These early Larson's ability to capture singular moments, paired with his skewed, often surreal take on a wide variety of subjects, skyrocketed him to pop culture infamy as the decade progressed, and these comics were pivotal to setting the foundation that was built on.
By 1984, The Far Side was well on its way to becoming a full-on national phenomenon, but before that, during its formative years, the cartoon was carried in only a handful of regional newspapers to start. The popularity of Gary Larson's humor in these select markets ultimately led to the spread of The Far Side as more and more newspapers picked it up for syndication.
Cartoons like the ones aggregated here are representative of Larson's best early-career work, the high-level hilarious Far Side comics that helped him stake his reputation as an all-time great in the medium.
10 This Far Side UFOlogist's "Moment Of Truth" Is Ruined By Milk And Cookies
First Published: August 28, 1980
In this Far Side from the first year of the comic's run, the truth is not "out there," it's right there, in the hands of an amateur UFOlogist, who has snapped a picture that will definitively prove that extraterrestrials are visiting Earth...except at the precious moment when the photo needs an extra few seconds of darkness to finish developing, his mom busts into his DIY dark room with a tray of milk and cookies.
It is an instant-classic "nerd lives with mom joke," making it clear that trope was fully-formed already by the 1980s. It is also an early, prominent example of artist Gary Larson's ability to capture a moment with multiple moving parts in a single illustrated frame, an achievement that could be as elusive as a flying saucer.
9 The Far Side Makes Fun Of Moments Of Dread In This Classic Cartoon
First Published: October 9, 1980
Within the first month of its publication, and certainly by the fall of the first year, Gary Larson had quickly established his willingness to joke about taboo topics with The Far Side, including capital punishment. "The points must be dirty," one corrections officer says to another, as they try to figure out why the switch for the electric chair isn't working, adding the suggestion to "just click it up and down a few times."
Meanwhile, the death row prisoner sits strapped to the chair, the scene of his execution now prolonged into a moment of psychological torture. The humor of this Far Side cartoon hinges on anticipation, something Larson was a master of. More specifically, in this case, the punchline stems from the agony of delay, and the uncertainty of what comes next.
8 The Far Side's "Moment Before" Technique Was One Of Gary Larson's Go-To Moves
First Published: June 4, 1981
Again, this Far Side cartoon relies on anticipation, but in a different way than the previous entry. None of the characters in the last know what was going to happen in the next few moments, but neither does the reader. Here, the reader sees what's coming a moment before the characters, as the perspective of this Far Side elevator cartoon makes it clear the lion that just got on the lift is about to get its tail caught in the closing door, fulfilling his owner's prophetic words that "he's completely harmless unless something startles him."
12 Far Side Comics That Helped Make The Series A Massive Hit
The Far Side steadily grew in popularity in its early years, achieving nationwide success in the mid-80s; these early cartoons helped make it a hit.
This is an iconic example of Gary Larson's wicked use of tragicomic irony; tragic for the unfortunate people in the crowded elevator with a full-grown, angry lion, and comedic for everyone else.
7 A Momentary Lapse In Attention Leaves This Far Side Teacher Unprepared For A Big Surprise
First Published: August 19, 1981
"And next, for show-and-tell, Bobby Henderson says he has something he found on the beach last summer..." an elementary school teacher says, looking to her left, as a version of The Far Side's familiar nerdy kid character from the right side of her desk, carrying a jar with a human head crammed into it.
The framing of the action in the , coupled with the casual tone of the teacher's dialogue in the caption, make Gary Larson's humor more subtle here, but it is, in fact, once more a use of comedic irony, in which the reader is meant to realize the horror of the moment a split second before the teacher does. The ellipses at the end of the caption, and the slight head-tilt of the character in the illustration, do a lot of heavy-lifting here in order to convey that the next moment, the teacher and all the kids in class will likely be screaming their own heads off.
