Summary
Garfieldis easily one of the most recognizable and beloved characters of all time, with many fans introduced to Garfield through his television series, his feature films, and even a few live-action adaptations. Not to mention, Garfield has essentially become the official mascot of lasagna. However, as much asGarfield has become a cultural icon, there’s still nothing that can compare to his original form: the comic strip.
Created by Jim Davis in 1977,Garfieldfollows the misadventures of a fat, orange, lazy cat and his owner, Jon, along with a plethora of side-characters including Odie, Nermal, and Arlene. The comic strip has a wide range of comedic styles, from ongoing gags and hilarious pranks, to dry humor and wild absurdism. There’s truly never a dull moment in the world ofGarfieldcomics, and as of July 2024, a month’s worth of them turned 40 years old - including one of Jon’s grossest mistakes. Here are10 of the funniestGarfieldstrips from July 1984!
10 Funniest Garfield Comics That Just Turned 30 (In June 2024)
Garfield is normally sarcastic, but 30 years ago, he had some of his funniest physical comedy gags. Here are 10 of the best strips from June 1994!
10Garfield Bends the Fabric of Space and Time to Prank Odie
Garfield- August 16, 2025
In an earlier comic published in June 1984, Garfield gets so mad at Odie that he literally kicks him into next week. This was actually a running gag, as Odie was missing from an entire week’s worth of comics. And this is the comic that features Odie’s return, and Garfield’s comeuppance. As Garfield is lying peacefully in his bed, he’s suddenly struck by a falling Odie, forced to accept the painful consequences of his own actions.
The funniest part of this comic (and the ones leading up to it) is the utter absurdity of them.Garfield literally ripped a hole through the fabric of reality to prank Odie, sending him on a journey through time and space that made him skip forward a week - and land right on top of Garfield.
9Garfield has a Heartwarming Moment with His Best Friend, Pooky
Garfield- July 09, 2025
Garfield is usually an overwhelmingly sarcastic and pessimistic trickster who loves nothing more than to pull pranks on those closest to him, but on occasion, he can show his more tender side - and this comic is no exception. Garfield is with his best friend/stuffed bear Pooky, talking about how he knows that Pooky loves him while making it clear that he loves Pooky very much as well. The strip ends withGarfield giving Pooky a big hug, appreciating everything his best friend adds to his life.
This strip may not be the funniest of the bunch, but it is incredibly sweet on a level that fans rarely see from Garfield, making it a standout moment in the orange cat’s history that’s worth highlighting now that it has just turned 40 years old.
8Pooky May Not Be as ‘Imaginary’ as Garfield Might Have Thought
Garfield- June 09, 2025
As the previous comic strip confirmed, Pooky is Garfield’s best friend, though Garfield is well aware that he’s more of an ‘imaginary’ friend, since Pooky is just a stuffed bear. However, in this comic,Garfield is startled to realize that Pooky may not be as ‘imaginary’ as he originally thought. Garfield is holding a hoop up to Pooky, and Jon asks what he’s doing. Garfield says that he’s pretending to teach Pooky tricks, but when he turns his head to look at the stuffed bear again, he’s shocked to see that Pooky actually jumped through the hoop.
This isn’t the first time Pooky has shown signs of sentience, but this was the first time Garfield actually made note of the fact that Pooky was seemingly alive rather than just ignoring it, and he was utterly taken aback.
7Jon’s Grossest Mistake is When Garfield Switched His Tuna for Cat Food
Garfield- August 05, 2025
Garfield is a known prankster, and one of his favorite pastimes is messing with Jon. In one such instance,Garfield decides it would be funny if he switched the labels on his cat food and Jon’s tuna. Sure enough, Jon soon makes a meal using his ‘tuna’, and when he takes a big bite of it, he’s horrified to discover that it wasn’t tuna that he was eating at all, but cat food, which is easily his most disgusting mistake inGarfieldcanon.
What’s even funnier is that the dish Jon made with the ‘tuna’ was meant not only as dinner for himself, but as a special treat for Garfield. In other words, Garfield missed the chance to enjoy a tuna meal with his person, so the prank backfired on him as well.
6Garfield’s Hatred of Mondays Intensifies with 1 Major Inconvenience: Power Failure
Garfield- July 14, 2025
It’s a universally recognized fact that Garfield hates Mondays, but some Mondays are definitely more worthy of his hatred than others - this one included. When Garfield is lying in his bed, seemingly depressed because another Monday has come again, Jon tells him that he shouldn’t be sad, since anything bad that could happen on a Monday has already happened. And then, Jon is immediately proven wrong by a power outage.
