I remember when the strip started. And the story is published at the AARP website.
'Doonesbury' Turns 50: Garry Trudeau Reflects on the Iconic Comic Strip
AARP: What would you tell your 22-year-old self?
Trudeau: Don't turn 23. If that can't be arranged, watch out for 34, 53, 65 and 71. You will have challenges. Everyone does.
AARP: You were an overnight sensation, getting a deal with the Universal Press Syndicate six weeks after the strip appeared in your college newspaper. What is the downside of improbable success?
Trudeau: The high likelihood of feeling entitled. All the bad stuff flows from that. I was lucky enough to meet someone [broadcaster Jane Pauley] who was also experiencing early attention. That's a huge thing we have in common. There were a few other things as well, so we got married. And we've tried to keep each other grateful and grounded. When our daughter was young, she decided her mother wasn't actively leveraging her status and accused her of being a “bad celebrity.” She was right.
AARP: "Doonesbury” began as dispatches from the front lines of the generational divide, but it evolved into something far more complex. What was the key turning point for you?
Trudeau: After returning from a sabbatical in 1984, I started to move the characters forward in real time, aging them, giving them jobs, families. I realized that by keeping them frozen in time on a college campus, I'd been neglecting all the generational transitions that I myself was experiencing. Ever since, I've been chronicling their life passages and watching two new generations come of age.
Rest of the interview at the site. A cultural icon.
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