Barney & Clyde is a daily newspaper comic strip created by Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten, his son Dan Weingarten, and cartoonist David Clark. Syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group,[1] it debuted on June 7, 2010. It appears in The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, the Chicago Tribune, and many other newspapers.
Barney & Clyde is believed to be the first American comic strip created by a father-son team. On Father's Day 2010, Gene Weingarten wrote about the unusual genesis of this collaboration.[2]
Barney & Clyde is about an unlikely friendship between a billionaire and a homeless man. The title characters are J. Barnard Pillsbury, owner and CEO of Pillsbury Pharmaceuticals, a multinational drug company, and Clyde Finster, of no permanent address. In early 2011, Clyde revealed to Barney that they had been classmates in grade school. Other prominent characters are Lucretia Pillsbury, Barney's trophy second wife; Cynthia Pillsbury, Barney's iconoclastic 11-year-old daughter from his first marriage; and Dabney Mountbatten IV, Clyde's homeless, and lawless, sidekick. Clyde's cute companion rabbit is named Adolf. When panhandling, however, Clyde refers to Adolf by his "stage name," which is Fluffykins McNeedsahug. Other recurring characters include Ms. Foxx, Barney's secretary; Duane Butkis, Barney's lickspittle assistant; Katy, Cynthia's best friend; Consuela, the Pillsburys' cook and housekeeper; Charles, the Pillsburys' chauffeur and manservant; Ebenezer Pillsbury, Barney's father; Jeremy, who runs a soup kitchen called The Pauper's Palace; and Dr. Mollenhoff, a veterinarian. Dr. Mollenhoff is loosely modeled after Molly Weingarten, the veterinarian daughter and sister of Gene and Dan Weingarten.