Garfield famously loves two things more than anything else: food and sleep. However, time and again, he’s proven to love at least one other thing just as much: messing with Jon Arbuckle. More often than not, every interaction Garfield has with his owner, Jon, ends with Jon on the receiving end of one of Garfield’s cruel practical jokes, making pranking one of the cornerstones of their entire relationship.
However, sometimes Garfield’s ‘pranks’ on Jon are pretty harsh, even downright cruel. Garfield will do things to his owner like scare him with spiders or trick him into eating cat food. But then, the mean orange cat will cross the line, shattering Jon’s already low self-esteem. In fact, in the crop of Garfield comics that just turned 30, an example of the latter is featured, and it stands as Garfield’s harshest ever burn on Jon.
10 Jon Just Accepts that He Can’t Have Nice Things with Garfield Around
Garfield - October 1, 1994
While Jon is sitting by his counter, reading the newspaper, he hears nothing but the sound of scratches, as if something is being shredded in another room. Then, Garfield walks up to him with a very satisfied look on his face, and Jon asks, "You like my new chair?" and Garfield replies, "'New' is hardly the word". In other words, Garfield totally trashed Jon's new chair, and Jon has already accepted it.
Even as it was happening, Jon accepted the fact that his new chair was going to be ruined by Garfield. And that's just a fraction of the wider acceptance Jon has come to adopt when it comes to his possessions: so long as Garfield is around, he can't have nice things.
9 Garfield Knows the Value of a Good Book (& It’s an Insult to Booklovers Everywhere)
Garfield - October 3, 1994
While Garfield is sitting in his chair watching television, he turns to the reader and breaks the fourth wall to tell them, "Books are very important". Kind of a random thing to say given that he's watching TV, but Garfield's message is true, especially for all the booklovers reading this comic strip. But then, Garfield takes a hard left turn when he pulls a book out from under the chair's seat cushion and says, "I'm sitting on one to get a better view of the TV".
Garfield isn't just not reading a book, and he's not just sitting on a book, but he's using a book to prop himself up to more easily watch television. In other words, Garfield's use of this book is an absolute insult to booklovers everywhere.
8 Garfield Has an Existential Crisis While Breaking the Fourth Wall
Garfield - October 7, 1994
Garfield cheerfully walks into the first panel of this comic strip, breaking the fourth wall right away. Garfield happily says, "I'm back!", but in the very next panel, his happiness begins to fade, and horror replaces it. Garfield comments on the fact that he hasn't actually gone anywhere, so he's not really "back". Then, Garfield starts to lose his grip on his own reality, looking around him in a wide-eyed panic, asking, "Where am I?".
The walls of Garfield's fictitious world start to crumble under the realization that he's just a comic character. Characters who break the fourth wall usually know that they're fictional, and they're either too crazy or too intelligent to care (like Deadpool and Rick Sanchez). But here, it seems Garfield was coming to that horrific realization for the first time, and it's admittedly pretty funny to see.
7 Garfield Hilariously Over-Reacts When He Thinks He's Spotted His Arch Enemy: a Spider
Garfield - October 16, 1994
While he's sitting in a chair next to Jon, Garfield looks down at the carpet and thinks he's spotted a spider. Garfield immediately starts freaking out, shaking and climbing all over Jon, screaming about how he needs to kill the spider before it bites them. After Garfield calms down, he takes a closer look at the 'spider' and finds that it's nothing more than a piece of lint.
Garfield's reaction to the possibility of seeing a spider was definitely a bit extreme, but in his case, not unreasonable. Garfield has a long history of trying to swat spiders, so much so that he even has a reputation in the spider community as a 'bringer of death'. In other words, Garfield hates spiders, and they hate him, so it's probably a good thing that he keeps his guard up at all times.
6 Garfield Gets Jon with an Absolutely Classic Prank
Garfield - October 23, 1994
As Jon is lying in his bed, fast asleep, Garfield walks up and stands directly on his owner's chest. Garfield then makes a scary face, and stares at Jon, holding his position until Jon inevitably wakes up. Finally, Jon opens his eyes, but rather than a sleeping cat by his side, he only sees the terrifying face Garfield is making at him. Startled, Jon leaps out of his bed, letting out a scream of terror as he does so, leaving a very satisfied Garfield in his spot.
