15 Greatest Far Side Comics of All Time

Published from 1980-1994, Gary Larson's The Far Side remains one of the most beloved comic strips of all time, packed with gags that still have readers in stitches decades later. Larson's comics - famous for starring cows, scientists, cavemen, ducks and mobsters - have stood the test of time, but which are the best of the best?

That's what we're here to answer, with Screen Rant's choice of the 15 best Far Side comics of all time, building to our official #1. Be sure to vote in our end-of-article poll to have your say on which of these comics deserves the gold medal, and let us know which strips you think we missed in the comment section.

15 Wings Fall Off

Far Side's Dark Sense of Humor Is Integral to the Franchise

While it may be considered family-friendly humor, The Far Side has a dark edge that means not every character makes it out alive. In this case, an entire plane goes down because Ted flipped the wrong switch. Of course, the hapless passenger can't get all the blame, since it's only in the bizarre world of The Far Side that plane seats would come with this option in the first place.

Known for its single-panel comics and witty captions, Far Side often 'hides' the punchline to its gags, forcing the reader to figure out exactly what's going on. In this case, it's only once the reader divines the purpose of the red switch that either the image or caption make total sense. Far Side often asked a little more of its readers than its newspaper comic contemporaries, earning it dedicated fans... and also a reputation for confusing gags.

14 "Think There Are Any Bears?"

Larson's Love of Nature Is Far Side's Biggest Running Theme

Gary Larson's love of nature is apparent throughout The Far Side, however he doesn't let his affection for the natural world soften its edges. In this case, two hunters weren't just savaged by their intended prey, but turned into a puppet show for its cubs. Dedicated Far Side fans know that Larson originally pitched the comic under the title Nature's Way, and this comic fits that title perfectly. This comic deserves to be on the list because of how it combines the goofy and the macabre, nailing the kind of jokes fans can expect from Larson's work.

13 What's-His-Name

Far Side's Desert Island Gags Are Iconic

The Far Side is famous for its use of desert islands, stranding characters together and exacerbating any minor annoyances or social issues between them. However, in the funniest desert island gag of the lot, Larson actually uses the confined space in a different way. In this case, it's hilarious that one castaway has totally missed his wife having an affair in such a small space, while also failing to learn the name of the only other person on the tiny island.

Far Side's desert island jokes are an iconic part of the series, with modern cartoonists referring to the kind of hyper-stylized, single-palm-tree islands used in these visual gags as "Far Side islands."

12 Farmer MacDougal

Larson Is a Genius at Telling Stories in a Single Image

One of Larson's greatest skills is telling a whole story in a single panel, often allowing the reader to join the dots and discover the punchline for themselves. In this case, Farmer MacDougal's suspicions aren't explicitly spelled out, making it even funnier when the reader arrives at the same conclusion. Larson's decision to set the scene as being framed in MacDougal's binoculars is a genius touch, adding extra character and mirth to an already great joke.

11 A Real Boy

Larson Really Hates Pinocchio

The Far Side often took shots at pop culture, and especially iconic TV and movies. Larson had a great eye for the characters and stories that would remain relevant decades later, and often targeted Disney properties - especially Pinocchio. Throughout the course of The Far Side, Pinocchio is attacked by woodpeckers, gnawed by beavers, and savaged by lions, with poor Jiminy Cricket ending his life in a killing jar.

However, we chose 'A Real Boy' as the best of the best because of the grim irony of the joke, with Pinocchio's sticky fate coming as a result of his own wish to become human. Larson's art adds to the joke, with the lions' general disinterest nailing the moment right before the grisly action.

10 Canine Decoder

Larson's Silly Comic Is Scientifically Accurate

Larson didn't skimp on the dog comics in The Far Side, but he also didn't pretend the animals had any great intelligence. In this strip, a genius scientist creates a helmet that allows him to understand what dogs are 'saying,' only to learn that barking is just the equivalent of yelling "Hey!" Strangely, this claim is basically correct.

Various studies have concluded that dog barks are intended mostly for communicating with humans, as detailed in this piece from Wired. Wolves bark incredibly rarely, and the habit was bred into today's dogs by humans, who had practical uses for a simple, commanding sound that could travel long distances - in short, it's useful to have a hunting and fetching animal that can yell "Hey!"

Of course, that's not what makes the strip funny - that credit goes to the many different dog behaviors Larson manages to fit into the strip, as well as the gigantic 'canine decoder' helmet, which looks like a lot of work for the discovery it actually produced.

9 That Big, Dumb Geek

Far Side Loves Breaking the Fourth Wall

In this Far Side comic, an employee falls afoul of a boss because they can read the insults in his thought balloon. The Far Side often broke the fourth wall, starring characters who are fully aware they're in a comic, or playing with some aspect of comic art to hilarious effect. Larson's love of wordplay is evident in gags like literally 'sketchy customers' and cartoon teenagers who protest they didn't ask to be drawn.

However, we've chosen 'That Big, Dumb Geek' as the best of the best because of how Larson uses the image and caption to tell his joke, breaking a barrier that most readers weren't even aware existed. The comic shows how aware Larson is of the 'process' of reading a Far Side comic, with the image not quite making sense until the caption brings everything together.

8 The Real Duck

Larson's Duck Are Recurring Stars

Lots of animals reoccur throughout The Far Side, from cows to mosquitoes, but somehow ducks get the weirdest and funniest jokes. Larson often depicts ducks as the secret supervillains of the animal world, plotting against humans for no clear reason. In the strip above, Larson borrows a thriller-movie cliché, with a hunter chasing a duck into a Hall of Mirrors, only to be outsmarted by its many reflections.

It's not unusual for Larson to give animals the upper hand over hunters, but ducks tend to beat humans again and again in The Far Side, with Larson apparently seeing some hidden malevolence in his anatine antagonists.

