There are many Far Side cartoons that are rightly lauded as timeless classics, but there are just as many that deserve to be immortalized, but have been lost in the vastness of Gary Larson’s body of work. This list sheds light on some deep-cuts that deserve more attention from Larson’s dedicated fanbase.
Another way to put it: for every “Cow Tools,” there is a “Professor Gizmo’s Inventions,” a Far Side comic with a similar punchline, or similar theme, or even the same characters, which has lapsed into obscurity.
This list rescues some underrated, brilliant Far Side panels published between 1980-1986, which Far Side fans will want to take a second look at.
10
“Beginning Duck”: Gary Larson Must Have Quacked Himself Up With This One
First Published: May 28, 1986
Gary Larson’s boundless fascination with ducks is often overshadowed by other Far Side recurring characters like cows, cowboys, clowns, and so on. Arguably, the thing that made ducks a perfect fit for Larson’s humor was their signature “quack,” and he loved the idea of other species conversing with ducks in their language. (This premise will come up again later.)
Here, The Far Side’s ubiquitous chickens are shown taking a “beginning duck” class in order to do just that, with an instructor deconstructing duck syntax on a chalkboard. Of course, there are just enough similarities between the two types of bird that it adds to the humor of the idea of bridging the communication gap.
9
“Lucky Night For Goldy”: The Far Side’s Improbably High Population Of Fish Scientists Pays Off
First Published: December 5, 1985
Another Far Side staple were jokes about goldfish, and this mid-80s example deserves attention alongside more iconic examples because of its ludicrous punchline is. In the panel, a minor tragedy strikes in the middle of what appears to be a play, as a goldfish in a bowl on stage is knocked over and breaks, leaving the fish in mortal peril.
In what the caption explains is “a lucky night for Goldy,” there are not one, not two, but three ichthyologists, or fish scientists, in attendance at the show, who immediately jump into action. This Far Side cartoon is a deliriously funny riff on the “is anyone here a doctor?” trope, one that Gary Larson executes pitch-perfectly.
8
“Just Relax, Son”: The Far Side’s Calmest Deer Talks A Hesitant Hunter Out Of Doing Something He’ll Regret
First Published: May 1, 1985
“Just relax, son,” a deer says, standing on its hind-legs and approaching a terrified-looking hunter, trying to deescalate a tense situation. “I’m gonna come over there now and you can just hand me the gun,” the deer says, hysterically playing the role of crisis negotiator, rather than target, in this warped Far Side take on the rivalry between animals and hunters.
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Gary Larson’s comedic style hinged on his unparalleled ability to take things that were familiar to readers and turn them upside down & inside out.
By depicting the hunter quaking with feer, totally out of his element, and the deer as calm and calculated, Gary Larson brilliantly inverts the familiar dynamic here, at the result is an outrageously funny interaction between man and animal, one in which the animal comes off looking far more reasonable than the human.
7
The Far Side Confirms That It Is Hell Getting Called Into The Boss’s Office
First Published: July 20, 1984
In this classic Far Side trip to the underworld, Gary Larson combines the hell on earth that is getting chastized by one’s boss and literal hell, as a demon is called into its superior’s office and admonished for letting people escape their eternal damnation. “That’s the third one you’ve lost this week,” the devil behind the desk says to its subordinate.
“You’ve got to stop believing these guys when they say they’re just stepping out to use the restroom,” he adds, painting a portrait of a gullible demon, who isn’t cut out for torturing souls in perdition. Only Gary Larson ventured to do this manner of “workplace comedy” spoof at the time, which vaulted The Far Side to national success in the mid-80s.
6
Gary Larson’s Obsession With Talking To Ducks Made For Several Far Side Classics
First Published: October 31, 1983
In this Far Side cartoon, Gary Larson diverts from his usual single-image format to deliver a sequence of images, in which a man approaches a duck and asks if it speaks German, Spanish, or French, before finally speaking in its native tongue, which leads to a dialogue exchange, untranslated for the reader, consisting of a series of rapid-fire quacks.
