Why THE FAR SIDE is a masterclass in storytelling

[@reedsawyer5704]

Years ago I took a date to the Orlando Science Museum. They had a Far Side exhibition. Simply large blowups of his cartoons on fancy paper. So, you would walk around and read his cartoons...and laugh. Then you would read another one, and laugh. Each and every cartoon was just a blowup of one of his cartoons, and they were ALL hilarious. The best museum exhibit I have ever seen. Loved him.

[@ffrederickskitty4607]

Entering his exhibit in Golden Gate Park you looked up to see the kid in the red striped shirt and glasses looking down at you through his microscope. Brilliant.

[@davidhuber7166]

Dave is that you...

[@MrEazyE357]

And everyone knows it. So many cartoonists still copy his style. I always had a Far Side calendar growing up.

[@Gundog55]

A reporter interviewed Gary’s mother and asked “When did you first notice his odd sense of humor?” Without skipping a beat she answered “When I woke him for his second day of kindergarten. He said “What? Again?”😂😂

[@realjettlag]

I came here to mention Doris. My parents knew the Larsons (I just met them a few times) and one of the highlights of the holidays every year was getting Doris' Christmas letter. Gary got it all from his folks-both valued humor and intelligence and didn't mind laughing at themselves and their family...and humoring the occasional nosy child asking far too many questions about their decor. 😏

[@evanthesquirrel]

That was my son's reaction to his first week.

[@michelslaura]

That's hilarious!

[@elgoog-the-third]

Lol, according to my mom, after my first day of school, I also was not at all thrilled that I'd have to go there again the next day.

[@insideoutsideupsidedown2218]

I thought that every day until the last day in high school, and i miss none of it.

[@Tommo44]

One favourite I’ve never forgotten, a beggar on the street asking passers by if they have a ‘spare armadillo?’ Walking towards him along the sidewalk is a guy with two armadillos tucked underneath his arm. He’s thinking to himself, ‘Dang, how am I gonna get past this guy’. So funny, cracks me up.

[@andrew_s848]

I don’t remember ever seeing that one but somehow based on how you described it, I feel like I can picture it exactly in my mind in his style and it is funny as hell

[@lylebrownrigg7403]

My favorite was 2 aliens sitting outside of a crashed spaceship and one remarks to the other, "One bee gets inside and you just freak out!"

[@peterpeterson4800]

Oh boy, two armadillos? That's twice the chance of catching lepracy, yay!

[@Tommo44]

@@peterpeterson4800 I don’t know about the armadillo-lepracy connection. Sounds creepy though 😳😶‍🌫️

[@peterswires8439]

​@@Tommo44 Armadillos are one of the few creatures other than humans that can get leprosy.

[@andrew_s848]

The Far Side was and is brilliant, and still think of it almost daily when I’m feeding my dogs, how excited they are. Every single time. “Oh boy!…it’s dog food AGAIN!”

[@robadams5799]

Everything you do is amazing to your dog. All you have to do is come home from work and they just can't believe how lucky they are to see you again.

[@jamescollins3647]

@@robadams5799 They like you to think that way, remember you go to work they don't. LOL.

[@mpdunphy]

I think of it when wondering what dogs are saying: “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!”

[@kiwitrainguy]

When you feed a dog, the dog smiles and thinks to itself "There must be a God”. But when you feed a cat, along with the attention they get, they’re thinking "I must be God".

[@RErnie-gv1hv]

@@kiwitrainguy There is no, "I must be" with cats. Only, "I AM".

[@stephenfennell]

It's amazing how just reading the verbal descriptions of many Far Side cartoons, without ever having seen them, makes me laugh out loud!

[@rockyroad7345]

It's SUPPOSED to be a rat hole!

[@veganvocalist4782]

SAME ;D

[@z3245861]

So true. And in the same way, it is amazing is how easy it is for me to relate a Gary Larson cartoon without the picture and get a laugh.

[@B.Ies_T.Nduhey]

Most amazing thing is that they CAN be described with a few words, and still cash in the laugh... I don't know any others that systematically can. Most times the joke is destroyed.

[@michaelbujaki2462]

As the three astronauts reenter the atmosphere in their capsule, one of them exclaims "Aw nuts, I forgot to get the rocks out of the lander!"

[@peterzerfass4609]

Larson was a huge hit in the scientific community. Literally everyone had one pinned somewhere in the office or the lab even years after he stopped doing them.

[@patriot9455]

My doctor's med clinic has one of his masterpieces on the wall

[@kiyote437]

My aunt used to be a biology professor, and she is a big fan of The Far Side.

[@hanshans387]

I don't think I've ever been to a lab which didn't have a larson cartoon pinned to a noticeboard somewhere, even today!

[@chellesama8256]

A thagomizer is the distinctive arrangement of four spikes on the tails of stegosaurine dinosaurs. These spikes are believed to have been a defensive measure against predators. The arrangement of spikes originally had no distinct name. Guess where they got the name?

[@realjettlag]

@@chellesama8256 It's a lovely tribute and one of the reasons I studied paleontology.

[@melissahdawn]

Interesting fact, as part of my outpatient rehabilitation after severe nervous system/brain injury I was told to spend at minimum 1 hour per day reading humorous things, I asked if I could read a book of Farside comics, and it was not only approved, but highly recommended!

[@timq6224]

something to make you think...did it work? =)

[@melissahdawn]

@timq6224 well, if the goal was to overcome depression it definitely helped....like all cures that are part of a larger regime. I told my daughter that a piece of candy would cause weight loss when part of a guaranteed weight-loss diet (I think reading the farside books daily sorta molded my perspective on all things). 😃

[@Lppt87]

They asked you to laugh, if that made you laugh they would say yes. It does not mean the quality of the work. Just laugh.

[@mortalclown3812]

​@@Lppt87 Stttttaaaahhhpp

[@jtischCB]

@melissahdawn Secondary progressive MS here-- thanks for this new idea! 💡 I shall begin posthaste with the humor/laughter/funny therapy.

[@soulubilityofficial6635]

My favorite one is a guy in an orchestra who is supposed to have two cymbals to crash together but he only has one. There’s a thought bubble that appears above his head that says “This time I won’t screw up. I won’t I won’t I won’t I won’t…” but then the caption at the bottom reads “Roger screws up.”

[@TheHansoost]

That was one of his few "cymbolic" cartoons. Lol.

[@gerade-aus]

That's cymbalism

[@CEOBrien]

@@gerade-aus That deserves many likes, Sir!

[@macronencer]

Just reading descriptions of Larson's work in the comments here is making me laugh almost as hard as seeing the cartoons themselves, which goes to show that although the pictures are funny, it's the conceptual core that matters. Gary Larson is a master of ideas.

[@sternenfresser]

Even the newspaper complaint letter descriptions of them are hilarious.

[@marshwetland3808]

@@sternenfresser I'm astounded anyone would complain about his cartoons, but then I don't get normie values - lol

[@seandoherty4236]

I just wrote the same comment. The comments remembering them make me burst out laughing.

[@nothingruler14All]

I loved me some Far Side and had all the books as a young person. The one that never failed to make me hoot and cackle was the image of two spiders who've just finished spinning a web at the bottom of a playground slide. One says to the other, "If we pull this off, we'll eat like kings."

[@katbrown1449]

Damn right!! My mom bought them for me. She love dthem too. 4he best!! Wnet to the dentist today: trivia:" just for fun, let's see if w ecan fit this tennis ball in there ". Recognize that ?

[@ntvypr4820]

THAT was one of my favs, and have used it many times in my life.😂

[@oftenlucid]

I love that one too. And it encompasses a "What If" mentality I like to apply to life. . . briefly thought about getting it as a tattoo. . . It parallels the Princess Bride Quote: Buttercup : We'll never survive. Westley : Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever has. The good bits are the unbridled optimism these two things contain.

