Since 1979, cartoonist Gary Larson has been taking readers to The Far Side with his own unique sense of humor, so it's hard to pick a list of the funniest Far Side comics. Published in nearly every newspaper for over 40 years, readers all over the globe have fond memories of the comic strip, and certain installments have forever lodged in their brains.

From his invention of new words to his hilarious lampooning of day-to-day events, Larson's magnum opus has never failed to make readers laugh or scratch their heads in confusion. Though all his strips are funny in their own way, the following 35 strips stand out as some of The Far Side's most humorous.

35 Gary Larson's Far Side Puts A Twist On A Timeless Question

In this hilarious Far Side installment, two men and a horse sit at a bar. Evidently, the man in the white shirt brought the horse to the bar, as the man in blue drunkenly challenges him: "Sure – but can you make him drink?"

Playing off the phrase, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink," this is a classic example of Gary Larson's ability to depict something familiar to readers in a bewildering new context. Most amusingly, the horse has a dream in front of him – but readers will never know if he did, indeed, take a sip.

34 Fair Is Fair On The Far Side

Many of the best Far Side installments had something to do with dogs, and whenever they were introduced into familiar scenarios, it was always funny. Featuring a company of people lost at sea, the casts a dog as a character ready to chow down on one of his fellow sailors to stay alive.

Mixing Larson's signature brand of dark humor with his love of all things canine, the strip only gets funnier the longer that the reader looks at it.

33 "The Picture Is Pretty Bleak, Gentlemen..."

Far Side dinosaur comics are among the most popular, and one strip featuring dinosaurs getting some bad news has certainly stood the test of time. A stegosaurus leads a conference and delivers dire information about the state of their world regarding climate and the rising threat of mammals.

The idea of dinosaurs being aware of their impending doom by natural events is indeed funny. Sure it serves as a dark reminder of the repeated warnings humanity has heard over and over again from scientists and professionals. But it also works as a dark form of gallows' humor.

32 "Cow Tools" Was The Far Side's Most Inexplicable Comic

Not all of Larson's works were immediately met with cheers, and some even had viewers so confused that they were outraged. Essentially the first comic character to ever become a meme, the perplexing image of a cow standing over an array of useless implements riled up the Far Side faithful, to the point that Larson thought this Far Side comic would end his career.

Though there is nothing inherently funny about the strip on the surface, the sheer absurdity of the image and caption eventually began to elicit laughter.

31 Stay Away From The Fish Section At "Bob's Pets"

Gary Larson’s fascination with animal behavior and morbid humor often led to one-off jokes whose images spoke volumes. This strip shows a pets store that happens to be selling a piranha in a fish bowl, while looking at it from the side is a cat with peg leg (or peg paws as it were).

It’s hilariously awful, but one that exhibits everything that The Far Side was known for and still tickles the funny bone of any reader who sees it to this day.

30 On The Far Side, Humans & Chickens Have A Give & Take Relationship

Farm animals, including chickens, made regular appearances throughout The Far Side, with this using them in a way that perfectly encapsulates Gary Larson's irreverent and largely unprecedented style of comedy. Here, a woman walks back to her house from her chicken coop with a basket full of eggs – as a hen es her by, carrying her baby in the other direction.

The joke here is straightforward, and outright hilarious, in addition to demonstrating Larson's unparalleled ability to take something recognizable and invert it. In this case, he flips the idea of harvesting chicken eggs on its head, to great effect.

29 Gary Larson Depicts Marriage As A Living Hell

Of Gary Larson's many Far Side s set in the depths of hell, this is among the most amusing. With flames roaring all around the outside of the house, a devilish wife stands with hands on her hips, berating a beleaguered husband about the mess he's made of their living room.

"Well, this is one little Satanic ritual that is coming to an end," she shouts, as her husband looks at her grimly. Clutching a beer in one hand, the other buried in a chip bag, this comic humorously engages with the idea that marriage can be hell.

28 Gary Larson Invented The Term "Thagomizer" With This Comic

While most people don't take comic strips too seriously, one Larson classic actually had a real impact on the science of paleontology. Cavemen were some of Larson's favorite muses, and he uses the age-old formula to poke fun at modern people.

Poor old Thag met his end by a dinosaur's tail, and the comic strip was so funny that the nonsense word "Thagomizer" has actually been adopted into the paleontological lexicon.

27 Education Far Side-Style At The "Midvale School For The Gifted"

While TV shows, movies, and even video games have been set in schools, whenever Larson touched on the subject, readers knew it was going to be hilarious. So simple and yet so hilarious, the image of a boy attempting to push open a pull door will never not be sidesplitting.

Below the simple surface gag, the strip is also making clever commentary about how book smart people sometimes lack common sense. Many of the best Far Side comics grew to have lives of their own, but some have become hilarious staples of popular culture.

26 "You're Sick, Jessy!...Sick, Sick, Sick!"

Aside from dogs, Larson's main muse when crafting a Far Side comic was the trusty bovine. Larson was never afraid to put his cow subjects in absurd situations, and seeing a cow getting chewed out for grilling something is so much funnier than if it was a human.

The comic shows off more of Larson's dark sense of humor, as the reader can only assume that the cow is grilling meat from his own kind.