Check Your Egos at the Door

Remember when USA for AFRICA (United Support of Arts for Africa) recorded "We are the World"? When forty-five major recording artists emerged from their limos outside of A & M Studio to make pop history G. B Trudeau was there as the only major satirist invited to attend the proceedings. Several weeks later in "Doonesbury" the cartoonist revealed to the nation that the star had been told to "Check Your Egos at the Door" per the request of producer Quincy Jones. However, it seems one of them demanded a receipt. As you can see from the cover, in addition to Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, and Lionel Richie, there is Jimmy Thudpucker (who goes solo on "the" in the song).This Doonesbury Book reprints daily strips from 1984 and 1985, which means we are talking President Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign. It is hard to believe the election was ever in doubt, what with God endorsing the President and Mike Doonesbury working on a spot for the Reagan campaign that will appeal to Black voters. Meanwhile, Vice President George Bush signs a document placing his manhood in a blind trust (and tells the American people that "Garry Trudeau is coming out of deep left field," which was not exactly news as that point in the cartoonist's career). Bush declared that on election day the American people would decide if they sided with "Doonesbury" or the Reagan-Bush message, which left Trudeau to demand a recount.Beyond the election in "Check You Egos at the Door" we have Uncle Duke running the Baby Doc College of Physicians in Haiti, Rick bringing home Alice to meet Joanie and then gets asked to write a daily diary about his relationship with son Jeffrey, and Mike inadvertently being mistaken as a subway vigilante. There is also a nice bit where Mike's mom, the Widow Doonesbury, unleashes her "awesome iconography" on the U.S. Senate during an Agriculture Committee hearing. There are not any classic bits in this collection, but "Doonesbury" during an election year is always fun, as we are finding out again this year (unless, of course, you are running for President).