[@josephmorin8941]

I liked the one where in a courtroom, a defense lawyer is asking the jury "does this look like the face of a killer?" While pointing to the classic smiley face.

[@DRHucke]

I tell that one to people every so often, especially if they say, "No, I never heard of 'The Far Side'." It always cracks them up!

[@tracytaylor5115]

I love the one where an alien trips on the stairs as he descends from his spaceship, while humans look on. Another alien, looking out from the door of the ship says, “So much for instilling them with a sense of awe.”

[@dalehall2067]

This is the second day of April 2021 and we should really think of Joe Biden in a Foreside humor. But then Biden is humor

[@RErnie-gv1hv]

@@dalehall2067 Thanks for turning it political, Dale.

[@jeannefoster5594]

@@dalehall2067 anything can be turned into something to laugh at, including you.

[@notsorandumusername]

@@jeannefoster5594 I can see you speak from personal experience.

[@JTA1961]

Readin comments it became clear that... we~all be trippin...

[@largebills337]

Gary Larson was indeed the King of one panel storytelling. One of my favorites was the family dog brandishing a revolver and saying "Listen Bucko. I'm through begging" while standing beside the dinner table. That was one of the most hilarious panels I've ever seen and I have been a diehard Larson fan ever since. The man is brilliant.

[@riverraisin1]

To this very day, every time I push on a door that says pull I always proclaim to whomever I'm with, "I went to the school for the gifted". Thanks, Gary!

[@JTA1961]

Isn't that honkey~door~ie

[@MrScrofulous]

I say that whenever I do anything stupid.

[@petcatznz]

Me too. That image is indelibly etched in my brain. It's so deliciously clever. 😊

[@MrScrofulous]

@@petcatznz Along with, "bummer of a birthmark, Hal" and "She's looking good, Vern"

[@maryrosekent8223]

While there aren’t any new Gary Larson cartoons, it’s still possible to buy his books and annual page-a-day calendars online. The good news is, they never get old!

[@ObservantHistorian]

The first of the three complaint letters that flash by was regarding the one where the female chimp is grooming the male, finds a blond hair, and says accusingly, "Well, well...another blond hair...Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?" The director of the Goodall Institute (at the time) threw a long-winded self-righteous fit, saying it was "inexcusable to refer to Dr. Goodall as a tramp," "obscene," etc. It's worth a read, if you pause the video! Here's the kicker: My ex-wife used to work for Jane Goodall. The director's tirade must have come before Jane Goodall had ever seen the cartoon, because she was tickled by it when she did finally see it! The original drawing of that Larson cartoon now hangs proudly in the lobby of the Goodall Institute headquarters, and has for years! BTW, I cannot accept Garfield in the same category as The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, or Peanuts. I have always thought Garfield banal and stupid, and compared to those other masterpieces, it is like margarine to butter.

[@grantm6514]

Yes, I paused it to read those letters, holy cow there are some uptight people in the world, and my eyes nearly popped out when I saw that one was from the Goodall Institute, that an idiot! The joke relies *entirely* on the reader knowing who Jane Goodall is/was and her work, so to call it an 'atrocity' and an 'obscenity' is astonishing.

[@ObservantHistorian]

​@@grantm6514 Yeah, and the cartoon doesn't imply that Jane Goodall is a tramp! To me, the cartoon was playing on the idea of the female's unfounded jealousy and lack of faith in her mate, like a wife accusing her husband of carry on with his secretary, when he really IS just working late! Some people just go out of their way to be offended.

[@elizabethpiccolo5534]

I read that Jane Goodall thought it was a hoot!

[@stevemartin4249]

@@elizabethpiccolo5534 Yep. Verified. She has a great sense of humor.

[@darylking265]

Gary wrote about the controversy in a book I read. After the controversy, the Goodall institute asked Gary for permission to use the cartoon as part of a fundraiser.

[@johnbrennick8738]

I love the one frame in which a cow is suddenly realizing with anger “this is grass! We’ve been eating grass!”

[@dcdc148]

Far side never never never gets old .

[@osfbg9901]

The duck sitting under a tree on a small deserted island with “QUACK” written out in stones. Gets me every time.

[@guyfroml]

I loved the one where the Vet school student breezed through Equine medicine. The remedy for every ailment was "shoot."

[@promiskept]

@@adrianmeerman6493 Even without seeing the cartoon itself, this description draws the humorous depiction in our minds! I'm laughing with you!!

[@mayorb3366]

He had a number of funny deserted island panels. My favorite was the one where a box washes up to the shore. The castaway opens it to find a pet turtle habitat bowl with an island and a palm tree in it. I got cracked up again just typing this!

[@mollflanders9314]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@osfbg9901]

lee wang ..... You quack me up. Great reply !

[@BaronVonQuiply]

One September Sunday in the fall (really late summer by the calendar but this far North it's fall) of 1991 I was at my grandparents house in an attached garage going through a stack of newspapers looking for the comics when I found a Sunday issue from a few weeks prior on August 26th, 1991 showing a small flying saucer float down and land in front of a man, an alien creature gets out, bonks the guy on the head, and then gets back in and flies away. The caption reads "Henry never knew what hit him". My favorite Far Side joke.

[@Booboobear-eo4es]

I liked the Far Side cartoon of two sabretooth tigers walking away from a club and bearskin on the ground. One is licking his chops. The other says, "I've heard all kinds of sounds from these things, but 'yabba dabba doo' was a new one on me."

[@4_vaccuum_salesman_of_marr944]

Lmao, never saw that one.

[@PiercePlikett]

KZbin only showed me to “I’ve heard all kinds of sounds from these things…”, and I instantly thought “but Yabba Dabba Doo is a new one.” The Far Side is awesome.

[@kevincharbonneau5953]

Thanks for sharing😄

[@sueparras6028]

Sounds like one I would love. I used to love reading the Far Side in the funnies in the newspaper. I really miss that. 😢❤

[@leecowell8165]

How about the lions saying "I like these things, crunchy on the outside chewy in the middle".

[@douglashalliday8235]

My fav. An open box from a pogo stick company lies on the apartment floor of a high rise. A few dots on the carpet and a smashed window with sky scrapers outside. This one just sends the whole story of the pogo stick owner who couldn’t wait to try it out.

[@gfixler]

I remember as a kid laughing extra hard at the lion in the elevator joke, because it wasn't just that the doors with going to startle the lion, but that it was also closing them all in a confined space with him. The thing that would send the lion into murder mode was the same thing that would ensure there was no escape. It could have just been someone walking by about to step on the lion's tail at an outdoor party, but the fact it was the doors of an elevator put it way over the top. Also, where we're positioned makes it funnier, because you can imagine two seconds later, all the muffled roaring and screaming coming from behind the now-closed doors, and imagine it rising up the shaft, with all the screams fading into the distance. It's all so tight and brilliant.

[@mariaeugenia9387]

Congratulations: You made a far side cartoon scary.

[@B.Ies_T.Nduhey]

​@@mariaeugenia9387It's always been that 😆

[@WhiteTiger333]

Now I wonder if the reason some people don't "get" the Far Side is that their imagination won't go to the places that The Far Side takes us. Hmmmm...I never thought of it that way, but I think you hit on the reason right there.

[@B.Ies_T.Nduhey]

@@WhiteTiger333 In an elevator?? 😂🤣😂🤣

[@haroldfisher1302]

One of my favs..........Two cavemen next to a huge mammoth they felled with a single tiny arrow to its rump. One says to the other......"Maybe we should write that spot down"

[@frglee]

The 'accidents waiting to happen' cartoons are the ones I like best. Like the parachuting school located next to an alligator farm. Or the Large Birds of Prey training club located right next to a miniature dog show in the next field.

