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Part of what made The Far Side successful was that it did more than just make readers laugh: at times, Gary Larson’s comic surprised readers, and even shocked them, playing on a variety of feelings over the years in order to get a reaction from people. According to Larson, this was what The Far Side was all about.
As the author explained in The Complete Far Side, he always intended for his work to have an immediate reaction. While the most recognizable immediate reaction is laughter, Larson also cited what he called the “What the?” and “My God!” reflexes as targets for Far Side panels to hit.
Just as the reaction to a truly funny joke is spontaneous, Gary Larson wanted fans’ responses to even his weirdest, or most controversial Far Side cartoons, to be an immediate, bodily feeling.
12 The Far Side Quickly Established How Dark Gary Larson Was Willing To Go
First Published: January 11, 1980
One of the first ten Far Side cartoons, this panel has the distinction of being the first murder in the strip's history, as a man's pet parrot rats him out for killing his wife, right in front of the cops. The first year of The Far Side was all about setting precedents, and this panel established that Gary Larson was willing to go to downright grim places with his humor.
The important thing to note about a "My God!" response to a Far Side comic is that it can happen in conjunction with laughter, often in spite of one's own good taste. In either case, whether a reader laughs at this dark scenario in spite of themselves, or is simply shocked and dismayed, it certainly garners Larson's desired reaction.
11 Gary Larson Experiments With Visceral Imagery In This Surrealist Far Side Panel
First Published: February 22, 1980
Sometimes, The Far Side's "What the?" and "My God!" reactions can overlap. That is certainly the case with this cartoon, which features a trio of vagabond-coded men sitting by a dumpster; one is smoking a cigar, which he is humorously harangued for by a pair of guys who are literally melting, because they're drinking some unspecified substance from scientific-looking beakers.
The punchline of this Far Side comic relies on irony, but that is an intellectual response that will follow for readers, after the instant reaction to the panel's imagery subsides. Readers will find themselves uneasy, or even repulsed at the drawing of the two men, meaning it was a solid creative choice by Gary Larson.
10 The Far Side Flips The Script On A Classic Fairy Tale – Which Became A Gary Larson Go-To
First Published: March 20, 1980
This cartoon is an early example of Gary Larson's knack for inverting, subverting, and generally warping fairy tales and nursery rhymes in The Far Side. This would go on to become a staple of the comic's run, and this panel illustrates why, as a realtor shows perspective buyers the witch from Hansel and Gretel's house, explaining that "some young punks vandalized the place and cooked the owner."
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The Far Side’s “Chicken Of Depression” Comic (And How It Shows Off Gary Larson’s Technique Of Taking Things Too Literally On Purpose)
Despite the Far Side's reputation for sowing confusion, Gary Larson's humor was often overly literal, as his "Chicken of Depression" comic shows.
Here, the "My God!" reaction can be said to be an abbreviated form of "My God, when you put it like that!" as the recontextualizing of the classic story of survival as a shocking crime is certain to take many readers aback, for at least a moment.
9 The Far Side Wasn't Afraid To Depict Taboos In Order To Provoke A Response
First Published: April 16, 1980
The Far Side can be called "confrontational" in the sense that it confronted social norms, and used social taboos as fodder for comedy. This is a much more ubiquitous trait in modern humor, but at the start of the 1980s – especially in people's local daily newspapers – jokes about murder, and even more jarringly, suicide, definitely led to as many "My God!" reactions as it did laughs, if not more.
Here, a woman is inconsolable after her houseplant takes its own life, as she sobs, "I was just talking to him yesterday." Whether Gary Larson succeeds in making light of one of life's darkest topics is up to individual readers to decide, but what is undeniable is that the cartoon provokes a reaction, even if it is outrage.
8 Something As Simple As A Nice Sunny Day Could Be A Dangerous Thing For The Far Side's Characters
First Published: May 15, 1980
This Far Side cartoon omits a caption, meaning some readers might not "get" the joke immediately, leading to a "What the?" reaction rather than the "My God!" response this punchline deserves. In the panel, a woman throws open the windows to her high rise apartment to get some fresh air – and knocks a window washer off his scaffolding, sending him plummeting to his death.
Death was a constant presence in The Far Side, and this cartoon is a reminder of how quickly it could come for any character. This is also representative of Gary Larson's "aftermath" technique – that is, setting a joke in the moments after something shocking or out of the ordinary has happened.
7 The Far Side Reminds Readers To Always Check Where They Stick Their Toes – Even Their Own Shoes
First Published: June 3, 1980
One of The Far Side's greatest tricks was presenting a recognizable scenario from an unfamiliar, or alien perspective. Sometimes, Gary Larson used actual aliens to accomplish this. Just as often, he used animals, insects, and even objects as POV characters, to emphasize just how strange humans and their world around them are.
