WithThe Far Side, writer and artist Gary Larson proved to be an expert at taking the mundane and making it exceptional. Larson’s humor drew on familiar ideas and iconography from popular culture, real world history, the natural world, and more, always with the goal of turning something readers recognized on its head, in order toget a reaction out ofThe Far Side’saudience.
Larson’s humor was defined by an idiosyncratic perspective on everyday life, whichallowed him to take even the most seemingly banal subject and strain it through his particular worldview so that, in the process, he converted it into something unusual.
In a sense, this madeThe Far Sidea skewed kind of observational humor; despite how bizarre the strip could be, Larson was always first and foremost preoccupied with human behavior, human traditions, and the daily lives of humans, something that is evident from his warped depictions of common activities and experiences.
10On The Far Side, Nothing Says Relaxing Like Tending Your Appliance Garden
First Published: July 19, 2025
In thisstrange but highly amusingFar Sidecartoon, a woman isdepicted in the middle of a common everyday household chore, watering the garden – except rather than fruits and vegetables, she is growing a crop of vacuums and clothing irons.
The joke here is at once obvious and inscrutable, in the manner of many of Gary Larson’s best cartoons; this comic exemplifies Larson’s innate ability to subvert the familiar in order to get a reaction out of the reader. As “out there” asThe Far Sidehas a reputation for being, it always operated from a starting point that readers could recognize – so that Larson could take them on a journey they couldn’t anticipate with just a single panel.
9Gary Larson’s Twisted Take On A Boy And His Dog
First Published: July 05, 2025
ThisFar Sidepanel remixes a classic Americana portrait of a boy sitting on the front steps of his house with an arm around his pet dog, andGary Larson’s love of Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s monster. The result is a disturbing, yet thoroughly amusingillustration of an all-American youth, with his stitched-together zombie dog, with the panel captioned “young Jimmy Frankstenstein” to drive home the punchline.
What makes thisFar Sidecomic so effective is the way that Larson takes an enduring concept from American culture, the “boy and his dog,” and warps it by adding an incongruous element. This dissonance, between the familiar and the unexpected, was at the root of many of Gary Larson’s best jokes, and this is a straightforward, but memorable example of that.
8The Far Side Made Suburbia A Stranger, More Dangerous Place
First Published: August 04, 2025
One ofThe Far Side’sAcme salespeopleencounters one of Gary Larson’s strange takes on the classic “beware of dog” sign – which, with the addition of a single letter, because “beware of Doug.” While this wordplay is certainly amusing, what makes this comic particularly funny is the illustration ofthe man Doug in question, poorly hidden behind a tree in this otherwise idyllic suburban front yard.
This Far Side Comic Was “Hell” for Gary Larson to Draw, But Now He Knows What He Got Wrong
This Far Side comic may still make readers laugh, but it took hours to get right, with Gary Larson remembering it as “my long day in hell.”
Gary Larson excelled at taking familiar imagery and scenarios and altering them for great comedic effect; sometimes he changed things radically, while in instances like thisFar Sidecartoon, it only took a small change to get a big laugh. In either case, though, the importance was the simple, immediately recognizable premise from which he derived a wildly off-kilter, unexpected conclusion.
7Gary Larson Tackles Infrastructure Problems At The Micro Level
First Published: July 31, 2025
Here,an ordinary day at the playground for a group of kids turns into an impeding disaster, as three boys realize that the slide is broken in the middle– but not until they have taken off at full speed. “At the head of the train, Russell was first to notice the slide was out.”
Taking the idea of an actual train encountering a busted track, Gary Larson gleefully twists this premise by actually lowering the stakes; or rather, with thisFar Sidecartoon, he scales down the situation to a childhood scope, though for the trio ofnerdyFar Sidekidsabout to fall through the collapsed part of the slide, it is no less severe than an actual derailment.
6Keeping The Kitchen Organized Can Be A Dangerous Prospect On The Far Side
First Published: August 16, 2025
Every cohabitating couple has their minor disagreements over where things should go, particularly in the kitchen, and that ubiquitous experience is extrapolated to hilarious lengths in thisFar Sidecartoon.“You know, it’s really dumb to keep this right next to the ceral,” a rat housewife says, pulling a box of rat poison out of the kitchen cabinet, as her husband narrows his eyes at her over his newspaper.