[@Roddy556]

"Uh, let's see. I'll try the mammoth, please."

[@spikespa5208]

Dogs in a laboratory looking out at the cat in a tree. "For years the dog scientists struggled to solve the mystery of the doorknob."

[@WhiteTiger333]

Wasn't there another one where two mammoths are grazing, and a bunch of cavemen had stuck several little spears in the rear of one of them. The mammoth looked thoughtful, and said to the other mammoth, "That's odd, my neck suddenly feels better".

[@bobklatt9826]

@@spikespa5208 I thought they believed it would change their lives forever? 🤣

[@lw216316]

There are sermons I have forgotten. There are songs I have forgotten. There are promises I have forgotten. There are Far Side cartoons that seem stuck in my head forever. Like the one where in his retirement years the Lone Ranger is reading an old Indian dictionary that defines the word kee-mo-sa-bee - it says the rear end of a horse. I still laugh every time I think of it.

[@johnlozauskas778]

Thanks for the giggle!!!

[@very_tall_dude]

BONELESS CHICKEN RANCH

[@TampaDave]

Actually, "Tonto" basically means "stupid" in Spanish.

[@lw216316]

@@TampaDave I looked it up and confirmed what you said. So I guess Tonto got his revenge !

[@sterling557]

Airline pilots over the intercom: " Looks like we have some turbulence ahead. Whoo Hoop! Woo! Oh, I guess we made it through. Wait, I think there's MORE!"

[@paulrandig]

It is no coincidence that the office doors of the most intelligent university professors often have Gary Larson cartoons taped to them.

[@arthurcutaiar9994]

Back when college professors were intelligent instead of evil robotic demonrats

[@B9M3]

Or they're just trying to look intelligent and cool to their students.

[@scurvyknave3462]

It takes a special kind of surrealist sense of humor to imagine "The Far Side" into existence. Two of my favorites are: The dog showing another dog around his trophy room and pointing to a hand mounted on the wall and says, "And that's the hand that fed me." A panel depicting a man in a store with impossibly high shelves and an inattentive clerk captioned ",Inconvenience Store"

[@jamesleland536]

This is fabulous

[@NidgeOSullivan]

@John Barber anyone with a dog knows that they do shit like this to us lol

[@ecec6852]

Okay Ginger that's it! Stay out of the garbage or else!

[@owlfethurz8377]

Scurvy Knave, I like your perceptive remark about Larson's sense of humor. The video is great; but I felt it over-analyzed Larson's motives. Good humor always has some of the elements that were mentioned, however, funny is funny. Just watch the Marx Bros. movies. They basically turned things upside down and backwards but it came out wonderful. Sometimes it's just good to laugh and appreciate the surrealist parts of life, like Gary Larson!

[@lukestrawwalker]

I always loved the one with a group of dogs in lab coats working feverishly in a laboratory, several are consulting with each other about equations on a blackboard, another is carefully studying something through a microscope, another is using a pointer to show details to some younger scientist dogs, etc... the caption was, "Knowing it would change their world forever, the dog scientists worked diligently to understand the "doorknob principle"..." Friggin' hilarious! OL J R :)

[@allensaunders449]

My favorite is two unicorns looking at a floating Noah's ark leaving them behind. Was that today. Or the dog siting at a desk on the neighbors lawn. A person says the dog is doing his business on our lawn again

[@IdahoRanchGirl]

Lol!

[@sharonhall6518]

When an caveman plumber is squatting next to a hole in the ground with a toilet paper stand next to it and as he’s studying the hole, he says to the guy standing next to him, “ Hmmmm, this not be cheap”

[@seandoherty4236]

Just reading descriptions of his cartoons make me start laughing. That says something.

[@daviddickey1994]

Reading through the comments it strikes me how memorable Larsen's cartoons are. Most of the comments are "My favorite was..." When my kids were still at home one of us could quote a caption from an old Far Side and we would all crack up. Larsen by far the greatest cartoonist ever.

[@WhiteTiger333]

Right? I'm reading down the comments and remember every single cartoon referred to, even though I haven't seen them in years!

[@spikemoss-m1s]

I recall a camping trip/biology field class in 1986 where several of us stayed up to the wee hours recalling hundreds of Larsen comics, each one finished with a flourish of laughter. We weren't all that popular with our classmates who missed out on the fun and a few hours of sleep. We were all laughter junkies that night!

[@nickh5081]

I'm in stitches just reading everyone's lists of favorites - one of mine is the ice flow packed with penguins and right in the middle is an enormous polar bear with a little penguin mask covering his nose. Caption: "Now Edgar is missing. Something's going on around here!" The fact that Polar Bears and Penguins don't share the same hemisphere just makes it funnier knowing that Gary Larson is well aware of that fact!

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

That's "ice floe", ignorant one.....

[@dalhousieDream]

*ice floe

[@mayorb3366]

He confessed to feeling somewhat guilty about that, as he did combining cavemen with dinosaurs.

[@jmcginty96]

He shouldn’t feel guilty! Using popular misconceptions is a brilliant way to pull humor out. The ridiculous from the ridiculous is wonderfully funny (if you are Gary Larson).

[@scottiem.8102]

@@dalhousieDreamFew things make me as exited as seeing a misspelled word corrected 😜😉

[@murraystewartj]

My late dad was a high school art teacher. His fave was God makes the snake, rolling long bits of clay though his hands and saying, "These things are a cinch". Dad said that was pretty much what every student did the first time they held a lump of clay. My own fave is "Cow Tools", just because it's hilarious unless you try to analyze it. Back in the day the best part of every morning was getting the paper, ignoring the page one headlines and turning first to the Far Side. That little bit of insanity made dealing with real world insanity a little bit easier.

[@mayorb3366]

In his book he said that his mistake was making one of the tools look a little too much like a saw. Therefore people wanted to make sense of the other tools. It drove people nuts!

[@jamesmccartney5731]

When Larson left I stopped buying papers

[@JTA1961]

Athefumen ✅ ✅ ✅

[@JTA1961]

@@mayorb3366 especially on saw~turd~day...

[@shruggzdastr8-facedclown]

The '80s had some really good, cutting-edge, groundbreaking envelope-pushing and genre-redefining funny pages comics that made everything else in that section of the daily paper seem dull, boring, stale, uninspired, formulaic, and superficially funny, at-best (insulting to one's intelligence, at-worst) -- the golf-clap of humor, if you will. In addition to The Farside, other such comics that appeared within the same handful of years in the early-mid '80s include: Bloom County*¹; Calvin & Hobbes*²; Herman; For Better Or Worse*³; and Zippy The Pinhead (*¹which morphed into Outland, then Opus; *²referenced in this video; *³while not always intentionally funny, what made this strip revolutionary is that it was effectively 4-dimensional in a 2D format in how its creator made us follow the evolution of its protagonist family as those characters aged over time with the children eventually going off to college rather than being eternal primary school kids or adolescents for decades on-end)

[@gavinlewis666]

Two bears standing in the woods, one looking shamefaced, the other saying: "Is it true? Is it TRUE?! Do bears ... well, I know *you* do, Angelo." Among all his talents, Larson also always came up with the perfect names for his characters.

[@ericjohnson6634]

Hey, if it's good enough for the Pope....

[@AsswipeGarage]

Yeah, the fat faced kid with the flat top and glasses was named Russell; of COURSE he was!