Funny enough, while the power outage was definitely a bit of bad luck that’s typical for a ‘Garfield Monday’, the fact that Jon was proven wrong so suddenly actually put Garfield in a better mood. MaybethisMonday isn’t so bad after all. Then again,power failure is a major inconvenience for a lazy house cat like Garfield, so Jon being proven wrong may not overshadow that grim reality.
5Garfield has Even More of a Reason to Hate This Particular Monday: Double Power Failure
Garfield- August 09, 2025
After a few comic strips detailing how Jon and Garfield are keeping it together during this power outage, the lights finally cut back on, and Jon says that he can’t think of anything worse than a power outage. Then, as if on cue, the power went out yet again. So,Garfield tells Jon one thing that he can think of that’s worse than power failure: two power failures.
Like before, the fact that Jon was wrong yet again made this Monday just a little bit brighter for Garfield (ironically, since they were literally trapped in the dark). However, at the end of the day, Garfield still didn’t have power in his home, which remained a major inconvenience that only a day as inherently crummy as Monday could possibly deliver.
4Garfield Deserves Every Bit of Pain He Gets When He Tries to Eat Jon’s New Fish
Garfield- Jul 17, 2025
Jon, being the animal lover that he is, decides to get a new pet for his household: a fish. But, given that he already has a cat that will eat anything he can, any chance he gets, Jon makes it clear to Garfield that he’d be wise to avoid trying to eat this particular fish. However, Garfield doesn’t pick now to start listening to what Jon has to say, so he scoops the fish out of its bowl to eat it the moment Jon leaves the room.
Perhaps in an effort to teach Garfield a lesson, Jon decided to buy a fish with sharp teeth and an apparent taste for cats. WhenGarfield sticks his fingers in the bowl, the fish takes a giant chomp. And in true Garfield fashion, he blames Jon for the entire situation, vowing to make him pay for it.
3Garfield Stays True to His Word & Makes Jon Pay for the Fish Incident
Garfield- August 15, 2025
Before Jon got home from work one day, Garfield decided it was time to make him pay, just like he said he would after that fish bit him. So, Garfield snuck through the house and hid in a secret spot, waiting for Jon to get home to prank him. When Jon finally does return, he’s expecting Garfield to make a move, checking all the cat’s usual hiding places. But, when he can’t find Garfield, Jon just sits in his chair, only for a book to fall on his head from the bookcase behind him.
Garfield knew Jon would eventually sit in his favorite chair if he couldn’t find him, and he used that knowledge to his advantage. In an almost uncharacteristic display of physical effort,Garfield climbed the bookcase and waited to drop a book on Jon’s head, and the payoff was definitely worth it.
2Jon Finds Out the Hard Way What Happens When You Ask Garfield Stupid Questions
Garfield- July 26, 2025
Jon approaches Garfield as he’s lying in his bed, presumably fairly late in the day, as Jon asks, “Are you going to sleep all day, Garfield?”. To that, Garfield snarkily tells him to wait while he ‘checks his calendar’, telling him, “there’s high tea with the Queen of England tomorrow, but nothing today”. Garfield then promptly goes right back to sleep,leaving Jon with the cold reminder of what happens when one asks stupid questions… they get stupid answers.
This comic is a perfect depiction of who Garfield is as a character: lazy, snarky, and mean to Jon. These are the reasons fans love the fat orange cat so much, and funny enough, they’re also the reasons why Jon is almost always at his wits' end with Garfield.
1Garfield’s Unique Beach Day Quickly Turns into an All-He-Can-Eat Buffet
Garfield- June 20, 2025
Garfield saunters through the house one summer day with a beach towel and sunglasses, when an obviously overtired Jon asks him where he’s off to. Garfield tells him that he’s going to the beach, only to just walk across the yard to Jon’s birdbath. When he gets there, Garfield says, “Hello, beach” while a little bird splashing around in the birdbath looks down at the approaching cat in utter shock and horror.
It seemsGarfield’s idea of going to the beach means hanging out at Jon’s birdbath and trying to eat the birds that are using it. It makes sense that Garfield would turn a ‘beach day’ into a potential ‘all-he-can-eat buffet’ (so long as he caught a few birds, that is), and it also tracks that Garfield wouldn’t actually leave the house, being the lazy house cat that he is. All-in-all, this strip is classicGarfield, making it one of the 10 funniest comics that just turned 40.
The Garfield Movie
Cast
The Garfield Movie, released in 2024, follows Garfield, the lasagna-loving cat, as he embarks on an outdoor adventure with his canine companion Odie. The journey begins when Garfield is unexpectedly reunited with his long-lost father, Vic, leading them to join a comedic, high-stakes heist.
