Garry Trudeau, like the “Doonesbury” comic strip he created almost 50 years ago, is an American institution. Just five years after its debut, he became the first comic-strip artist to win the Pulitzer Prize. That’s because “Doonesbury” was never just a comic strip, but a satirical, hilarious, and often unsettling examination of American political and cultural life from Vietnam to feminism.
Trudeau’s keen insight and biting wit hasn’t been confined to the comics: He’s brought it to op-ed pages; to television in the series “Alpha House” and his collaboration with Robert Altman, “Tanner ’88”; and to the stage with Doonesbury: The Musical Comedy and Rap Master Ronnie, both written with composer Elizabeth Swados. While remaining largely out of the public eye, Trudeau has been a public advocate on such issues as PTSD and literacy.
Trudeau takes a look at the world he invented—and the wider one today—in a conversation with Michael Cavna, writer-artist and creator of the Washington Post’s Comic Riffs, for which he was the blog’s first interview subject.
Trudeau’s book #SAD!: Doonesbury in the Time of Trump (Andrews McMeel Publishing) is available for sale and signing.