The baseline absurdity of this joke, of course, is the idea of a man speaking to a duck, but Larson takes this Far Side gag to the next level by having the human character start with human languages, when he evidently speaks fluent duck, instead of starting there. It is a ridiculous touch that makes this panel all the more over-the-top.
5
A Salmon Decides To Take This Steps In This Far Side Comic That Goes Against The Current
First Published: June 9, 1982
This Far Side comic is wonderfully strange, and certifiably brilliant. Without needing a caption, Gary Larson perfectly conveys a surreal, laugh-out-loud funny scenario, in which a school of salmon are making the difficult journey upstream to mate…except for one, who takes a shortcut, of sorts, by using the stairs next to the stream instead.
Larson makes this even funnier by giving the fish a trenchcoat and fedora, making it clear that its behavior is shameful, prompting it to try and keep as low a profile as possible. It is a ridiculous joke at its core, at the level of its premise, which is made delightfully even more unhinged through Larson’s choice of details.
4
A Man Devours Doctors In One Of The Far Side’s Weirdest Comics, Full Stop
First Published: December 22, 1981
This is a great, highly underrated example of Gary Larson’s knack for composition, which was a huge part of what made The Far Side great. Here, Larson depicts a doctor looking at a patient’s X-ray, with his back turned to the patient, which is bad news for him, as he fails to realizes the man he’s in the room with eats doctors.
“Your X-ray reveals several stethescopes, a smock and…” this ill-fated Far Side physician says, putting two-and-two together too late, as the reader can clearly see that the hulking patient is about to grab, and presumably devour him. In addition to a compositional masterpiece, this also counts as one of the weirdest Far Side comics, for sure.
3
Yard Work Becomes A War Of Attrition In This Wordless Far Side Classic
First Published: November 27, 1981
This curious Far Side cartoon will leave its share of readers asking “What the?”, but to write it off does a disservice to its subtle embodiment of the cartoon’s sense of humor. That is, The Far Side was a place where beauty popped up in unexpected places, and then was promptly destroyed by Larson’s warped, iconoclastic characters.
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The Far Side often lacked a caption, leaving its art to speak for itself; sometimes this was the right call, but some comics could use a caption.
The panel features a man mowing his lawn, seemingly possessed with madcap energy, shouting a battle cry of sorts as he aims his mower at the single flower growing out of the grass. It is a joke that readers shouldn’t make the mistake of overthinking; there isn’t anything deeper to it, and that is what makes it a Gary Larson classic.
2
The Far Side’s Dumbest Character Is The Subject Of A Truly Brilliant Cartoon
First Published: May 23, 1981
When people talk about The Far Side straddling the line between brilliant and stupid, it is often a matter of a smart premise with a dumb payoff, but this panel represents the opposite, something so spectacularly stupid that it might actually be genius. That is, the punchline is firmly in “so dumb it’s smart” territory.
Its subject? Arguably the dumbest character in Far Side history. In a diner with a handwritten sign stating “brekfust surved anytim,” a cook goes about flipping a pancake in the most extremely backward way possible, picking up the entire stove and hoisting it in the air, rather than just grabbing the handle of the pan.
1
“The Nose Seems To Follow”: Gary Larson Captures A Familiar Experience With An Anatomical Tweak
First Published: July 7, 1980
In this hilarious entry from the first year of The Far Side, Gary Larson riffs on a classic museum experience: the portrait with a gaze that seems to follow the viewer wherever they stand. Except in this case, Larson delightfully swaps eyes for nostrils, as a woman comments, “No matter where you stand the nose seems to follow.”
This is an innocuous, yet insightful joke, through which Larson re-interprets a recognizable trope in a uniquely funny way, which was one of the calling cards of The Far Side’s humor from start to finish. This comic stands as an early, potent example, one that Far Side fans ought to give more credit than it currently gets.
- Writer
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Gary Larson
- Colorist
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Gary Larson
