Summary

• Larson's desert island trope in The Far Side produced iconic visuals and some of his best jokes.
• Dissonance between human characters in absurd situations on the island created comedic gold.
• Larson's evolving humor often tested the limits of humanity, with the island serving as a valuable tool.

Gary Larson's The Far Side featured its share of recurring elements over the years – with one iconic example being his frequent use of the "stranded on a desert island" trope to achieve hilarious results. The desert island became one of the strip's most recognizable visuals, while delivering some of its best jokes.

The Far Side utilized the desert island in a variety of ways – though one vital element they all shared was the idea of casting human characters away from the context of civilization. From there, Larson would often introduce some extra, absurd element, and let the dissonance produce comedic gold.

Gary Larson's humor was frequently intended to test the limits of what it meant to be human. The desert island was among Larson's most valuable tools for achieving this goal. As his style evolved over the years, so did his use of the island trope, making a comparative analysis particularly insightful.

The Far Side ran from the end of 1979 until the beginning of 1995. This list contains strips selected from between the years 1980 and 1986, depicting the steady evolution of the desert island in Gary Larson's imagination.

20 The Far Side's First DESERT Island Joke Was A Classic

First Published: April 15, 1980

The desert island trope appeared early in The Far Side's run, though not in precisely the familiar form that would become recognizable to readers over the years. Gary Larson positions this 's shipwreck survivor in the bottom-left corner, with the reader's focus drawn to the note he's writing, which reads: "Help, I'm stranded on a –"

What follows are crossed out alternations of the words "desert" and "dessert," as the man can't decide which is correct. It's an old joke, pre-dating the comic strip, but one that perfectly fits its sensibilities, and found perfect form in Larson's rendition of it.

19 An Unusual Far Side With A Familiar Gary Larson Punchline

First Published: November 20, 1981

This Far Side desert island is one of the first to take on the compositional formula that Gary Larson would take to increasingly funny heights as the strip went on. Here, a small island is placed center-frame, with the stranded individual taking up most of the beach.

What makes this Far Side strip unusual is that it contains successive images. Though all contained in one , the survivor's dejected isolation, hope at seeing a boat in the distance, and crushing sadness at realizing it is only a toy, are all depicted – as Larson's style became codified, he would mainly stick to one single moment in time.

18 Gary Larson Takes Another Step In The Right Direction

First Published: April 13, 1982

In this Far Side installment, Gary Larson nearly arrives at the version of the desert island that became visually synonymous with the strip – all the elements are there, save for the perspective. That said, the absurdity of this ranks it high among the funniest desert island cartoons.

As the survivor below excitedly waves for help, the pilot circling his island cancels his rescue call-in, because the man below only wrote "HELF" in the sand. The incomplete "P" is made much funnier when considering the man stopped just short of completing his message when he saw his desired rescue seemingly arriving.

17 The Far Side's Desert Island Is Truly Born

First Published: April 30, 1982

This finally, fully delivers the iconic Far Side desert island that became standard in virtually all of Gary Larson's later uses of the setting. The joke is also Larson's humor at its most pure – that is to say at once mischievously ironic, unrepentantly dark.

Larson depicts a man on a desert island who has managed to acquire paper and a bottle, and has seemingly fashioned a writing utensil out of a feather. As he scribbles "send help," however, catastrophe strikes: a coconut falls from the island's single tree and smashes the bottle, thwarting his attempt to solicit a rescue.

16 Islands Aren't Supposed To Be That Squishy

First Published: October 13, 1982

Here, Gary Larson once more experimented with the form of The Far Side's desert island jokes, delivering one of the comic's most novel variations on this stock theme. "Hang on Betty," a stranded man reassures his family companion, "Someone's bound to see us eventually."

Of course, from the reader's perspective, the joke is evident: they are, in fact, sitting on the eyeball of some enormous, unidentified sea creature. Meaning they are very much being seen – but also that rescue may not be the end result of their adventure on the high seas.

15 Who Is More Likely To Get Rescued First

First Published: June 17, 1983

An example of The Far Side's penchant for silliness, this offers a light compliment to the strip's regularly scheduled darkness.

In this drawing, Gary Larson takes the standard Far Side desert island and adds something – another nearby island. On the island in the foreground, a human survivor sits staring up at the sky, having spelled out "Help" – in full – in the sand.

The humor of the comes from the mirrored visual of the second island in the background, with a duck in the same pose as the human, having also written a desperate message in the sand: "Quack." An example of The Far Side's penchant for silliness, this offers a light compliment to the strip's regularly scheduled darkness.

14 Professor Jenkins Day Goes From Bad To Worse

Published: July 12, 1983

This Far Side is more than just a hilarious example of the desert island trope – it also encapsulates talking animals of all kinds. One of the joys of reading Far Side across time is the way Larson's jokes became more layered, more precisely using stock elements, as the comic progressed.

This is a particularly great example, as a duck gloats to his "old nemesis" – the unfortunate Professor Jenkins, who has just survived a shipwreck – and relishes that the setting has given him the edge over the still-dripping wet human.

13 Sidney Needs To Get His Priorities Straight

First Published: September 23, 1983

Gary Larson's Far Side characters often met their doom, but rarely were they the subject of a double-calamity, like the unfortunate "Roger" in this strip, who after being stranded on a desert island is then struck and killed by a meteor.

The joke here is that Roger is not the focus of the cartoon – rather, Sidney is. Evidently, Roger's sudden demise has altered the dynamic of what was evidently a love triangle among the survivors. At least, as the caption notes, Sidney sees this not as a tragedy, but as his chance to win the unnamed woman's affections.

12 Things Often Appeared Where They Didn't Belong In The Far Side

First Published: January 26, 1984

The Far Side thrived on humor like this, where the visual gag might have prompted the reader to ask "What-the?" while the caption perfectly encapsulated the bizarre frustration of the situation.

One of the comedic short-cuts Gary Larson employed particularly effectively in his desert island strips involves including some out-of-place element of civilization on the island with his stranded characters. In this , the tiny island inexplicably has a phone booth, along with its single, solitary coconut tree.

However, unfortunately, the survivors don't have any quarters – to the great consternation of one of them, whose companion will not stop asking him for change. The Far Side thrived on humor like this, where the visual gag might have prompted the reader to ask "What-the?" while the caption perfectly encapsulated the bizarre frustration of the situation.

11 Hopefully These Far Side Aliens Come In Peace

First Published: June 4, 1984

[Gary] Larson's humor was at its best when it captured a single, fraught moment in the lives of its characters – terrestrial or otherwise.

As often as The Far Side visited desert islands, aliens visited The Far Side. This comic is the perfect fusion of those two recurring elements, as Gary Larson depicts a spaceship having crashed into the ocean, with its crew swimming to the nearest land – which happens to be occupied by the ragged survivor of a human shipwreck.

Larson's humor was at its best when it captured a single, fraught moment in the lives of its characters – terrestrial or otherwise. That is absolutely the case here, as the reader is left to question what first will be like under these uniquely dire circumstances.