Barney Google
Barney Google was the name of a comic strip drawn by Fred Laswell which was syndicated in U.S. newspapers from the 1930s to the 1970s.
The strip was set in a extremely backwards, mountainous region and was rife with stereotypical humor about hillbillies. Locals were extemely suspicious of any outsiders, referred to as "flatlanders." The title character soon ceased to play a major role in the strip, and in its later years was not even seen or referred to, the major character having become Snuffy Smith.
Apparently the broadness of the humor prevented the strip from being the target of serious levels of protests by persons who would seemingly be similar those protrayed in it; perhaps no one wished to suggest that such contrived, silly characters could ever be identified as being themselves.