Startling someone who wasn't expecting it with a scary face is an absolutely classic prank, and Garfield pulls it off to perfection. The orange cat even waits a good amount of time for Jon to wake up, and as he points out himself, it totally (hilariously) paid off.
5 Garfield’s Insatiable Appetite Comes Back to Haunt Him (Literally)
Garfield - October 30, 1994
Garfield is sound asleep until he is awakened by the ghost of a goldfish. Not just any goldfish, but one that he had eaten the summer before. The goldfish ghost tells Garfield that he's there to haunt him, though Garfield is less than impressed. Garfield mocks the goldfish by pretending to be scared while making it obvious that he isn't. However, when the goldfish says that he's not the only one there to haunt Garfield, that's when Garfield starts to take this specter seriously - and it's clear to see why.
There are a few chickens, a frog, plenty of fish, and an actual horse (how did Garfield eat a horse?!). And now, they're all back to make Garfield pay, meaning his insatiable appetite is literally coming back to haunt him.
4 Garfield Confirms an Age-Old Childhood Myth
Garfield - October 26, 1994
Garfield excitedly shows Jon what he and Odie have been doing all day: making funny faces. Garfield stretches his lips over his massive teeth, contorting his face until it's nothing more than a giant grin. Meanwhile, Odie's face has been altered as well, with his head elongated, his ears all wonky, and his tongue permanently sticking out of his mouth. After he sees this, Jon warns Garfield that if he and Odie keep it up, their faces will stay that way - and that's exactly what happens.
It's an age-old childhood myth told to kids by their parents, teachers, and older siblings that if they make funny faces, their faces will get stuck that way. While that's obviously not true in real life, it's a certainty in the world of Garfield, something the orange cat himself confirms.
3 Jon Has Some Twisted Fun with His Funny Face That’s ‘Stuck That Way’
Garfield - October 28, 1994
Even though Jon warned Garfield and Odie that if they made funny faces they'd be stuck that way, he goes ahead and makes a funny face himself, only to suffer the same fate as his two pets. So, rather than just mope around the house, the three of them go out on the town. Jon runs into a random woman on the street, and he decides to ask her out on a date. Of course, she runs away screaming, just as Jon hoped she would.
Scaring random women for fun is a pretty big red flag, and doesn't help Jon's case when it comes to certain fan-made allegations. It's widely been joked about that Jon is secretly a serial killer, with one of his first victims being Lyman (Odie's original owner), whose body is allegedly rotting in Jon's basement. While that's a hilariously absurd accusation, this comic doesn't exactly make Jon seem sane.
2 Garfield Does Not Help Jon’s Low Self-Esteem
Garfield - October 6, 1994
As Jon is looking at himself in the mirror, he tells Garfield that looks aren't everything, and that personality is where it really counts. But then, after smiling at himself, Jon notices something in his teeth, and admits that personal hygiene is also pretty important. At that point, Garfield sarcastically asks Jon, "You gonna floss your way into some babe's heart?".
It's sad enough that Jon has such low self-esteem that he's already decided that he's ugly, and needs to make up for it with his personality. But add to that his lack of desire to take care of himself (which includes brushing his teeth), and Garfield's constant negativity and criticisms, and Jon is stuck in a real tough spot in regard to his self-esteem and mental health - and Garfield doesn't help in the slightest.
1 Garfield Delivers the All-Time Harshest Burn on Jon
Garfield - October 5, 1994
While the two are hanging out at the house together, Jon casually asks Garfield if he thinks he's lived any past lives. Jon is clearly entertaining the idea of reincarnation, and wonders if Garfield has any thoughts on the matter. Rather than engaging in meaningful conversation on this topic, Garfield opts to be incredibly cruel, as he replies to Jon, "I doubt it. You're not even living this one".
There's funny, and then there's one's cat telling its owner that they're not living their life - which definitely crosses the line into cruel. It's well noted that Garfield loves pranking and insulting Jon, and he's definitely not good for Jon's self-esteem, but this comment is just mean, and certainly goes down in history as Garfield's all-time harshest burn on Jon, especially when compared to the rest of the 10 Garfield comics that just turned 30.
Garfield is the central character in Jim Davis's comic strip, which officially began in 1978 under the same name. Garfield is an orange tabby cat with a love of lasagna and a disdain for Mondays. He tends to torment his owner and dog while trying to secure more food - and quiet.
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