Gary Larson’sThe Far Sideran from 1980 to 1994, with a shockingly high level of quality from beginning to end. With over 4000 comic strips, not a month passes without one total classic or another hitting a major milestone. As of August 2024, a bunch more of Larson’s comics are celebrating their fortieth birthdays!
Here are the ten funniestFar Sidecomics from August 1984 that just turned 40, including some of Larson’s biggest obsessions and one single-panel gag that’s among his best wordless strips of all time.
10One Grunt
The Far Side’s July 23, 2025 Comic
Gary Larson’sThe Far Sidehas a lot weird themes, such as thecombination of fishing and deathor cavepeople inventing something for the first time. However, perhaps the most bizarre concept that Larson brings back again and again is regular people keeping a rhinoceros as a pet. Larson has them competing in ‘dog shows,’ scratching at the door to get in, and - in this strip - panting down the phone when their owner is away on a business trip.
The simple gag of replacing a regular-sized household pet with a giant, ornery rhino is masterfully handled by Larson who - while engaging with the same core concept - always finds a way to make it feel new, from rhinos barreling through gigantic hamster tubes to a rendering of Francis Barraud’sHis Master’s Voice, but this time with a rhinoceros replacing his terrier (or rather sitting on top of it.)
9Tusks
The Far Side’s August 08, 2025 Comic
In another ‘giant mammal’ gag, Larson depicts a hunter vs elephant face-off where the pachyderm’s tusks suddenly ‘jam,’ allowing the hunter a clear shot. It’s a classic reversal of circumstances gag, but also the rareFar Sidejoke where a hunter wins out over their prey. Larson is a major supporter of conservation charities, and usuallytakes the side of animals against humanity. Thankfully for anyFar Sidefans who don’t want to imagine the elephant’s grisly fate, a later strip offers hope that he got the last laugh:
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8Went to Market
The Far Side’s July 09, 2025 Comic
Larson loves taking an idiom or lyric literally, creating a bizarre world where one ‘little piggy’ on a sleeping man’s foot can pop itself loose and head off"to market.“BecauseThe Far Sidetells its gags in a single panel (at least most of the time),Larson takes every opportunity to use a character or situation that has existing cultural context, allowing him to pack more into the joke (and giving him a bunch of ideas and assumptions to play against.)
This explains whyThe Far Sideoften uses moviesand celebrities in its gags, as well as using animals in the same way - the context of a stampeding elephant or ferocious lion is instantly clear, allowing Larson to weave a joke out of how the reader already understands the image. Nursery rhymes in particular are a treasure trove for this approach, as they offer not just clear characters and situations, but often iconic phrases thatFar Sidecan twist.
Examples include reading"Mary had a little lamb"as the shepherdess enjoying a hearty meal, and"Old McDonaldhada farm"being a taunting refrain used after McDonald’s animals rise up and squash him flat.
7Musical Chairs
The Far Side’s July 03, 2025 Comic
Far Side’scavemen are always inventing, with Larson returning again and again to the gag of them starting out with simplistic versions of modern inventions that don’t really make sense. The first wheel sees a caveman tied on top for the test drive, early checkers is played with just two squares, and - in this case - musical chairs is played with a single boulder and a fellow hominid tapping out a rhythm with a couple of rocks. At least in this game, it’s impossible to snatch the chair out from anyone else.
6Ketchup Bees
The Far Side’s June 24, 2025 Comic
SomeFar Sidecomics are witty, some require surprisingly specific inside knowledge, and some are just surreal. In this comic, Larson imagines that, like honey, ketchup is collected (and directly bottled) from the hives of specialist bees. InThe Complete Far Side, Gary Larson says that not every strip could make the reader laugh, buthe always wanted to be able to make his reader exclaim"What the–“with the antics of his bizarre world. Ketchup bees definitely fit that brief.
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5Alien Tour Guide
The Far Side’s July 08, 2025 Comic
Just asFar Sideloves to showcase the human side of animals, it also likes to treat humansasanimals, reminding us that for all our apparent sophistication, there’s still a lot of overlap. In this case, that message is made literal, as an alien tour guide brings a family of extraterrestrials into a human’s dwelling, patronizingly describing him as a"little fellow"in the same tone as a David Attenborough nature documentary.
4Ant Social Graces
The Far Side’s June 07, 2025 Comic
Animals are back in the driving seat, as two ants amid a gigantic swarm of their coworkers still find the time to observe social niceties. Larson used ants a lot, often tapping into the idea of them living in a familiar-seeming insect rat race, with many of the same concerns and casual thoughts.
Larson’s love of animals extended to bugs, with a bunch of comics that made him so beloved of real-world entomologists, he’s had multiple insect species named in his honor, including thestrigiphilus garylarsonilouse and theserratoterga larsonibutterfly.
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3One Heck of a Cold
The Far Side’s August 24, 2025 Comic
There’s often a fine line between humor and horror, andFar Sidedefinitely toes it with this strip, where two people hear the breathing of a gigantic being standing right outside, but don’t yet realize where the noise is coming from. For hardcoreFar Sidefans, this strip will definitely bring its ‘twin’ to mind, andit’s fun to imagine that the two comics take place in the same building, just on different floors:
Larson loved the visual gag of a giant body part causing issues for other people, with everything from eyes and noses to giant kneecaps and one giant arm making an appearance acrossFar Side’s run.
2Roy and Barbara
The Far Side’s June 07, 2025 Comic
The Far Sidedabbles in mythology with this gag, where two holidaymakers return to their house in Atlantis only to find the entire city has vanished underwater. Larson loves to downplay huge events, turning the drowning of an entire city into a surreal inconvenience for Roy and Barbara. Even funnier, the gag is clearly set in the modern day, with a paved path leading up to the lost city.
Larson’s whimsical approach to deadly situations likely comes from growing up during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In a 1987 interview with20/20, Larson noted thathis childhood during the Cold Warinfluenced his humor, stating:
It was going fromLeave It To Beaverto bomb shelters. I remember sitting in my seventh-grade English class thinking that the world was going to end during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It made you look at the world a little bit askew.
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1Frog Takeoff
The Far Side’s July 09, 2025 Comic
The Far Sideloves language too much to always do without words, and yet sometimes Larson hits on an image so inherently comedic, it doesn’t need a wittybon motto sell it. In this case, a hungry frog has gotten a little too ambitious, attempting to eat an aircraft in the same way it usually catches flies. Sadly, it’s now attached to that same aircraft for takeoff. One of Larson’s most underrated skills is how he fits so much information into a single panel, with the pond in the background helping to tell the story of how the frog ended up in this position.
Those are the ten funniestFar Sidecomics that just turned 40, including a hilarious wordless comic that’s sure to make anyone’s day.
The Far Side
The Far Side is a humorous comic series developed by Gary Larson. The series has been in production since 1979 and features a wide array of comic collections, calendars, art, and other miscellaneous items.
