Uncle Duke

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Uncle Duke is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury. He is nominally Zonker Harris's uncle, although early in the Doonesbury continuity he was established as a Harris family friend. To reconcile this continuity error, many readers assume that Duke is Zonker's godfather (which in some families qualifies for the title of "Uncle"). Duke himself seems to remember winning Zonker in a pokergame. Duke's appearance and mannerisms are heavily based on the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson (see Raoul Duke). Between 7 March 2005 (roughly two weeks after Thompson's suicide) and 12 March 2005, the strip even ran what was referred to as a tribute, with Uncle Duke lamenting the death of the man he called his "inspiration." The first of these strips [1] featured a panel with artwork similar to that of Ralph Steadman, who illustrated Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Some people regard Uncle Duke, a rabid controlled-substances buff, as "the High Lord of Inner Space," but he is really, as his son would describe him, "Forrest Gump's evil twin", a devious and hardworking scam artist with a cynical sense of humour.

Duke's early life is murky, but it is almost certain that he had a father, and was born in a hospital. "Duke" was the only name he was ever given, although the back of the Doonesbury book "Death of a Party Animal" gives his first name as Raoul (a name Hunter S. Thompson often used for himself in his books). He recalls that he was born wearing Ray Ban sunglasses, and is almost never seen without them.

At some point he acquired a dislike for John Denver, who for a period of time was his next door neighbor, and made a habit of shooting icicles off of Denver's porch roof with a high powered rifle. To this day the song "Rocky Mountain High" sends him into a violent frenzy.

Duke is unique among Doonesbury characters in that he does not seem to age; the only major physical transformation he has gone through has been a lightening of his hair from dark brown to sandy brown. Even as every other member of the cast have gone from young adulthood to middle age since the strip began, Duke has been consistently portrayed as being in what appear to be his mid-to-late forties. This oddity appears to go unnoticed by the rest of the cast, although this may be because Duke's globetrotting usually keeps him away from the other characters (with the exception of Honey) and it's rare that he ever interacts with any of them. Other theories include that this is a holdover from when he was "zombified" (although he was not dead in any clinical sense) and also that he has so many substances constantly coursing through him that he is somehow preserved, almost like a mummy.

Career path(s)

Duke began his illustrious career working as a writer at Rolling Stone. He was then appointed Governor of American Samoa, which led to a post as Ambassador to China, where he met Honey Huan, his future aide and devoted companion. Following his "triumph" in Peking, Mr. Duke enjoyed a brief career as a laetrile farmer. He then made a name for himself as General Manager of the Washington Redskins. His experience packing heat led him to serve as a lobbyist for the NRA, followed by some work in Iran for Universal Petroleum. After bargaining for his life before a firing squad, Duke disappeared for 17 months, then surfaced as "the 53rd hostage" of the Iran hostage crisis of 1979. Upon release he settled down as a drug smuggler in Florida, a career cut short by an ill-timed sightseeing cruise to the Falkland Islands. Duke and Honey ended up on a desert island, where they survived for months, believing to be stranded in the pacific, until he took a pair of bird watchers hostage, who summarily informed him that he was on Matagorda Island. Following his rescue, Duke became entangled in Hollywood politics, the John De Lorean story, and a major cocaine bust.

Fleeing to Haiti, he opened the Baby Doc College of Offshore Medicine. Discovered more inert than usual one morning, he was pronounced dead. Fortunately it was soon discovered that Duke was not dead, only zombified, and sold into slavery as Legume, losing nearly all his hair in the process. His adopted nephew, Zonker Harris arranged to buy him back and he was soon back on his feet. After losing his condom company (Dr. Whoopee), Duke took a much-deserved rest in Bellevue, returned to active duty as captain of Donald Trump's executive cruise ship, the Trump Princess, then rescued his former translator Honey Huan from China.

Tapped by President George H. W. Bush to serve as Maximum Proconsul in post-invasion Panama, he smuggled guns to the Kuwaiti resistance, then opened Club Scud, a popular wartime watering hole in Kuwait City. After working on David Duke's campaign, he began selling doctored photos of the John F. Kennedy Assassination in Dallas, Texas to conspiracy theorists, then opened a low budget orphanage titled "Nothing But Orphans." One of his first charges, according to the DNA test results, was one of his long-lost sons, Earl. Abandoning the orphans and Ms. Huan, father and son lived in a trailer in Las Vegas, gaming and trafficking in stolen Beanie Babies.

Duke ran for the White House after a short stretch as a key advisor to Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. His campaign, headquartered in a motel in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, was a resounding failure, despite corporate sponsorships by heavy hitters Lipton Tea and Absolut Vodka. (Through the magic of motion capture technology, Duke was able to announce his candidacy in the real world on Larry King Live.) A successful business trafficking in stem cells was followed by a lucrative involvement in the messy fallout from the Enron scandal. As conflict with Iraq loomed, Duke made a return to government work, taking up a post as Viceroy-in-Waiting.

During the U.S. occupation of Iraq, Duke installed himself as mayor of the (fictional) Iraqi city of Al Amok. In late September 2005, Duke escaped Iraq and relocated again to New Orleans to profit from the reconstruction efforts after Hurricane Katrina and Rita. Though his assistant Honey finally abandoned him for Mardi Gras (partially due to years of verbal abuse and ignorance, partially because she was living in a lifeboat while he occupied a first-class suite) he has reunited with his son Earl, now a Washington lobbyist looking to use Duke's knowledge of indigenous people to secure lucrative contracts with Native American tribes.