There is a real disorder called microcephaly which Zippy’s appearance is based on, but his personality and non-sequiturs are pure fantasy. Real microcephalics are severely developmentally disabled. The name comes from ‘Zip the Pinhead,’ a sideshow attraction (treated horribly by customers) who may have had microcephaly or may have just had a weird-shaped head. His last words were reportedly, “we sure fooled them, didn’t we?” so who knows if he was really microcephalic or not.