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The Far Side Complete Collection
$71 $125 Save $54
Fans of the far side can't pass up this master collection of Gary Larson's finest work. Originally published in hardcover in 2003, this paperback set comes complete with a newly designed slipcase that will look great on any shelf. The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever published, which amounts to over 4,000, plus more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book and even some made after Larson retired.
Here, a scorpion is freaking out, because the shoe it was sleeping in was abruptly invaded by "this hideous thing with five heads" – that is, the foot the shoe belongs to. Darkly, the bare-footed is shown lying prone in the background, suggesting that the scorpion's sting was fatal, or at least severe enough to render the human unconscious.
6 One Of The Far Side's Rare Humans Who Appreciated Nature – And Paid For It
First Published: July 22, 1980
In this dark wordless Far Side comic, a mountain climber arrives at a precipice and, overwhelmed by the scope of nature, feels compelled to call out "helloooooooo" – only to be promptly knocked off the cliff by a rock slide, caused by his hollering.
As mentioned, death often came out of nowhere for unfortunate Far Side characters, but in this case, that is not exactly true, as Gary Larson sketches the rocks that will take out the mountaineer in the top-right of the comic's split-panel. In any case, the abruptness of the character's demise will lead to its share of "My God!" reactions, especially with his "helloooo" cascading into a series of "ows" the bottom-left of the panel.
5 The Far Side's Animals And Humans Had Unconventional Relationships
First Published: August 12, 1980
In this panel, a human woman covered in severe-looking welts and a porcupine break up over drinks, with one of them – presumably the woman, though it remains open to interpretation – saying they "don't feel the relationship is working out," with the obvious reasons why left politely unstated.
Once again, Gary Larson tackles a taboo with this Far Side cartoon, which will garner "My God!" reactions from its very premise, and then even more with the illustration of the woman covered in porcupine stings. As far as The Far Side was "edgy," this cartoon helped shape that reputation, and it remains one that is highly likely to prompt a strong response from readers.
4 The Far Side's Bears Ate Well Over The Years
First Published: September 3, 1980
Not only were bears a common Far Side sight, but humans being eaten by bears was seemingly a favorite recurring joke for Gary Larson. In fact, bears might have the highest body count in Far Side history, aside from nature itself, and random cruel twists of fate, which routinely befell Larson's characters.
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Here, a man cowers in a tree as a mother bear shakes him out like a piece of fruit, as her cubs jump for joy, while she asks "who wants dark meat and who wants white?" The panel's humor and its "My God!" reaction stem from the same place, in this case, as both derive from the looks of delight on the bears' faces, in contrast to their human prey's terror.
3 Executions Were A Casual Affair On The Far Side
First Published: October 9, 1980
The Far Side frequently depicted the moment after a character's shocking death – but it also regularly found comedy in the moments just before. In this case, the shock is literal, as a man prepares for execution by electric chair, though both the horror and the humor of the cartoon derive from the same source. That is, the anticipation for it to happen, which is delayed, as the prison officials flip the switch a few times, to no avail.
"The contact points must be dirty," one of them says, unbothered by the delay, all while the condemned man sweats, his life extended for a few extra moments of existential dread, the sight of which will make many sympathetic readers say "My God!"
2 Without Question, This Is One Of The Darkest Far Side Comics Gary Larson Ever Published
First Published: November 10, 1980
In this panel, two pairs of legs are depicted sticking up in the air, their chairs upended, as a man sits across the table holding a smoking shotgun, looking down at it in dismay. "That settles it, Carl," his wife admonishes him, after he's blown away their guests, "from now on you're only getting decaffeinated coffee."
Admittedly, the shocking quality of this joke is deeply embedded in the effectiveness of its humor, but even with that in mind, this is certainly one of Gary Larson's most unflinchingly dark jokes, as a dinner party faux pas is taken to a homicidal extreme, in a way that few other Far Side comic entirely matched over the years.
1 The Far Side Often Balanced Precariously On The Edge Of Offensive
First Published: December 27, 1980
To be fair, The Far Side offended many people during its run, but in retrospect, that seems to have most often been a product of Gary Larson's humor clashing with readers' sensibilities. That is, as much as The Far Side was willing to shock readers, it was never outright intended to offend – that would have gotten it taken out of newspapers.
That said, it managed to toe that line, in terms of the "edgy" humor his publishers were willing to print, by layering his jokes about taboo topics with absurdity, and often outright silliness. That is the case with this panel, in which a woman calls 911 to report that a kangeroo is on the ledge of her high rise building, and he "really looks like he's going to jump." Once again, this Far Side might put off readers by making jokes about such a serious subject, but that was a calculated risk to get their attention, and more importantly, get a reaction.
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The Far Side
The Far Side is a humorous comic series developed by Gary Larson. The series has been in production since 1979 and features a wide array of comic collections, calendars, art, and other miscellaneous items.
English (US) ·