7 Organized Crime Informant

Gary Larson Loved Mocking the Mob

In this strip, a mob informant risks it all to share what he knows about organized crime, only for his anonymity to be destroyed by a laughably simple mistake. Larson constructs a world founded on childlike simplicity, where flicking on a light switch is all it would take to reveal a confidential informant to the world - however, Far Side's edge means there are still potentially lethal consequences for this kind of silly mistake.

While Far Side doesn't use gangsters as often as cows or ducks, Larson did pen plenty of comics making fun of organized crime, with concepts such as hitmen, legbreakers, and sending someone to 'sleep with the fishes' all getting a Far Side twist.

Far Side's mobsters may mostly be a joke, but one dark comic shows the fate that may be waiting for the confidential informant, as the mob sentence their victims to die by mime.

6 "CAR!"

This Comic Got Far Side Honored by Cheers

Cows are the most famous recurring figures in The Far Side, with Larson using bovine characters for many of his silliest and most surreal comics, including farmers 'stacking' their livestock in gigantic towers, as well as cows eating steak out of pure morbid curiosity.

Asked by The New York Times why so many Far Side comics star cows, Larson explained that.

I've always thought the word cow was funny, and cows are sort of tragic figures. Cows blur the line between tragedy and humor.

We think the 'car' comic is the funniest of the bunch, with a simple joke about cows hiding their true nature from humanity in the simplest way possible. The comic also had the rare honor of being celebrated in the beloved sitcom Cheers, with the dim-witted Woody seeming to misunderstand this strip, and bar regulars Cliff and Norm trying to explain it.

Far Side has many famous fans, with celebrities including Steve Martin, Robin Williams and Stephen King penning forewords for its various collections. Even The Simpsons paid tribute to Larson's comic, starring the creator in season 21, episode 10's 'Once Upon a Time in Springfield' and recreating one of his comics in the background of season 23, episode 6's 'The Book Job.'

5 "Does Someone Have a Hammer?"

Far Side's Most Underrated Comic

This might be the least iconic Far Side comic on our list, but for our money it's also one of Larson's funniest. The hilariously unbelievable situation is one thing, but Larson's art of a person with their entire head trapped in a wine glass is a work of genius, and the bizarre confidence of the man preparing to 'save' her paints a picture of a world where even this freaky turn of events is commonplace.

4 Penguin vs Banana

Far Side's Funniest Wordless Comic

There's a reason pratfalls are a staple of comedy, and in this case a penguin slipping on a banana peel makes for Larson's best wordless gag. One of Far Side's funniest tricks is setting up moments that make no sense beyond the exact moment Larson draws. In this case, how did the poor penguin somehow miss a bright yellow banana peel in its path, all the way up to slipping on it? The surreal situation is classic Far Side.

3 School for the Gifted

Far Side's Most Famous Comic

In many Far Side fans' favorite comic, a seemingly 'gifted' student fails to realize that he's trying to enter a school by pushing as hard as possible on a door marked 'PULL.' The comic stars one of Gary Larson's rare recurring characters, who he referred to as 'The Nerdy Kid.' The Nerdy Kid appears throughout Far Side history under many different names, and when we asked readers to vote for the best Far Side comic starring the nerdy kid, the strip above won by a landslide.

In The Complete Far Side, Larson explains that he disagreed with early editors about the use of recurring characters. While they played a part in the success of contemporaries like Garfield and Peanuts, Larson wanted to create a bizarre world where anything could happen, and where he could torture, injure and kill off characters without offending his readers. Thankfully, his argument won out, and Far Side never got any official recurring characters.

However, Larson's minimalist art style did lead to several stock character designs, which appeared often enough that both Larson and his readers began to see them as the same people. Larson acknowledged this fact in a comic that shares the background of Far Side's 'cast,' turning his stock characters into actors who play different roles depending on the comic.

2 Anatidaephobia

The Far Side's Definitive Surreal Comic

In the weirdest Far Side strip, a businessperson is haunted by the belief that they're somehow being watched. Eagle-eyed readers know they're right, as a duck watches them from a nearby skyscraper. While Far Side loves wordplay and classic gags, sometimes Larson simply went as weird as possible. He writes in The Complete Far Side that while he knew he couldn't make readers laugh every day, he could always make them exclaim "What the--?" The idea of such a specific, bizarre phobia is funny in and of itself, but it becomes truly hilarious once you notice that this fear is well-founded.

1 Missile Prank

Screen Rant's Greatest Far Side Comic of All Time

Misbehaving scientists are inarguably Far Side's biggest obsession - indeed, Larson said as much in a 1987 interview with 20/20, saying, "It's the theme that occurs to me most frequently." In the perfect comedic set-up, individuals carrying out the most serious tasks possible can't stop behaving like big kids. Of course, the twist is that for people working with high-explosives and acid, 'harmless' pranks can be anything but.

However, pulling off this gag with only the half-obscured word 'MISSILE' earns our #1 pick the throne, both for presentation and the grim implication of what happens immediately after. Interestingly, Larson admitted his sense of humor was inspired by growing up during the Cold War, with an innocent childhood juxtaposed with the constant threat of nuclear armageddon. Nuclear missiles appear throughout The Far Side, with Larson telling 20/20:

I remember sitting in my seventh-grade English class thinking that the world was going to end during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It made you look at the world a little bit askew.

Those are our picks for Far Side's 15 funniest comics of all time, showcasing the full breadth of Gary Larson's comedic genius - remember to vote for your #1 in our poll below, and let us know the comics we should have included in the comments.

Sources:

• Natalie Angier, The New York Times
• Brandom Keim Wired
• Gary Larson, The Prehistory of The Far Side, The Complete Far Side Volume 1
• 20/20, January 8, 1987