[@richardshermanjr1899]

I'm a carpenter. I have a far side cartoon hanging in my shop. It's the one where people are looking at a famous painting in an art gallery and a woman says "My son made the frame"

[@spacecruisers]

That’s great! I’m a plumber and at my shop we have one hanging up as well of a caveman plumber looking at a hole in the ground and saying to the couple “oooo...this not be cheap”

[@richardshermanjr1899]

@@spacecruisers Thanks for sharing that.. I guess great craftsman must think alike.😀

[@chrisk8187]

It definitely worthy of it's content and delivery. I've probably experienced all of these before, BUT they still made me laugh out loud due to the "surprise" of the unexpected power of the "joke" even now. True inspired genius !

[@michaelshea1683]

🤣🤣🤣

[@awesomebillfromdawsonville9633]

My fav is the kid at the gifted school that is pushing the pull door

[@shevetlevi2821]

My favorite is one that shows 2 gigantic polar bears hovering over an igloo. One says to the other, "Oh, I love these. Crunchy outside with a chewy center."

[@tolrem]

Yes,that's the one I remember.

[@ecec6852]

I lift you grab! Was that such a hard concept!?

[@shevetlevi2821]

@@ecec6852 Excellent. Should be Part 2 of that cartoon. Is this Gary Larson?

[@chrislong3938]

I can't believe your comment since I was going to reference it as the first Larson cartoon I'd seen! It was posted on a lab door where I worked back in 1981 and I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen!!

[@shevetlevi2821]

@@chrislong3938 Chris, there's a series of 4 books. I think it's simply The Far Side, Part 1,2,3 & 4. It's great.

[@cynthiajohnston424]

Being a country person & former horse trainer & pet-sitter - the Farside animal cartoons are on target ! They could always be seen on the bulletin boards in barns & vets' offices & stuck on fridge doors , usually w/ a personal note attached saying " that's my horse / dog / cat " ! My favorite is a very happy dog in a car leaving his house excitedly yelling out to a neighbor dog : " I'm going to the vet's to get tutored ! " 🐎🐕🐈🤣🤣🤣

[@terredee]

Your happy dog description made me giggle, then snort. Well done!

[@rockyroad7345]

The boneless chicken farm cracks me up.

[@katiekane5247]

Our family's is the famous "you look wonderful & whatever you rolled in sure does stink" as the suitor meets his doggy date at the door.

[@truthsmiles]

I confess I’ve never felt confident I understood the tutored joke…. Is it just because it rhymes with neutered? Or is it that the dog believes he’s going to become a vet so he can, I don’t know, eat the cats people bring in?

[@cynthiajohnston424]

@@truthsmiles tutored rhymes w/ neutered 🐕🤣

[@bpkmm3048]

My wife got me the 365 calendar for many years for my desk at work. I *never* looked ahead. On Monday morning, I'd look at Saturday and Sunday. Same with vacations. He is brilliant.

[@cubworx7397]

I admire your self control.

[@NidgeOSullivan]

You made Mondays something to look forward to, a rare accomplishment

[@hunchanchoc8418]

I did exactly the same! It would be irreverent to do otherwise!

[@B.Ies_T.Nduhey]

I think i looked it through after I got it. Then, being of short memory, I laughed again every day and never looked ahead 😆

[@fubartotale3389]

The farmer carrying a basket full of eggs out of the chicken coop while a chicken carries a basket of babies out of the farmers house. So. Hilariously. Twisted.

[@tolrem]

Clever.

[@mrmark8603]

School for the gifted.

[@fubartotale3389]

@@mrmark8603 LOL! "PULL"

[@DanieltheTruebadour]

Fish, standing on a river bank, holding a rod, a pouch slung on his shoulder, says to another, who's sitting on the riverbank and who's affixing a piece of a sandwich onto a hook, "People biting?" To which the other fish replied, "Just a baby. I threw it back."

[@rockyroad7345]

Iconically twisted and demented: The Red Baron is standing in front of his plane showing the silhouettes of his "kills", one of which is Snoopy sitting on top of his dog house.

[@chesster415]

The in question scene did also contribute (slightly) to the story though. It was showing that Woody has fallen from his lofty "favorite toy" to being relegated to the toy box, where even the less prominent toys were poking fun at him, now that he's been brought down to their level. The fact that they were working in a Far Side reference made it a bit weaker on the story-driven side, but it still wasn't just a throwaway gag.

[@eyesofthecervino3366]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[@thefarsidefanthefarsidefan7374]

One of my favorite The Far Side cartoon panel is of a close up of hands, one holding a spreader knife, the other holding an opened sardine can getting ready to pour miniature men in business suits from a sardine can on to a slice of bread, the cartoon is captioned "Business Lunch".

[@stephenphillip5656]

Man washing car. Bird on wire above him thinking "You're mine, all mine"! Wonderful.

[@LagrangePoint901]

You missed one of Larson's talents, ...his artistry. Not only unique but eye-catchingly odd and off beat. The subtlety of expression is a huge talent, ....a simple line for eyes, or out of porportion body parts, or just landscapes are just genius level.

[@Lavonne9870]

He made a whole world of snakes. Reading a newspaper at the table, driving a car... As much as I loved the cows, deer, and squids, it was the lives of snakes that sparked my imagination. How did they cook dinner? How did they open the door? 😂

[@bobs_toys]

The eyes dog in a boat after they've drawn straws on who gets eaten and someone else lost m

[@donloughrey1615]

Well said. Genius !

[@rockyroad7345]

Goofy buck teeth---even on fish. His window curtains.

[@veganvocalist4782]

YES agree ;D

[@billsawers9462]

It takes a very clever and talented individual that can use humour in cartoon form to illustrate how absurd and funny life can be .Thank you Gary Larson for being that individual..

[@spikespa5208]

Larson provided me with more laughs than any other comic. I attribute it to an ever so slightly twisted outlook on the universe. On both our parts.

[@maryerb6062]

He's brilliant!! ❤

[@philbedford8979]

One of my faves is the one of the birds eye view of everyday life and EVERYTHING has a target on it,I for one can testify that birds see us us as targets.....

[@OneLastHitB4IGo]

When I got my first Little League baseball cap I was so proud of that. The very first time I went to bat with my brand new cap a fucking tweet bombed it, and that started me and my BB gun on a killing spree. No bird was safe after that.

[@bearVshark100]

My favorite was always the one where the bee detectives are trying to figure out who threw a rock through the hive which had been tossed from the inside and there was just a full sized human kid in it because the caption is a full admission that Gary knew the joke was absolutely stupid but he had to hit his deadline. “Cartoonist: G Larson. Title: it was late and I was tired.” I really felt a connection to him.

[@RadicalCaveman]

The sad thing is, there probably WAS a good joke in there somewhere. He just needed more time to develop it but ran into a deadline...

[@kevinireland8020]

@@RadicalCaveman Like his sister / worker bee saying "mom told me you were adopted"

[@irekjakobik5043]

Doctors laughing at a sick man in a hospital bed: "Testing whether laughter is the best medicine."

[@ecec6852]

The one where they're feeding a dog what they remove from surgery? Or the organ that pops out and flies across the room: "Go get that! We'll probably need it."

[@mollflanders9314]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@virginiagould3167]

Or the roomful of scientists testing if animals "kiss"

[@senyahirol]

😂😂😂

[@Zaloomination]

Jerry Seinfeld trying his stand-up on his friend the patient

[@droneview8351]

Two researchers in a lab. The one in back holding an empty glass having just drank its contents. The one in front holding a full glass and saying, "wait a minute, this is lemonade, what happened to my culture of amoebic dysentery?"

[@mollflanders9314]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@harrysachs2274]

Yikes

[@nicholasayres3265]

this is why labs have separate freezers......

