Radio called 'All Things Being Equal'.

24. Zonker's ancestor, Amy Harris, was an acquaintance of which hero of the American Revolution?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: Paul Revere

An early feminist, Amy was unimpressed by the Revolution's silence on the question of women's rights. She sought to prove her point by seeking to work outside the home - specifically for Paul Revere as an apprentice silversmith. While she lacked any talent for silverware, Amy succeeded in making her point to her husband, who vowed to henceforth treat her as an equal.

25. Who was B.D.'s buddy during both Iraq wars?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: Ray Hightower

Ray was wounded in the first war.

26. Who was the first gay character to appear in 'Doonesbury'?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: Andy Lippincott

Lippincott first appeared in the strip in the 1970's. He eventually died from the AIDS virus.

27. After which tyrannical ruler was Duke's medical school named?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: Jean-Claude Duvalier

Duvalier, known to his unfortunate Haitian subjects as "Baby Doc" in homage to his equally tyrannical father, "Papa Doc" Duvalier, was the patron of the Baby Doc College of Offshore Medicine which specialized, among other things, in the development of new designer drugs. Duvalier then purchased Duke when the latter was transformed into a zombie slave.

28. Zonker was one of those people who never grew up. Who were his imaginary friends that he always talked to?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: His plants

His plants had names and distinct personalities.

29. Who was Sid Kibbitz?

From Quiz Doonesbury

Answer: Boopsie's agent

Sid was Boopsie's agent. He also tried to package Ronald Reagan and Tom Cruise together in a 'buddy' movie.

30. Which President had an evil twin named Skippy?

From Quiz Real Life People in "Doonesbury"

Answer: George H.W. Bush

Skippy looked exactly the same as Bush - an easy concept for Trudeau to present, as they were both portrayed as being invisible (possibly, just possibly implying that Bush, during his term as Regan's VP, was a yes-man without any platform of his own). Skippy caused trouble for his brother, by, for example, supporting different Republicans in crucial primary campaigns.

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