The weird and warped humor of The Far Side routinely leaves readers asking “What the?“, pleading to understand why certain jokes were funny, if not outright mystified and missing the point, yet there are also countless examples of author Gary Larson making easily understood, and at times even obvious jokes. This list celebrates examples of the latter category, both classics and underrated gems.
In theory, The Far Side was intended to evoke immediate reactions from readers, yet in practice, Larson’s comedic style frequently prompted fans to ponder the meanings of his panels, the punchlines of which ranged from obscure to full-on indecipherable.
Just as often, though, The Far Side did manage to make an instantaneous connection with readers; in truth, Larson’s work is more relatable to the average person than it gets credit for. If some Far Side cartoons are certified brain-teasers, these are the opposite: Far Side jokes that take little to no effort to enjoy.
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The Far Side’s Humor Often Relied On Recognizable Sayings And Phrases For Inspiration
First Published: June 22, 1981
“Andrew…the cows have come home,” a woman shouts to her husband, standing with her hands-on-hips looking out her suburban home’s front window, as a cow holding a suitcase, presumably their cow, emerges from a taxi out front, while another waits to get out. This Far Side punchline is easily recognizable because it riffs on the phrase “until the cows come home,” suggesting that “Andrew” might be doing something off-panel that he now has to cut out, while also playing on the absurdity of cows riding in cabs.
Gary Larson often used stock phrases and folk sayings to grab the reader’s attention, and to facilitate the delivery of punchlines like this one, making this type of Far Side cartoon among the easier to interpret, in comparison to Larson’s more “out there” and esoteric jokes.
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The Far Side Reveals A Cow’s Worst Fear In This Classic Cartoon
First Published: August 21, 1982
In this classic Far Side cow cartoon, a bovine bolts upright in bed, in the middle of the night, startled awake by a horrifying nightmare, waking up its spouse by shouting: “THE GOLDEN ARCHES! THE GOLDEN ARCHES GOT ME!” This reference to McDonalds should be an easy one for most readers, who will easily find the humor in the idea of a cow’s worst fearing being that it will be turned into a McDonalds hamburger.
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Humor might be subjective, but these Far Side strips are so undeniably funny that anyone who doesn’t laugh at them could hardly have any joy in them.
That is to say, for some cows the end result might not make a difference, but for others, surely there’s a big difference between becoming a Delmonicos’ steak and a Mickey Dee’s burger patty. The great thing about Far Side comics like this, which aren’t hard to “get,” is that the mental energy that might be spent deciphering a Far Side cartoon’s punchline can instead be devoted to unraveling the layers of its humor.
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The Far Side’s Iconic “Garfield Eaten By A Snake” Comic Still Gets Fans
First Published: December 16, 1983
Sometimes, The Far Side’s captionless comics were among its most confusing, given that they lacked half of The Far Side’s “formula,” and thus the reader lacked vital context for the joke. However, the flipside is also true. The comics in which Gary Larson’s illustrations truly speak for themselves, and don’t need anything else to convey this humor, are often among his most obvious.
That is the case with this iconic Garfield reference, in which a snake with a huge lump in its midsection coils around a full food bowl with the iconic orange tabby’s name on it in big bold letters, a contented smile on the serpent’s face, with the obvious implication of this macabre, but hilarious nod to one of Gary Larson’s greatest cartooning contemporaries being that Garfield has been devoured himself before he could inhale his dinner.
First Published: April 1, 1986
Simply captioned “cartoon teenagers,” the humor of this metahumerous Far Side cartoon comes in the form of a speech bubble, as the illustrated adolescent points an accusatory finger at his parents and declares “I didn’t ask to be drawn!“ The overt parallel to real life here will make an immediate connection with anyone who has been on either side of a contentions parent-teen relationship, and Larson’s twist on the dynamic, by adding a fourth-wall-breaking touch, makes this panel stand out.
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This exemplifies the relatable strain of Far Side humor, as well as the kind of Far Side joke that doesn’t ask too much of the reader. Instead, it delivers a swift, effective chuckle, and essentially lets them get on with their day, rather than gnawing at them for hours afterward, a side effect some of Gary Larson’s jokes are known to cause.
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It Was No Accident That The Far Side’s Captionless Comics Are Often Its Funniest
First Published: September 7, 1986
Once again, no caption is necessary for this Far Side joke, and in fact, adding anything else to this panel might have run the risk of making it more confusing. Here, Gary Larson depicts the perilous moments after a mid-air collision between a fighter jet and a flying saucer, as their respective pilots parachute to safety, with the human and green, multi-eyed, red-clawed extraterrestrial sharing a look of annoyance that readers might recognize from more mundane accidents like a fender bender.
