This thread has lost its subject.
Trivia- Goon was coined in 1921 by F. L. Allen, "a stolid, usually unimaginative person, esp. a writer or public figure."
Allen defined Washington and Gladstone as goons and Lincoln and Disraeli as jiggers (look on life with a genial eye).

This usage was lost, and current usage seems to have devolved from E. C. Segar's comic strip featuring Popeye (1933); the character 'Alice the Goon,' dim-witted and muscular. By 1938, used by college students for a stupid person. Later, an undesirable; from novels by Spilane and others.
(From Lighter, "Historical Dictionary of American Slang," vol. 1)

Punchinello has been around for a long time:
The Italian clown in puppet shows, 17th c. and later. Probably the origin of Punchinella rhymes, etc. From Pollecinella, referring to the chicken-like nose on the character.
Later uses include:
2. Name of a political-satiric magazine in the later 1800's.
3. Maker of nostrums and snake-oil, used advertising heavily, 19th c.