Gunther Berger

**Gunther Berger** is a character that appears in *Luann*. His debut was in the November 29, 1987 strip, although he was mentioned several times before his first appearance.

## Personality

In Luann's words, Gunther is "homely, creepy, and nerdy" and has a habit of hanging around Luann. He loves school and is very intelligent.

## Biography

Gunther's first appearance shows him finished a test 20 minutes early, while the rest of the class is struggling to finish. Mr. Fogarty asks him to collect the tests, which he hurriedly does. He has a huge crush on Luann.

In the October 10, 1989, Gunther asks Luann on a date to the movies, which she accidently agreed to. He is extremely nervous and doesn't have anything interesting to say to both her family, and when he's on the actual date. He wanted to put his arm around her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He bought her anything she wanted and acted like a gentleman, which actually impressed Luann.

In the August 30, 1990 strip, Gunther calls and asks Luann if she'd like to go play miniature golf on Saturday, which she accidently agrees to. As they're playing, two kids from their school come over and insult them, causing Gunther to get extremely angry, wishing he was macho so he could beat them up. He, instead, decides to walk away with Luann. Luann, impressed by his control, kisses him on the cheek and admits to her personal diary that he's "cute, sweet and kind of endearing".

In the November 1991 strip, Gunther decides to write Luann a love letter and hand-deliver it to her. When he visits his house, Luann initially tries to avoid him, but ends up having to come out and physically tell them. When the door opens up, Puddles sees the cat in the front yard and runs out of the house, chasing it towards the road as a speeding car come by. Luckily, Gunther quick grabs Puddles by the legs, preventing him from getting out to the road. Luann calls Gunther a hero because of his actions. She bandages up his knee, which was scraped up when he fell on the lawn. Just as Gunther is about to leave, he turns around and gives a speech about how he's not good enough for Luann, but is surprised when she leans in and kisses him on the lips.

Gunther took the same CPR class as Luann. He was hoping he would practice mouth-to-mouth on Luann, but the instructor brought a dummy. He's very knowledgably about CPR/choking, as he answered just about every question the instructor asks. He practiced doing mouth to mouth on the dummy, and cheered in excitement when he saved it's life. During the Heimlich maneuver, Gunther was hesitant about grabbing Luann's waist, to which she says "I'm already dead".

In the March 08, 1994, Gunther expresses his dissatisfaction with himself, how he hates being a loser and no one liking him. Everyone he talks to doesn't seem to understand his problem or insults him. Tiffany mentions everything wrong with him, and gives him some mousse and a comb to change his hairstyle in the bathroom. When he shows it off to Luann, she laughs at him and tells him being "manly" is not his thing. Knute decides to give him some new clothes to help him appear macho, which Luann, once again, laughed at. After realizing the "macho" look didn't work, he reverts to his old self.

In the December 01, 1995 strip, Gunther and Luann go on a date to the movies. The date goes well, but as Luann leans in to kiss him on her doorstep, he leaves really quickly. The following day they meet up in school and Gunther tells Luann that they're perfect for each other and he wants to do it again, but she dismisses that idea, saying she's made for Aaron Hill and Gunther is made for someone else. Gunther writes a letter and puts it in Luann's locker. When she opens the door and reads it, she mistakes the signature as an "A" for Aaron Hill, but Bernice thinks it's a "G" for Gunther.

In the December 01, 1995 strip, Gunther and Luann go on a date to the movies. The date goes well, but as Luann leans in to kiss him on her doorstep, he leaves really quickly. The following day they meet up in school and Gunther tells Luann that they're perfect for each other and he wants to do it again, but she dismisses that idea, saying she's made for Aaron Hill and Gunther is made for someone else. Gunther writes a letter and puts it in Luann's locker. When she opens the door and reads it, she mistakes the signature as an "A" for Aaron Hill, but Bernice thinks it's a "G" for Gunther. She shows Delta the letter, who believes it's a "Q", and her brother thinks it might be "#6" on the football team. Luann asks T.J. to see if he can find out if Aaron Hill wrote the letter. Tiffany walks by and sees him looking at the note, and tells him that's not Aaron's handwriting, but her own. Tiffany mentions to him that she is sick of competing with Luann for Aaron's attention. Luann brings Gunther to T.J. eliminating him as a suspect. Gunther mentions the poem is nice, to which Tiffany accidently thanks him. Luann and Tiffany get into an argument and than another fistfight. As Mr. Fogarty breaks up the fight, Gunther asks T.J. what that was all about and T.J. tells him not to even try and figure it out, just look at it as two girls fighting over a boy, and his name coming up. As T.J. walks away, Gunther, alone, yells out "I'm hot!".

In the May 13, 1996 strip, Gunther arranges a study "date" with Luann. While studying at their house, Luann begins to understand the math concepts and thanks Gunther for his help. She asks what she can do to repay him. He fumbles around, mentioning that he really likes her. Luann mentions she likes Gunther, too, as a friend. She gives him a tip - instead of being brainy, be a man of action. He immediately takes her advice and leans in for a kiss on the lips. When Gunther lets go, Luann sits there in shock, and Gunther quickly apologizes, but before he can finish, Luann retaliates with a kiss of her own. As they're kissing, Nancy comes in with a snack, noting that it looks like they were working hard at it. The following strips depict Luann explaining the situation to Delta, and Gunther explaining it to Knute, twisting the story in their favor. Both duos meet unexpectedly in the hallway, and immediately hide from each other, leaving Delta and Knute confused. Luann explains the situation to Nancy, who is at a loss of words. Nancy asks Luann how she feels about the kiss, and that she would rank it slightly above "a good friend" kiss. In the May 29, 1996, Gunther and Luann meet to discuss the kiss. Luann believes that they should wait to see what their feelings are. Luann mentions that she "loved" the way he helped her study and wanted to show her appreciation. Gunther uses selective hearing to misinterpret what she says into a love confession. He then grabs her and kisses her on the lips.

In the July 29, 1996 strip, Diane invites Luann and a date of her choice, Gunther, to see an Alanis Morisette concert with Brad. Diane and Luann go to the bathroom and agree that they only date Brad and Gunther because they're filling the spot until "Mr. Right" comes along. Diane and Luann bond really well and even start planning a day out by themselves. During the car ride home, Diane and Luann gossip and talk in the back seat, ignoring the guys. While at a gas station, Gunther and Brad plan goodnight kisses for the girls. While the guys say goodbye, the girls quickly leave. As Brad and Luann enter the house, a knock on the door is heard. Luann's opens it and Gunther quickly kisses her on the lips before leaving. She tells Brad "How can that boy be both boring and interesting at the same time?".

Luann apologized for how she treated Gunther and invites him to the movies on May 12, 1997. He declines, saying he's going out with Bernice and uses Luann's words against her.

## Relationships

### Luann Degroot

Gunther has a crush on Luann, a fact that grosses her out. He is assigned as Luann's partner for their research project (December 04, 1987). In the June 19, 1995 strip, Gunther tells Knute that he had another dream with Luann. He is unsure why he is obsessed with her: he admits she's not the best looking and isn't very interesting, but maybe the fact they are both plain, boring people are why they are meant for each other.

### Knute

Knute and Gunther are pretty close. Gunther talks to Knute about his problems and obsession with Luann. He also gets wrapped up it Knute's schemes, such as building the house of horrors for the Halloween carnival.

## Trivia

* His name is misspelled as "Burger" in early strips.