Sun: If you were a small, furry creature, which one would you be?
T.D.: I’d definitely be a squirrel. I like squirrels, and I like to climb trees.
Sun: What happened as a child…were you hit on the head?
T.D.: I was hit on the head once, I fell out of a tree and I landed on a rock. I don’t know if that has anything to do with. That hurt.
Sun: Why a gnu? Why not a ferret, or a yak?
T.D.: It just sounds cool. I don’t really even know what they look like. They have horns, don’t they? I hope so. Mr. Gnu is blue for some reason [in color].
Sun: Favorite band?
T.D.: I like Frank Black a lot, and I like Belle and Sebastian.
Sun: Favorite movie?
T.D.: Anne of Green Gables, I know it sounds pretty bad but I’m obsessed with it. I don’t own the movie, so I go to the Bangor library every month and I take it out because they have it, and I’m getting kind of embarrassed. I have to give them my library keychain thing so they can scan it, and I also have an Anne of Green Gables keychain, so the lady gives me dirty looks like I’m some kinda…every time I take it out. Now I take off my Anne of Green Gables keychain before and put it back on when I leave.
Sun: What will be on your headstone?
T.D.:”I’m dead.” Every Halloween, there’s a person on the street, in their yard they have those fake gravestones, and one of them just says “I’m dead,” and I always get a kick out of that.
Sun: Nickname?
T.D.: My wife calls me Glitternuts. Some people called me T-Man in college.
Sun: Advice for a disenchanted college student?
T.D.: Quit school. I don’t know…sensual oils are good, get a massage with a sensual oil, take a bath. That helps. I just finished grouting my shower, and I’ve been having to take baths…I’ve been taking a lot of baths.
Sun: Most embarrassing moment?
T.D.: I don’t think I’ve ever been embarrassed. I’m ashamed of myself. Well…I’m really embarrassed when anyone that I don’t know sees my comic strip. One time, at the humane society where I worked, some lady saw it, she had read it, and she’s like “Do you draw a comic strip?” and I said yeah, Mr. Gnu, and she’s like “Oh yeah, the one in the U. Maine paper, I read it today. It’s about a maxi pad with wings.” I got really embarrassed then.
Sun: Most humbling moment?
T.D.: When my son was born, and I caught him and he was purple and bloody. That was exciting.
Sun: Role model?
T.D.: Definitely Henry David Thoreau is my main role model.
Sun: Comic strip influences?
T.D.: When I was little, I was obsessed with “Garfield” and then “Calvin & Hobbes,” then I got influenced by stuff like “Ren & Stimpy”…but lately there’s really not much that I find interesting.
Sun: Pet peeves?
T.D.: I was getting pissed off at people’s vanity plates today. A lot of them are really dumb.
Archived article by Andy Guess