Editing Zonker Harris (section)

==History==
{{anchor|Walden Puddle}}
While at Walden Commune, Zonker spent most of his time watching TV, getting [[psychedelic drug|high]], and swimming around in a minuscule body of water called "Walden Puddle", which he considered to be a sacred and holy place. In his early years in the strip, Zonker had the ability to talk to plants. (Mike also talked to the plants during Zonker's stint as [[Lieutenant Governor of American Samoa]].) In later stories, Zonker appeared to lose this ability, but it has sprung back up occasionally, and he has been seen conversing with a marijuana plant, and a scrawny [[Christmas tree]] in recent years. Other than these few exceptions, this power seems to have left him, and he misses it terribly. When wondering out loud why he had it in the first place, he was told "It was the drugs, man". Ironically, it was a plant that informed him of this.

Zonker is habitually unemployed, and is very protective of his slacker lifestyle. He has taken on temporary jobs as a [[bartender]] and a [[Mail carrier|postman]], but always leaves these careers as soon as he gets bored with them. The only "work" to which he has shown any diligence is acquiring a [[sun tanning|suntan]]. Throughout the 1980s, he spent more and more of his time trying to develop "the perfect tan", and even became a [[celebrity]] (on par with a professional athlete) for his accomplishments, with [[George Hamilton (actor)|George Hamilton]] as his idol. Eventually he wised up to the damage the sun was doing to his skin, and has since appeared in [[public service announcement]]s about sun safety.

After his graduation from Walden, Zonker eventually enrolled in "The [[Jean-Claude Duvalier|Baby Doc]] College of Physicians" (which was run by [[Uncle Duke]], an old family friend). However, he dropped out after winning $23 million from a [[lottery]] ticket. Shortly afterward, he had to spend most of it on saving Duke from being a [[zombie|zombified]] slave, but had enough left over to buy a British title (His Lordship the Viscount St. Austell-in-the-Moor Biggleswade-Brixham), which caused him to be called to England as a tie-breaker for a vote in the House of Lords over one of Margaret Thatcher's tax bills. He stayed at another lord's castle for several months, oblivious to many not-so-subtle hints to leave, and was eventually forcibly removed by a [[butler]].  He ended up as a live-in nanny for [[Mike Doonesbury|Mike]] and [[List of Doonesbury characters#Main characters|J.J.]] Doonesbury (who kicked him out in the early 1990s).