Ron Headrest

Ron Headrest is a character from the comic strip Doonesbury.

During the 1980s Garry Trudeau thought it would be fun to do a political parody of the television program "Max Headroom" (of which he was a fan). He combined the concept with then-president Ronald Reagan, to produce Ron Headrest, the world's first electronically simulated politician.

The idea was that Ron had been created to serve as a backup president during the long periods Reagan spent on vacation. He appeared as a stylized version of Reagan’s head and shoulders on a television screen, complete with cool sunglasses. Because he was electronic, he would have no memory troubles, and his sense of humor and attitude were designed to appeal to young voters.

It was a disaster. Headrest openly mocked the administration he was designed to serve, and caused nothing but trouble. During the first week of his appearance he flashed the White House's phone number on his screen, and told children to call if they wanted "rock solid" information about sex. Because the number printed was accurate, the real world White House got thousands of calls which jammed their lines. Eventually they got revenge by giving callers the number of Trudeau’s editor. [cite book
last = Trudeau
first = G. B.
authorlink = Garry Trudeau
title = Flashbacks: Twenty-Five Years of Doonesbury
publisher = Andrews and McMeel
date = October 1995
year = 1995
pages = 217
isbn = 0836204360]

In the continuity of the comic strip the White House staff was less creative, and simply tried to turn Headrest off. But like his televised counterpart, Ron escaped into the airwaves and began causing trouble wherever he could find a television and someone to listen to him. He took particular delight in tormenting Mike Doonesbury, whom he called "Y-Person" (meaning yuppie). Headrest also sought the 1988 Republican Party presidential nomination in his own right, but withdrew from the race, promising to go into reruns instead.

Ron appeared regularly throughout the Reagan and Bush presidencies and then began to show up less frequently. Some claim he is the first Doonesbury presidential "icon" (famous individuals are traditionally portrayed by some sort of avatar in the strip), but this is debatable, as Reagan and Headrest existed simultaneously. He only appeared a few times during the Clinton administration, and then disappeared entirely. The real Ronald Reagan had retired and left the public view, and Max Headroom's program was long gone, making the character far less topical than he had once been. He hasn't been heard from since the 1990s, although characters rarely remain discarded forever in Doonesbury continuity.

A similar character briefly appears in the movie "Back to the Future Part II". In that movie’s vision of the future, there is a cafe called the "Cafe '80s" in which Headroom-esque versions of 1980s celebrities act as waiters. One is an amalgam of Headroom and Reagan, like the Doonesbury character.

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