There are several thousand Far Side comics, but it often feels like there is an elite pool of just a few hundred that get talked about all the time. For every “Cow Tools,” or “Midvale School for the Gifted,” which are cited as the best Far Side cartoons ever, there are ten, twenty, fifty Far Sides that don’t have the reputation they deserve.
For every Far Side that might not have aged well, there are hundreds more that are completely timeless, hitting as hard today as they did decades ago. This collection of Far Side cartoons is intended to spotlight “forgotten” masterpieces from Gary Larson’s career.
Certainly, some of you out there will recognize one, or two, or maybe even all of these panels. That just means you have a great memory, or you’re a hardcore Far Side fan. For most people, these will be deep cuts, but they also stand a good chance of being your new favorite Far Side jokes.
8
“It’s Them, Gentlemen”
This is one of those Far Side cartoons that will leave readers scratching their heads, unless they happen to get the reference. It’s also a sly bit of Larsonian wordplay, where he doubles up the specific and general meaning of the word “them.“
First, it’s a reference to a classic schlocky sci-fi B-picture: 1954’s Them! Released the same year as the first Godzilla, Them! features a similar premise. Nuclear tests irradiate ants and turn them into giant monsters. Larson spoofs that by having his character react utterly matter-of-factly to a pair of massive mutant ants showing up at the door.
Which makes it seem like they’re expecting the ants. So when the speaker says, “It’s Them, gentleman,” it is also like he’s saying “it is our visitors, the ones we’ve been expecting.” That kind of layered meaning always elevates a Far Side, often turning “dumb” jokes into snippets of brilliance.
7
“Yabba Dabba Do Was A New One For Me”
This is another Far Side pop culture reference, but one that is a lot more recognizable. Even 40+ years after it was first published, and 60 years since the original cartoon it is referencing finished its six-season TV run. The Flintstones still have cultural cache, and Fred Flinstone’s nonsense catchphrase “Yabba Dabba Do!” still rings out for most people.
Hilariously, if grimly, though, it is “a new one” to the sabretooth tiger that just devoured Fred in this Far Side cartoon. This is a Far Side cartoon that melds a great line of dialogue with flawless composition. The tigers are in the foreground, one licking its lips, while the other turns and remarks on the novel final words of their latest prey. In the background, the tattered remains of Fred Flintstone’s recognizable outfit.
Still, Gary Larson leaves it to the reader to put 2+2 together. Which is the best part of countless Far Side cartoons; the slight processing delay before the joke “clicks.”
6
“We’ll See If It Attacks Its Own Reflection”
The Far Side’s aliens were always up to something. Gary Larson frequently made jokes about alien invasions, and alien abductions, and like this one, alien experimentation on humans. The essence of the punchline here: extraterrestrials think humans are stupid.
That’s a joke Larson made plenty of times over the years. Sometimes a joke’s premise was enough to make a Far Side perfect, but especially with recurring gags and themes, Larson’s job really became about finding a novel delivery method. Again, study the composition of this cartoon, and consider what dimension it adds to the humor.
In the foreground, two aliens hide behind a tree. One of them has a clipboard. They’ve leaned a mirror against another tree, opposite them, and now a human is finally walking by, so they can test whether “it attacks its own reflection” or not. Readers can picture the next few moments for themselves, whether the man stops and looks at himself in the mirror, or walks on by, and how disappointed the aliens will be when their hypothesis doesn’t pan out.
5
“Pickpocket’s Dream Target”
Technically, there are words in this Far Side cartoon, thanks to the “Don’t Walk” sign above the characters’ heads. Yet, really, Gary Larson put that there as scenery, and scene-setting for the joke, which operates wordlessly. In a world where kangaroos and humans coexist together in major metropolitan areas, the marsupials would make natural marks, dream targets, for the city’s pickpockets.
That’s exactly what Larson portrays here. To the kangaroo’s left (the reader’s right), a woman clutches her bag in front of her as she waits to cross the street, vigilantly looking out for any purse snatchers coming at her. The kangaroo is not as careful with its wallet, which a shady character in a trench coat is able to make the most of, grabbing its wallet out of its front pouch while it stares forward obliviously, waiting for the sign to change to “Walk.”
4
“Do You Think I’m Sinking?”
“Is there something seriously wrong with me?” That’s an existential question that Gary Larson reformulates in a way only The Far Side could: using ducks. Or seagulls, maybe, but in either case, the point is that the characters here are birds that naturally float on water. Which makes it a cause for alarm, for one of them, when it starts to sink.
“Do you think I’m sinking? Be honest,” the sinking bird says to its friend, “Bob,” who faces the kind of “how do I tell him” moment that friends never want to have to be responsible for. It is a sleeper hit Far Side cartoon, one that might not leave an impression on readers at first, but reveals its genius the more they return to it, reflect on it, and recognize themselves in it to some degree or another.
3
“The Famous Rex Maneuver”
Have you ever asked yourself, “what would the dog equivalent of the Heimlich maneuver be?” Probably not, because you’re not Gary Larson. That was key to the success of The Far Side. Larson pondered the most inane ideas possible, so that the average person wouldn’t have to, and then turned the results into cartoons for those people to enjoy. Or not enjoy, depending on personal tastes.
In this panel, the Heimlich becomes the “Rex maneuver.” A dog can’t perform the traditional Heimlich, because it can’t lock is paws together the way humans can with their hands. Instead, it has to use more brute force. The cartoon illustrates by showing “Zeke” ramming himself head first into the belly of “Sparky,” in order to force the choking dog to expel the cat it just swallowed whole from its throat.
2
“How Poodles First Came To North America”
This Far Side comic is so funny that it is hard to fathom why it isn’t talked about more in the conversation about the greatest Far Side comics in several different categories. Captioned “How poodles first came to North America,” the cartoon hilariously equates the small, fashionable dogs with an invasive species.
Specifically, there are a number of species of spiders that frequently hitch a ride in banana shipments. Swapping them out with poodles is a great joke conceptually, and Gary Larson’s 10/10 illustration here makes it hysterical, as the wide-eyed heads of the fluffy white dogs pop out from between bundles of bananas as they’re being loaded onto a cargo ship destined for the U.S.
1
“The Discoveries Of Fire, Shelter, And Language”
This is a truly genius-level Far Side joke, one that is all too often overlooked. It is arguably the pinnacle of one of Gary Larson’s longest running gags. Larson loved to imagine the origins of everything, from birthday parties, to parking meters, to demolition derbies, and more. Here, though, he outdoes himself.
“Some anthropologists believe that the discoveries of fire, shelter, and language were almost simultaneous,” the caption tells readers. The cartoon shows how, exactly, this played out: a prehistoric dude’s cave, and his butt, catch on fire, and he runs out shouting the first word in history, “Bummer!“
It is a punchline that hits on so many levels. It is simultaneously highbrow and lowbrow, smart humor converted into dumb comedy, and it shows that Gary Larson was producing some of his best work ever during the final years of The Far Side.
- Writer
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Gary Larson
- Colorist
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Gary Larson