[@MrWombatty]

.....but how did he realise it was lemonade?

[@spudeleven5124]

My all-time favorite is the cartoon of a gorilla making noises by cupping his hand in his armpit and flapping his arm. Another gorilla is standing in front of him with hands on hips, saying "For crying out loud, Warren! Why can't you just beat your chest like everyone else!?" Man, that still brings me to tears laughing at it.

[@texasforever7887]

Old lady sitting in a chair reading a book. She has two pet dogs. One of the dogs says to the other. "do you want to have some fun? I'm going to go over to the closet door and while staring at it start to growl"

[@lukestrawwalker]

I remember the one of a fat old lady in a mumu, stapling a "lost dog" sign to a telephone pole, and the dog is stuck in her butt crack... LOL:) That was basically my parents... LOL:) OL J R :)

[@penelope8557]

LOL!!!

[@christopherdean1326]

One of my all-time favourites is the one I saw in a ceramic tile shop I was making a delivery. Big cathedral, few Italian guys laying floor tiles. Caption was; "Although largely forgotten by history, Gandini and Sons were responsible for the floor of the Sistine Chapel."

[@bluesuncompanyman]

My father was an avid fisherman his entire life. On the wall of his garage were stapled photos of all the best catches he'd had with 1 far side that he loved. It was a drawing of 2 guys in a boat fishing together and they are watching as nukes are going off in the distance. One fisherman is saying to the other: "I'll tell you what this means Norm. No size restrictions and screw the limit". After my dad died I took the cartoon down and put it in a scrapbook of things celebrating his life.

[@krokodyl1927]

Nice! 👍

[@stephenfennell]

Oh, that's exquisite. I've just read a comment that Larson's cartoons often show the moment just before or just after a catastrophe, but clearly he could find other moments of humour too. These floor-laying guys: the humour must be the humbleness of their occupation, which literally everyone looks away from, and the changing of a single word in the familiar phrase "The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel".

[@crystalheart9]

@@stephenfennell Oh thank you, I didn't quite get that one. I think seeing the actual cartoon would have helped.

[@rethap3612]

I read it as _Ghandi_ and sons 😁

[@gregjohnson7270]

I bought everything Far Side related out there, but when I hear "Far Side", I always think of the 3-4 cows huddled around a picture of their owner with an outline of the farmer with dotted lines showing how he should be butchered with a note next to his head, "Throw away". The farmer and cows are visibly shocked when he walks in on them and sees their plans. Crazy!

[@Jezza819]

One cow is grilling hamburgers while two other cows are looking at it and one is saying "You're sick Jessy, sick, sick, sick".

[@ecec6852]

Car!

[@mrgee918]

Jessy donning a chef hat. It's the attention to detail.

[@lukestrawwalker]

Yeah as a cattle rancher I always liked the cow ones... I remember that one very funny! OL J R :)

[@lancecampbell4323]

The other version he did with the cows saying, “As a matter of fact, we do taste like chicken.”

[@ChaCha.44]

This one still kills me omg 💀

[@zumamaya2396]

Prehistoric cavemen with spears, carrying an enormous carrot on their shoulders..."Early vegetarians returning from the kill" He was brilliant.

[@ecec6852]

They're holding their food against a fire, "Hey, look what Zog do."

[@christopherdean1326]

My tattooist has the "early vegetarians" one inked on his leg!

[@oaflet]

@@ecec6852 At great risk of over-explaining, that's a different cartoon. Three guys are holding cuts of meat to the fire with bare hands, trying to withstand the heat. … Zog, wearing glasses (nerd?) at a separate (socially isolated?) smaller (more efficient?) fire, comfortably holds his food on a forked stick. Their comeuppance for disrespecting him all these diurnal anomalies. … At even larger risk of over-over-explaining, Larson's cartoons typically contain additional easter eggs. One of the most devious people I know. … Love that guy.

[@lindaross783]

I was honored to be part of Gary's world. His work made my life better. Thanks Gary

[@Kanooodledoodle]

My absolute favorite of his, is a big group of lemmings heading down a hill into the water, all are blank-faced looking ahead except for one who is looking at you, with a little cheeky grin and wearing a floating ring. Cracks me up every time 🤣

[@maxherzog3287]

He's got his tube!!

[@plequaweebter7951]

God I remember that panel

[@monkeychicken27]

I remember a different version. It’s one mid-jump shouting, “Cannonball!”

[@RErnie-gv1hv]

Wasn't there another lemming themed cartoon with the caption, "Why can't we ever go to the beach?" Or mountains, some-such.

[@plequaweebter7951]

@@RErnie-gv1hv not in the same book, but yeah, the lemmings return in another

[@ogmakefirefiregood]

As a musician, "Gary's last day as sound man" is my favorite. You see a wide-eyed 👀 band dodging beer bottles as the sound man cranks the "suck" knob.

[@MrWombatty]

It must be remembered that Gary Larsen retired to escape the constant deadlines to spend more time playing jazz!

[@kikijewell2967]

I worked on Toy Story 2, and originally Woody's hat did have major importance to the story. The original story was that Woody was a collector doll, but had no value without his hat. There was a scene (only in storyboard) where he's escaping with Jessie and Prospector, but his hat falls off and the other toys reject him because he's no longer a collector item. The story was massively reworked when A Bug's Life wrapped and Lassiter moved his team across the street to the other building, fired all the (Disney appointed) story writers, and installed his team to take over. The entire movie was rebuilt from the ground up, salvaging as much finaled animation as possible. Vestigial animation about Woody's hat is still sprinkled throughtout the finished movie.

[@kikijewell2967]

There was so much that went wrong on TS2. It was originally to be a made-for-TV DVD and Disney sent some TV writers to write the story. Like most made-for-TV productions, the story was terrible. But Pixar really believed in the original idea: that Al from Al's Toy Barn would want to sell Woody as a collector doll, and Woody goes on a self-discovery journey, rediscovering his purpose as a doll to be played with. Pixar pushed Disney to give it more funds for a theatrical release. Disney agreed. But this had repercussions no one fully understood. First, the animation was animated at 30fps, and sometimes key frames fell on the frames to be cut. It was also animated at 4:3 aspect ratio and moving to 16:9 meant adding characters and animation that had been off camera. So all of the finished animation had to be revisited and corrected. The real problem, though, was that the Pixar team was green at the time. When I moved from Bugs to TS2, I asked a friend why things were going so poorly. She said, "we all knew we were on a trainwreck, that those in charge kept asking for changes we didn't have time to complete, that we were slipping our timeline. We were on a trainwreck and no one knew how to stop it." So many stories to tell about all that. I remember one (mandatory Saturday) production meeting, where the manager said they'd talked to Disney about borrowing their rendering computers. Disney said, "you don't understand. We're rendering 180 (edit: feet - don't know how I wrote that wrong! Lol) per week and need our computers. 90 feet per week is a lot for them, so this was a lot." The manager's look became intense. "Last week, our team rendered 600 feet." We were all working so hard that many of us got injured with RSI - I was one of them. It ended my career after only 3 years. My best friend still suffers from RSI today, and she saved me by making me go to a doctor for treatment before my body broke. I heard one manager was unable to sit up in bed and read due to Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. No one talks about this because we're not really supposed to, a part of our severance agreement. It's been almost 25 years for me, so, I don't care anymore. I think it's better there now, at least RSI-wise, but the industry as a whole is dangerous. Check out "Life AFTER Pi" for the demise of Rhythm & Hues, a similar story to ours.

[@kikijewell2967]

Sorry to go off on a long rant on your sweet KZbin channel. I'm so grateful the movie was so good in the end. It would have sucked to go through all that with the story how it was at first.