The humor of this joke is all about the visual, and the illustration gives readers everything they need to get a solid laugh: the image of the two vehicles smashed together, burning as they plummet to Earth, while their pilots float among the clouds. It works, and it doesn’t take exceptional effort to understand, making this a fan-favorite Far Side.
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Gary Larson Riffs On The Blues In This Hilarious Far Side Frog Comic
First Published: ​​​​​​​July 5, 1990
Gary Larson was a musician himself, something that was reflected in many Far Side cartoons over the years. This one is an all-time great, as it features a frog singing “the greens,” in lieu of the blues, wearing a sunglasses on stage in a dark club, along with a fedora, and sporting a wispy mustache on its upper lip, as it strums a hollow-body guitar and sings: “My baby’s left the lili pad/my legs were both deep fried/I eat flies all day/and when I’m gone they’ll stick me in formaldehyde.”
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Larson’s familiarity with jazz and blues makes the rhythm and tenor of this humorous dirge easy to pick up for readers with even a glancing familiarity with the genre as well. And even for those uninitiated into the blues, the joke here is straightforward, and more importantly, playful, meaning it isn’t a stretch for Far Side fans to be able to understand it.
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Gary Larson Offers A Glimpse Into The Drawbacks Of Domestic Life For T-Rex Families
First Published: August 2, 1990​​​​​​​
In this laugh-out-loud Far Side dinosaur cartoon, the punchline is about as obvious as it could be, playing into the idea of the T-Rex’s disproportionately short arms being useless by featuring a family of the dinos at the dinner table, with the husband bemoaning, “I’m trying to pass the potatoes…remember, my forearms are just as useless as yours,” while his presumably hungry wife grimaces in frustration.
This “slice of life” Far Side comic is an example of Gary Larson auditing his own use of anthropomorphic animal characters; in other words, he considered what it would be like for T-Rexes to sit down to dinner, and managed to conjure up the most immediate comedic problem, resulting in a highly effective punchline.
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The Far Side Didn’t Always Have To Spring Surprises On Readers; Sometimes Obvious Jokes Landed Best
First Published: August 7, 1991
This Far Side cartoon is certainly more on the surreal side of the spectrum of Gary Larson’s humor, given its depiction of a family of Jack-in-the-Boxes, sitting around their living room, with the “man” of the household sitting still-boxed in a recliner, with his wife telling a friend “I’m worried about Frank these days…it seems he just can’t unwind.”
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Gary Larson’s The Far Side has been entertaining readers for years, but some strips are real head-scratchers whose jokes aren’t immediately clear.
The clear-cut nature of this punchline justifies the absurd imagery, allowing for a dynamic Far Side comic in which a reader’s “What the?” reaction can actually co-exist with their quick understanding of the punchline, and their connection with its humor. These are often looked at as distinct reactions, but in fact, they often come together in a jumble for Far Side readers.
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This Relatable Far Side Panel Highlights The Annoyance Of Being Interrupted Mid-Meal
First Published: January 13, 1992​​​​​​​
Most people know the feeling of being interrupted just as they sit down to relax, or to eat, or often both, as represented in this Far Side snake cartoon, in which a snake’s phone rings just as it has settled into its living room recliner and stuffed a whole hog in its mouth as a snack.
The silly, surreal imagery here perfectly pairs with the recognizable sentiment of the punchline, highlighting the fact that when Gary Larson’s idiosyncratic comedic perspective and his knack for observational humor aligned, the result tended to be an unforgettable Far Side cartoon. Puzzling out a Far Side punchline can be its own form of amusement, but for some readers, easily understood jokes like this remain Larson’s best.
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This Far Side Joke Is Smart, But Straightforward In The Best Possible Way
First Published: December 11, 1992​​​​​​​
Once again, this Far Side cartoon works perfectly sans caption, with thought bubbles used in its place. Here, a donkey and a rabbit, who are seemingly roommates, sit in the same room, silently critiquing one another, as the donkey reads a book and scoffs at the rabbit for watching TV, thinking “dumb bunny,” while the rabbit flips through the channels on the television and judges the other animal’s literary pretensions, thinking “smart ass.”
The illustration, as a whole, is an effective pay-off for a premise that is entirely designed around this latter insult; Far Side fans will recognize the intelligent humor of this punchline without feeling like it is too far ahead of them, or too far outside the realm of their understanding, making it a perfect Far Side comic.
The Far Side
- Writer
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Gary Larson
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Gary Larson
Summary
Written and drawn by Gary Larson, The Far Side is a comic strip series that ran from December 1979 to January 1995. A worldwide hit, The Far Side explores life’s surreal side and uses a mix of humans and anthropomorphic animals. As of 2020, Gary Larson decided to pick his pencil back up again and has started The Far Side up, circulating the comics on his official website.