6 The Far Side Captures That Moment When You Can't Keep Going With The Crowd Anymore
First Published: August 9, 1982
"I gotta be me," a penguin belts out, singing at the top of its lungs, sticking its head above an endless sea of identical-looking birds, "oh I just gotta be me." Artist Gary Larson knew a thing or two about sticking out in a crowd, and that is what makes Far Side cartoons like this one especially noteworthy.
classic Far Side penguin comic. As The Far Side became a nationally syndicated comic, and became a niche interest that, in itself, distinguished fans from non-fans, this variety of Larsonian punchline became that much more potent in its subtextual appeal, even if readers didn't always immediately realize why jokes as simple as this one could be so potent.
5 The Far Side's "Moment After" Jokes Were Some Of Its Darkest, And Funniest s
First Published: August 27, 1982
As much as Gary Larson's "moment before" jokes were essential to The Far Side's early success, equally important were their opposite, the "moment after" s. Part of Larson's skill as a humorist was the ability to determine what comedic scenario warranted which mode. For example, there is a version of this cartoon which features the moment before a shark jumps up and devours a kid hanging from a tire swing over a local watering hole, rather than after, but that would have been a very different punchline.
That version would have gone for The Far Side's familiar anticipatory humor, but here, the gag is actually that the kids put equal weight on replacing their eaten tire swing and informing their eaten friend's mother of what happened. The result is a dark but certifiably hilarious Far Side comic.
4 The Moment Of Victory For One Far Side Rhino Is The Agony Of Defeat For The Rest
First Published: January 28, 1983
Some readers might argue this Gary Larson's best s, it doesn't need one. To be honest, the debate is still open. Simply put, the comic features the winner of a rhinoceros show being awarded his trophy, while several losing contestants look on in frustration from the background. Beyond that, more than the average Far Side , it leaves much open to interpretation.
That is, while the punchline isn't hard to understand, its humor might be. Or, rather, some Far Side fans will be skeptical that "rhino show" is really all there is to the joke, and that it isn't obscuring any deeper gag, or esoteric meaning.
3 This Macabre Far Side Joke Takes A Few Moments To Figure Out, But It's Worth It
First Published: May 19, 1983
This is another Far Side aftermath comic, this time featuring the darkly ironic fate of a hunter who was setting up a beaver trap next to a river, only to have a beaver-eaten tree fall on and crush him to death, leaving his corpse to waste away to a skeleton still holding the unopened trap.
12 Far Side Comics From 1984 That Make Readers Go “WHAT-THE?”
Artist Gary Larson designed The Far Side to get a reaction out of readers, whether that was laughter, confusion, or even shock and dismay.
Of course, the implication is that the off- beavers deliberately targeted the hunter, to prevent him from targeting them, but the lack of caption leaves Far Side readers to put this together for themselves. It is not difficult to figure out, but it does take an extra moment of comprehension; too quick of a glance and one might miss the details which elevate this from an amusing to a hilarious Far Side comic.
2 A Moment Of Relaxation Is Interrupted By A Dog With A Blow Torch, In Classic Far Side Fashion
First Published: February 8, 1984
"The Jeffersons' dog is back!" a woman shouts to her husband in their suburban living room, a Far Side staple, as the neighbor's canine goes to extreme lengths to get into their garbage, using a blowtorch and wearing a welder's face-mask.
It is a silly, low-stakes Far Side joke, one that relies on Gary Larson's use of comedic escalation, except without putting any characters in grave danger, unless one considers the possibility of the dog accidentally catching the house on fire, which wouldn't be unwarranted. Still, in the static moment this comic captures, it is a familiar homeowners' concern filtered through The Far Side's hyperbolic lens.
1 The Far Side Perfectly Captures A "Wrong Place, Wrong Time" Moment In This Iconic
First Published: June 25, 1984
Once more, it is worth returning to Gary Larson's use of comedic irony in its classic sense, meaning putting the audience in the position of understanding the situation better than the characters in it. Here, an army officer gives a condemned man one last smoke before he's executed by firing squad, except in a chaotic sequence of events, the adjacent building happens to have caught on fire, prompting a woman to stick her head out the window and yell "FIRE," leading, presumably, to the squad mistakenly shooting their own captain.
By all s, this is a perfect Far Side cartoon, for the way it draws all of these elements together in a single moment. The result is a laugh-out-loud Far Side , one that sets the gold standard for Gary Larson's comedic talents.