[@Somnogenesis]

@@kikijewell2967 Those are some remarkable insights into the production process and the creative tug-of-war that was _Toy Story 2_ in particular, thank you for sharing! So sorry to hear about the RSI and how it ended your career in that field and had such a lasting effect on your friends and colleagues, however.

[@MK007-YT]

@@kikijewell2967, Tragic when People become relegated to just 'Cogs' in The Machine status !

[@kikijewell2967]

@@Somnogenesis thx! I have great hope from the sidelines that the recent strikes in the Industry will be a better life for everyone. ❤️ I'm eyeing the game industry right now, since I'm much more recovered. But then three major companies are being sued for general toxic culture. Three. It's kinda scary.

[@NAFUSO1]

A deer with a target on his belly: "Bummer of a birthmark, Hal."

[@coralynnbrown6761]

My favorite one!!!

[@stlrsmike]

I still have the t-shirt.

[@bc30cal99]

Still have the faded coffee cup from my hunting partner way, way back when.

[@muckerwood]

Got the t-shirt also 😂

[@Girdwoodian]

@@bc30cal99 I have the coffee cup too...use it all the time!

[@crossleyr]

I first saw a far side book, in a bookstore in Boulder CO, 30 years ago, when i was on holiday there, from the UK. I read it in the store, and laughed so much, i nearly got thrown out. I bought 2 Far Side T-Shirts and the book, on the spot. I've bought many books and calendars since. It just suits my twisted sense of humour.

[@dalehall2067]

I always kept a book of the far side am I waiting room. I always thought the people needed a little humor in their life

[@palewriter1856]

@@dalehall2067 Proctologist, right?

[@palewriter1856]

Why on EARTH would a Brit of such OBVIOUS GENIUS come all the way across the pond, only to visit Boulder, CO? The mine REALS!

[@surgeonmd729]

@@palewriter1856 It'a "the minD reELs", sir. Spelling!! And, being a proctologist, that is a worthy and useful occupation, which deserves respect. That it seldom gets....

[@palewriter1856]

@@surgeonmd729 Ha ha ha ha ha! With all DEW respect, as a wordsmith with an extraordinarily rare need of a dictionary, you can believe that I said PRECISELY what I meant to say. If you'd pull YOU'RE head out of your own work more often, perhaps you'd recognize a sick sense of humerus when ewe encountered one!

[@okiepita50t-town28]

I’m happy for him that he could retire so young but sorry for us that we didn’t get to enjoy more of his work. I can only imagine the burnout you would experience having to come up with, and execute new ideas all the time.

[@Sabbathtage]

But he IS back. The big reason he quit before? He was fed up with the pen he used. He's back and posts his comics online since he found the joy of drawing digitally. It hasn't lost its look or hilarity either.

[@RErnie-gv1hv]

In an interview years ago Larson said he quit because of being worn out trying to meet the never ending deadlines.

[@B.Ies_T.Nduhey]

It's amazing he made 4.500 or so before he retired! I've always been wondering what on earth he was smoking 😆

[@MrWombatty]

When Gary Larsen retired he was also able to spend more time playing jazz which was his other passion!

[@schmoab]

Good explanation of why the one-panel format works. Takes a very clever artist to create that snapshot humor and we all get it. It does take a bit more cognitive work on the part of the reader. This is how jokes should be constructed.

[@5610winston]

Here's an image: A family of ghouls preparing to pour a cauldron of (presumably) frying-hot oil over a mansion parapet onto a small choir of carolers. Here's another: The driver of a flivver waving a late-model (for the time) Buick Roadmaster (count the portholes) to pass on a blind curve with a sheer cliff to the right and a sheer drop to the left, and there's an oncoming truck. Here's a third: A man on a ski slope looking in disbelief at a schussing skier whose tracks pass on both sides of a large tree. And the fourth: A panel divided into nine squares with a single poorly drawn microbe in each and a caption referencing the opening theme of an insipid 1970s sit-com. And yet another: A smiling lady, apparenty a housewife, lounging in an overstuffed armchair in a nicely furnished parlor, a smoking revolver in one hand and a telephone handset in the other, a pair of feet from a body just outside the panel alongside on the floor, the caption reads "Oh, not much, Agnes. How are things with you?" Charles Addams, perhaps the greatest practitioner in the history of the single panel cartoon, set a very high bar. Gary Larson made some good attempts, a few even outstanding, but never quite managed to clear it.

[@freekgroeneveld5382]

Implication is as precise as it needs to be.

[@verbotn]

As someone who grew up reading the Far Side, it really puts a smile on my face when I hear my 12 year old son giggling from the other room as he reads through the boxed set that we bought a year or two back.

[@ratherbfishing455]

Reading Far Side will give your kid an advantage. Many students have never read comic and have no sense of humor.

[@sub-optimal]

I had an idea for a Larsen-esk cartoon which was a road marking machine heading up a street away from a 'First National' bank with a caption that said: "Elmer's choice of a getaway vehicle left something to be desired."

[@snowrocket]

I can picture that and it's great!

[@AsswipeGarage]

I thought of one, a guy driving a Chevy Chevelle with a cow's head on the hood. Caption: "1970 Chevy Chevelle With Cow Induction Hood". Only musclecar fans will get that 😂.

[@lancecampbell4323]

The giant eye filling the cars mirror. “Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear”. Greatest Far Side ever

[@dpatts]

Which in turn was paid tribute with the T Rex in Jurassic Park (1993). It even has its own listing on TVtropes, under the heading "CloserThanTheyAppear"

[@PatrickHenry-u4d]

If you think about it and are old enough, you will remember that all mirrors used to say "objects in mirror may be closer than they appear". Now,none of them do. Not even the ones you may have seen that did. It's called a Mandela effect.

[@PatrickHenry-u4d]

​@@dpattsif you are old enough to have seen this movie before 2020 or so ,think back and tell me if this isn't what it originally said. "Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear". It's not a different version of the film. It's a Mandela effect.

[@spikespa5208]

The one where the grim reaper is in the same mirror. My life philosophy

[@dreamluchadore]

The guy in Hell with a wheel barrow, whistling happily as a devil remarks to another "we're just not getting through to that guy".

[@tubbers20]

Hot enough for ya'?

[@tubbers20]

The maestro sent to the room full of banjo players.

[@ChaCha.44]

Lmao 😂!!!!! Omg yesssss!!!!!!!! Thanks for the memory of that one!! It is sooooo hilarious! I also like the one with the human egg and all the sperm are trying to trick her to let them in hehehe. I remember one had a tie on and a briefcase, saying something like he was selling something important or something. I think the caption was kinda like “the deception of the human egg” but I’m probably way off 😆!! Still, I own lots of the books!! By far my favorite!!

[@bobsana4590]

Or the guy in Hell telling the devil, I hate this place

[@carldaniels4827]

the guy in hell turning the air conditioning lower......

[@MrUndersolo]

I loved the one with the elephant confronting a man who tried to shoot him ("If you’re going to shoot an elephant...you better be prepared to finish the job"). 🐘

[@punch6832]

My favorite of his is the one where three archeologists open a sarcophagus and the mummy, one hand on his hip and the other pointing to them says, “Ok, let’s see. That’s a curse on you, a curse on you and a curse on you.”

[@Calligraphybooster]

Deer hiding behind a tree, searching hunter in the background. Deer: “He wants to kill me alright. Do I know this guy? I’ve got to THINK!” -priceless. The very best we can muster, thrown at a situation, and it’s completely pointless. It’s the human condition. 🤣

[@Bytheirfruitsshall]

The futility of self reference. Yes my fave too

[@jeanettecameron7530]

The deer with a target .... "bummer of a birthmark, Hal."