“In fact, I don’t know why we keep this stuff around in the first place” she adds, in a rare instance where Gary Larson seems to have wanted his punchline to come across as clearly as possible, rather thanrisking being lost in obscurity. In this way, he doubles down on taking the humdrum and making it ridiculous.
5Gary Larson Turns Going To The Bank Into A Harrowing Ordeal
First Published: July 10, 2025
In thisFar Sidecomic, a woman shouts out her window after “Sidney,” who she has apparently just sent to the bank –in the process alerting the shady characters in the alleyway next to her building that he is carrying a large amount of cash.
The Far Side Complete Collection
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.
“Deposit the $50 check into savings,” the woman clarifies at the top of her lungs, “and put the $500 in cash into checking.” In this way,Gary Larson turns an ordinary, everyday procedure– that is, banking, or keeping track of one’s finances – into a high stakes moment, the lack of resolution to which is essential to its humor. The “center” of the joke, so to speak, rests in the total obliviousness of the speaker to her, and more importantly Sidney’s, surroundings.
4Gary Larson Crafts A Comic All Forlorn Lovers & Insomniacs Can Relate To
First Published: July 17, 2025
Inthis split-imageFar Sidepanel, Gary Larson delivers one of his all-time most relatable jokes. Almost everyFar Sidereader – both those who encountered it in newspapers during its time in publication, and those who have discovered Larson’s work in retrospect – has, at some point or another, lay awake at night thinking about something. Here, that nearly-universal experience is converted into high comedy, asa man lies in bed wondering if the woman he likes knows he exists, while she is in her own bed, thinking about vanilla.
This punchline is particularly effective because Gary Larson uses human characters here, further elevating the sense of connection many readers will make to the situation presented here. While this joke certainly would have worked if the characters were anthropomorphized animals, literally humanizing theseFar Sidecharacters in this instance seemed to have been the best possible creative decision.
3Vacations Were Never Cut-And-Dry On The Far Side
First Published: June 27, 2025
“Mom! Jerry still won’t keep his tentacles on his side,” a young aquatic animal shouts from the backseat of its parents' car, in one ofGary Larson’s many cartoons about squid. This simple, but effectiveFar Sidepaneluses Larson’s familiar technique of anthropomorphizing animals in order to comment on human behavior – in this case, the trials and tribulations of a family road trip.
Captioned “the squid family on vacation,” Larson takes the widely familiar experience of siblings fighting in the back of a car, while their beleaguered parents sit up front, and amplifies the inherent silliness of this everyday situation by transposing sea creatures into the scenario. This was one of the artist’s go-to moves withThe Far Side, and this panel illustrates why.
2Having Guests Was Always An Ordeal On The Far Side
First Published: July 10, 2025
Most readers will recognize the experience of having visitors who overstay their welcome, and just as many will have, at one point or another, accidentally let an unwanted bug into their house. Gary Larson brilliantly melds the two experiences in thisFar Sidepanel, as a pair of moth homeowners have reached their limit with their guests.
“Compared To the Next Cartoon, It’s Very Normal”: Far Side’s Longtime Editor On What Made Gary Larson’s Creative Process So Unique
In his introduction to “The Complete Far Side,” Gary Larson’s longtime editor revealed what he admired most about the artist’s singular creativity.
“John, open the door and turn on the porch light,” the moth wife tells her husband, “see if that gets rid of them,“as the interlopers sit across from them with oblivious looks on their faces.As with manyFar Sidecartoons, the funniest part of this panel is the way Gary Larson draws his characters' eyes – one pair full of frustration, while the other are wide and innocent.
1The Far Side Is No Place To Raise A Family
First Published: August 23, 2025
In this hilariousFar Sidepanel, Gary Larson offers a twisted interpretation of the chaos inherent in large households –taking this idea to the extreme, in this case, bymaking it a family of bugs. Specifically, cockroaches, asan over-extended cockroach mom complains to her husband, who sits in a recliner reading “The Cockroach Courier,” that she’s ready “to start smashing them herself.”
A swarm of cockroaches scurrying all over their kitchen would be a major inconvenience for a human parent, and the stress of raising children is relatable to many ofThe Far Side’sreaders. Here, Gary Larson taps into both of those familiar aspects of day-to-day life, and warps them together in his patended style, with the result being a laugh-out-loudFar Sidepanel.
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.
