The Far Side by Gary Larson was in syndication from 1980 to 1996 and just recently in 2019, Larson surprised the internet by announcing he would draw more comics for his online site. With 19 years of comic writing, Larson has put thousands of comics online and in the newspapers.
With his eclectic taste in subject, Far Side comics run the gambit from hilarious to relatable to downright strange. While each one of the Far Side comics are uniquely Larson's in both sensibility and artistry there are some that cross over from absurd humor into the weirdest one- cartoons ever put in the funny-pages.
Shirt Of Toledo
Gary Larson is a very intelligent comic writer, and he uses all sorts of academic information for the basis of his jokes. This can lead to some very confusing comics, including this one which is set up with a group of people looking at the "Shroud Of Turin". The Shroud of Turin is an important religious artifact to of Christianity.
If that tidbit flies over the reader's head, then the punchline will make even less sense because the "Shirt of Toledo" is a completely made up object. The joke is that these uninformed people at the museum are looking upon a rare piece of history and some kid's striped shirt with the same open-mouthed awe. But for those unaware of their history, this is just a weird comic.
Cow Tools
Cow Tools is such an infamous comic that it has its own Wikipedia page. Audiences now know it was supposed to be a simple absurd joke about one of Larson's favorite comic characters, but that doesn't keep it from being a really weird cartoon. For one, audiences are already primed to see Far Side cows as something special, they appear so frequently in the comics that readers thought they must be missing something.
The second issue is that Larson made one of the crude tools look like a saw, which led people to try and decipher the other three to no avail. It's a strange comic without much of a punchline but the surrounding discourse has almost made it come all the way back around to being absurdly hilarious.
Where's Fifi?
Even on a good day, the best Far Side comics often have a twisted bent to them. In others, the creepiness is the whole basis of the joke and that's when the comics can get very weird. The conceit of this comic may be that it's from a movie, Dinner on Elm Street, but that doesn't change the fact that a maniacal chicken seems to have fed a dog to its owners.
It's truly a horrifying set-up with lighting crackling in the back and the family stuffing themselves with what they thought was chicken. The uncharacteristic off-set font adds to the feeling of unease and the crazed look on the chicken makes this a weird one to open the paper to.
Coconut-like Sound
With so many Far Side comics out there, there are plenty where the setup and payoff are too strange to even understand how they came about. This comic is a great example of how Larson would create a story that seems too strange to believe.
The question of why the parakeet would be happy that the dog, cat, and man all collided together is never answered and left completely up to interpretation. But it's important to note that the parakeet isn't ecstatic, it seems mildly pleased at best so whatever hatred it has for its housemates must be garden-variety. The weirdness comes from the mundanity of the event combined with the parakeet's muted reaction.
Trick Knee
A "trick knee" is not a well-known medical term, and it's certainly not something people would show off at a party. But apparently, the Fullertons in the Far Side have been waiting all night to show off theirs, a very strange concept for a comic. It's a strange comic for a number of reasons.
One, they appear to have rehearsed this trick in the past, both Sydney and his wife standing at attention. Two, neither party seems particularly happy about it, as if this is a well-known thing the pair have to do for guests, and they're getting tired of it. And three, Sydney's knee "woofs" on command. It's an absurd comic, and it's hard to imagine what situation led Larson to come up with the comic.
Van Gogh School Of Art
Gary Larson's art style is iconic and works for his jokes but they do leave a little something to be desired when he is trying to draw something specific. For example, in this comic, students are walking to and from class at the Vincent van Gogh School of Art, in which they are ing by a statue that is clearly supposed to be a part of the joke.
But unless the reader is familiar with van Gogh and how he removed his ear, they may not understand exactly what the statue is supposed to represent. Even knowing about van Gogh won't necessarily help, as the statue looks as much only marginally like a human ear.
Doug And Boomer
This is just one of those strange comics that could only really have been drawn by Gary Larson. It's a take on a "Horton Hears A Who" type story but with a grub as the tiny friend. It would make more sense for the grub to be named Boomer and the bear, Doug, but they would still be strange names even so.
It is entirely inexplicable as to why these two would be friends or why other bears would care about a single grub at all. In fact, they don't even seem like they're trying to get Doug. They seem more like they're as confused as the audience is as to why this bear is obsessed with a talking grub.
Aw Blah Es Span Yol
Gary Larson loves a good scientist joke, every high school and college biology professor has a funny cut-out Far Side comic on their door. He has mined the profession for hundreds of jokes and with those come a number that is both weird and inexplicable. Frankly, this joke is still not completely apparent.
Scientists appear to be recording the dolphin noises in a controlled environment and are receiving Spanish-sounding words that they spell phonetically on the chalkboard. The joke may be that the scientists are not intelligent enough to know Spanish or that dolphins would speak Spanish exclusively in the first place. Either way, it's a little too strange to be called funny.
Chicken Trade
Far Side comics are more than happy to put even innocent children in harm's way and when they do, it's often in the darkest way possible. In this wordless comic, a farmer is retrieving eggs like she does every day but notices that this morning, one of the chickens has decided to mimic her by procuring her own child.
It is not shown why in the one- comic, but the point is well taken, it's a funny comic that relates two characters. It would be quite a horrific scene if the child did not look so unperturbed and the chicken so pleased with herself. But it is still a very weird comic to show human babies being treated no better than livestock.
Two Bystanders
While many Far Side comics depend on speaking to the reader through their captions, they rarely break the fourth wall. Newspaper comics in general rarely do this so count on the one time that Larson does it, it's in the strangest and most in-your-face way possible, literally.
It must have been very strange for newspaper readers in the 1980s to open the comics section and see two goofy Gary Larson creations leering right back at them as if the Far Side is some live television show. Another element of weirdness and humor comes from the caption stating the two men ruined one of the greatest comics ever. An old man holding a chicken in front of his wife must have had some punchline for that to be the case.