[@Ryan-ff2db]

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear, I think is the one that cracks me up the most.

[@rogerlongfellow205]

“Harold! The dog’s trying to blow up the house again! Catch him in the act or he’ll never learn”.

[@ecec6852]

Rex takes out her flower garden once and for all!

[@AurelienCarnoy]

Lol.

[@WhiteTiger333]

Dog standing outside the house with the hose in his mouth. Wife standing on the steps with her paws on her hips - 'So, going out with the boys again, tonight?"

[@kkampy4052]

One of my favorites is the one where there is a dog in a yard and a dog in a car going by with his head out the back window. The dog in the car says "haha, after we go to the drugstore, I'm going to the vet to be tutored."

[@daboo7725]

Laminated that one and had on my service counter at work for my customers to to see. Many a laugh was had.

[@elemar8209]

The dog holding open the dryer thinking “ please oh please oh please”.

[@elemar8209]

Waiting for the cat.

[@mjrussell414]

@@elemar8209 Yes, that is a great one.

[@darlulittledeer3738]

my favorite as well

[@desktorp]

0:22 I know this isn't the topic of your video, but this scene does have story value because at this point in the movie, they are still establishing Woody's background and rank within the 'toy society' of Andy's room. The toy chest toys know and respect Woody, but have become more cynical and willing to take some pleasure in seeing him suddenly knocked from his top position, down to their level.

[@alyteima4185]

My all time favorite was ‘Hell’s library’ that only had books on math story problems. I felt that pain

[@mollflanders9314]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@anonygrazer3234]

Don't forget Gary Larson! His garbage man dragging the can with corpse to the front door and saying "Oh no you don't Mrs. Jablowski, you don't get rid of him that easy!" makes me laugh every time I even think of it...because of the look on HER face!

[@katiearbuckle9017]

Oh god, I would hate that.

[@markbirkeland5643]

Gary Larson, the best cartoonist ever.

[@flowerpower8722]

Right up there with Murray Ball.

[@godfreecharlie]

I don't deny that entirely but ....Gahan Wilson?

[@godfreecharlie]

Gahan Wilson was I'm sure an influence at sometime in Larson's life.

[@Rhaspun]

I remember he had watched a live show. I don't remember what the show was about. But Gary Larson was gushing about the possible frames that he could use in his cartoons from the show.

[@RErnie-gv1hv]

Don't forget Charles Addams. He too was a master.

[@dragonrabbit7410]

I have a hard time picking out a favorite far side comic. But I know for certain what my father’s favorite one was! It was the picture of the midfield school for the gifted where the front door says pull on it, and there’s a kid trying to push it open with all of his weight. It makes me smile every time I think of it.

[@madnessbydesignVria]

I understand people not thinking it's funny (humor is subjective), but to actively 'hate' it seems absurd. I have several of the books and calendars. Whenever I run across them from time to time, I am compelled to re-read them. The 'in medias res' style of comedy is very powerful because it makes the reader an active participant, drawing them into that world. And it's a glorious world. The truly amazing thing is how prolific Gary Larson was. He was able to produce these works at break-neck speed for 15 years. He's the hero we don't deserve, and we are in his debt... :)

[@MK007-YT]

Active Thinking is required to appreciate Mr. Larson. The "Under-Thinkers" have a problem with "Far Side" Humor. 🤔 🤣

[@sweetpealee056]

His cartoons tickle the brain!🤭

[@shadrach6299]

You need intelligence to appreciate his humor

[@nastiva]

This was a well done, well structured, well researched, thoughtful, and reverent video! Thank you for this!!

[@AnubisXII]

I totally agree with you. And I'm glad you wrote this so graciously. It makes us look good.

[@dancingmeerkat2078]

Gary, is that you? 😂 👍 ❤️

[@joedennehy386]

Why didnt i just agree with your insightful comment instead of posting my own? Doh

[@aegismule13]

yes it was :)

[@muiresuilgorm3452]

Thank you for reminding me to like. The Internet could use more appreciation.

[@sfdint]

To me his theme was not the stupidity of humans but the exploration of human and other species interactions. He surprises us by showing us the world from a polar bears perspective in the one where a polar bear is leaning over an igloo and telling his pal, "Oh I just love these things. Crunchy with a chewy center", or the most grotesque one where you see the mushroom clouds destroying a city in the background and in the foreground a bunch of bugs are holding hands and dancing around singing, "We won, we won, we won!"

[@spikespa5208]

The one interview here reminded me of Captain Nemo in "Mysterious Island": " Contact with my own species has always been.....disappointing."

[@wallyvanveen1211]

Yup. The little 'buggers' were the only ones remaining

[@Jorlaxe]

My favorite was Albert Einstein looking at a chalkboard with formulas and such. “After much research He discovers that time = money. “.

[@rundmw]

@jorlaxe Thanks for including this one. My favorite, too. 😀

[@DelavarPix]

"Yep. Everything's squaaaaared away."

[@wooohoo2]

A = πr2~E-mc2~π ∞x ∞+=$ well all be, he was right! lol

[@koolaid117]

Two spiders on a leaf, one is wearing a paper bag saying, "did I scare you?" The other on the edge of the leaf has a long line of web coming from it. Priceless!!

[@koriw1701]

That was one of my favorites! I howled with laughter then, and I just did again reading your post! Thanks!

[@gwenmartinsen3979]

My absolute favorite. That pile of web just makes me laugh.

[@swwagner1]

I've been scrolling to find that one! my fav too

[@Blackgeoff1]

That's the one!!

[@jinond]

I first saw that back in high school and I laughed so long and loud I'm fairly certain everyone thought I was nuts.

[@bobblowhard8823]

Your last quote: "We are the stupid ones." is absolutely true, and Gary Larson exemplified that perfectly through his art. The people that are either offended by, or don't understand his comics, might as well be characters in his strips. Like Bill Watterson and Charles Schultz, Gary Larson is a true genius.

[@5610winston]

Never found Larson's cartoons particularly offensive, and on occasion they were even kind of funny, and I'm not saying I could do better, but there were better. Walt Kelly, Al Capp, Hank Ketchum, Virgil Partch, Johnny Hart...

[@estycki]

I remember when I was a kid, my dad had The Far Side book (with the bull on the front). I was fascinated because I started reading it like expecting it to be a story but nothing was connecting. I thought maybe some of the previous characters would come back later. It took my little underdeveloped brain a while to realize that one image was an entire individual story... so then I'd end up staring for a really long time at like each picture. I had to read with a dictionary beside me to learn some new words, because I really wanted to know what was going on hahaha

[@alex.g7317]

Funneh

[@ellenmarch3095]

Yeah, I didn't get it for the longest time, thought they were dumb. Then one day, one just clicked, and suddenly a whole new world opened up. 😂🤩

[@tiyenin]

Hound of the Far Side, perhaps?

[@77thTrombone]

Actually, many cartoons are a study in drawing. I'm not at artist, but am amazed at what lines connect, and what lines don't connect; what shapes actually close, and what remain open; what few details are included, and how sparse they are.

[@joshuahoover6841]

I’m so happy I grew up in a time when Calvin and Hobbes, the far side, and bloom county were out 💙

[@havocproltd]

I was just going to say something about Berke Breathed and Bloom County! The first thing we looked at in the Stars and Stripes every morning!!

[@cactuscanuck6802]

Oh yess!!! We need more Bill the Cat and Opus these days!

[@michaelmerck7576]

@@havocproltd the antics of bill the cat would be Trump in today's meme world

[@havocproltd]

@@michaelmerck7576 You're sentence about Bill the Cat and President Trump and whatever the fuck a "meme world" is is incomprehensible to speakers of ENGLISH and people who pay all the bills. I'm a huge fan of President Trump. I'm a huge fan of Bill the Cat. I REMEMBER a BM stretch where Mr. Trump's brain was implanted into Bill; a dead cat. Bill the Cat was once candidate for president. OPUS is smarter than his running mate then AND the current president, vice-president, house speaker and senate pro tem. Currently, Opus seems smarter than the current Chief Justice. what's you're point?

[@radicalron65]

Don't forget kliban

[@williamspiecker6528]

ive been reading farside ever since 1st or second grade, i didnt understand all of the panels, but enough of them that it was worth reading. my favorite panel to this day, is the pet shop one where the snake is trying to go for the hampster while it tries escaping on its wheel. the words bonk, bonk, bonk, always elicits a fit of giggles.

[@dbmorton1114]

I loved the Far Side. One of my favorites takes place in a courtroom, where the defense lawyer, a dog, is addressing 12 cats in the jury and as he points to the defendant, also a dog, he exclaims, "Look at that face! Is that the face of a cat killer?! Cat chaser maybe but, hey, who isn't?"

[@infledermaus]

I love Gary Larson's comics. I have a couple of his books. My fave cartoon is the Native American shaman who got the steps of his rain dance wrong causing the sky to rain egg beaters. "... oh, two steps to the left ...". He's brilliant! Thank you for taking this look at him and his work! A tribute to him is all of the hours of laughter he provided me and many of my friends (and zillions of others) with. Can't count the times I spit my coffee out reading the morning paper!

[@shawnwright240]

“Air spear, Air spear!”

[@Coastcrawler]

I still remember Gak. Gak Eisenberg, the Inventor of the first and last silent mammoth whistle.

[@joshmccoy1522]

Father and son looking over a fence at the neighbor's house, wolves running all over the yard and in the house. "I know you miss the Johnsons, Bobby, but they were weak and stupid people. That's why we have wolves and other large predators."

[@dogbarbill]

So many favorites from years past, I couldn't list them all, but here's one: Young male dog picking up his date one evening. She's standing on the porch dressed nicely, her parents are at the front door. Male says "Gee, you look nice. I don't what you rolled in, but it sure does stink". I had a co-worker years ago that had the same sense of humor as mine. Bringing a Far Side collection to work would have us in hysterical laughter so much, the rest of the people we worked with were ready to call the men in the white jackets to haul us away. Fun times......

[@MaydayAggro]

When I was young, I couldn't wait for the next day's Far Side. My parents bought me a Far Side calendar for Christmas, and I read them all as soon as I opened it.

[@mattlinthicum4207]

My favorite has always been the one with a duck and a professor on a small deserted island with a ship sinking in the background. "Ah, professor Jenkins ; my old nemesis; we meet again, but this time the advantage is mine! HAHAHA!"

[@niceguy4875]

Cheetah wheeles

[@ecec6852]

Alien ship flies near a deserted island, Man: "Thank goodness I'm saved!" But they just pick up the other palm tree.

[@mayorb3366]

Man on an island with a single palm tree opens a box that has floated up. It contains a pet turtle island with a palm tree on it.

[@basvandoorn1597]

"The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression."

[@katperson1955]

One of my favorites too!

[@ekaterinabalderdash1274]

I have preserved that one from the newspaper! I felt like it was the cartoon of my life.

[@ekaterinabalderdash1274]

I am in a way surprised that anyone else knew and retained this as I have. That’s cool!

[@robertomolina6272]

This is my favorite, hits a chord of a stretch of my life

[@mollflanders9314]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@shoshiwas]

My favorite Far Side detail was added during the time that my mother and her friends were all wearing glasses with frames with pointed ends on each side. Of course, the Far Side followed the trend by having all the females in the cartoons, insects, dogs, cows, etc. wear the same kind of glasses! I loved it! 😂😂

[@rockyroad7345]

They're called cat eye frames...very popular in the 1950's.

[@shoshiwas]

@@rockyroad7345 Thank you for the name 🙂 my mum also had them in the early 60s. wish I had kept a pair of them 🙂

[@calkelpdiver]

I have a B.S. in Zoology, so I got a lot of the humor he put in. During my Animal Behavior class there was a series of Far Sides that dealt with the subjects in the class. I'd cut them out and give them to the Prof., got extra points for a solid week. Thanks Gary! My favorite is the one with the two deer talking in the forest, one says to the other "Bummer of a birth mark, Hal." Hal had a bullseye marking on his belly.

[@leecowell8165]

yeah I remember that one... he almost always gave names to his characters. I have a mug that reads "Boneless Chicken Ranch". on it is a ranch with chickens flopped around everywhere.. of course they can't stand up... no bones. The date on the mug is 1983. I mean WHERE did he get his ideas from? And how about the harlequin glasses he put on the females? never the males only the females. Tell you what he drew no lines in the sand.

[@oaflet]

@@leecowell8165 I have a "Boneless chicken ranch" tee shirt. When I'm wearing it, and someone stares or asks about it, I suddenly collapse. So far, 40% laugh, 60% are pissed off.

[@kiwitrainguy]

@@leecowell8165 The Boneless Chicken Ranch might have come from an episode of The Odd Couple of the early 70s. Oscar saves Felix's life and Felix makes Oscar's life a living hell by being nice to him and doing everything for him ("I saved his life and for that he's trying to kill me"). So Oscar tries to feign dying so that Felix can "save" him to make things even. At one point Felix serves up a chicken casserole and Oscar makes out that he is choking on a chicken bone. When Felix says that it is boneless chicken Oscar says "How did it walk?"

[@brye687]

When I was a young kid, I loved the Far Side whenever I got the joke. When I didn't get the joke, I still knew it was funny...such was my faith in Gary Larson. I knew that I was either missing something, or not mature/experienced/perceptive enough to get it ...yet. 45 years old now and still love the Far Side (I usually get it now)

[@ericthompson3551]

The Far Side , Calvin and Hobbes were something I read every day in the local paper. Great memories of a forgotten time.

[@ImnotGary]

Gary Larson is a fricking genius.

[@bobbrown5951]

One of my favourites was the one where a guy spots Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster and Jackie Kennedy all together at the same time and his camera jams. Another shown here is the bears in the woods seeing nudists and one says "There goes my appetite"

[@fatgreta1066]

One of the very best KZbin videos I’ve ever seen

[@tommerwhite]

In the spirit of the Larson world I watched Shawn the sheep…not a word spoken throughout the entire movie but the claymation expressed emotion beyond words

[@peters972]

When you get on Larson’s wave length with far side, you are hooked for the entire Saturday morning, and for life.

[@petermainwaringsx]

I only discovered him a couple of years ago, but I'm so glad I did. Maybe we never had his stuff in the UK, even though I have discovered that many do "get him". Great video, thanks for a heads up from a seventy something year old newbie.

[@ampersand.]

His work was in the London Evening Standard :D

[@jackmackenzie2482]

My Daughter bought me a “Far Side” calendar. She knew how much I loved Gary Larsen’s humor. One that comes to mind is A Mother Goldfish in a Goldfish Bowl. Two baby Goldfish laying in their beds. One of the children said “Hey Mom, I’ll say Louis, because I can’t remember the bevy Goldfish’s’ Bowl. anyway, the fish then said “Mom, Louie dried his bed again” How Creative was this guy??

[@koriw1701]

🤣🤣🤣

[@ecec6852]

The one where the fish escape a fire in their bowl: "Well we're safe, course now we're equally screwed."

[@brianstratton8767]

Or the fish couple looking into their basement w/a flashlight saying:' We gotta call someone; it's completely dry!'