Gary Larson’sThe Far Sideis known for its morbid sense of humor, including a range of comics that will awaken a number of popular phobias.From spiders and heights to clowns and doctors, many of Gary Larson’s funniest comics will also send a shiver up the spine of anyone with one of the specific fears on this list.
Here are the 10 funniestFar Sidecomics that prey on common fears, depicting the subjects of some of society’s most common phobias.Be sure to vote in our end-of-article poll for the funniest comic, and to see which strip other readers chose as the official #1.
10Acrophobia, aka Fear of Heights - “You Ever Get That Urge, Frank?”
Far Side Thinks You Should Be More Scared of Your Co-Workers
Acrophobia is familiar to anyone who has ever looked down from a great height - the lurching stomach and cold sweat when confronted by even the faintest possibility of a potentially lethal fall. However, in the world ofThe Far Side, that fall becomes alotmore likely. In this strip, two construction workers sitting far above the city are eating their lunch as one gradually reveals hereallywants to push someone to their death. What’s worse, the speaker is sitting between his potential victim and any hope of escape.
Larson’s comic evokes the iconic ‘Lunch atop a Skyscraper’ photo of workers having lunch during the construction of Rockefeller Center (or, rather, the staged photo thatseemsto show workers having lunch.) However, typical of Larson, the situation immediately veers into surreal (but hilarious) darkness, with only two workers present for this increasing scary situation. The one silver lining is that the worker whoshouldfeel threatened has a clueless look on his face, suggesting he may be spared the increasing unease he ought to be feeling.
9Nyctophobia, aka Fear of the Dark - “Maybe I’ll Just Pass on My Usual Barking Frenzy”
Gary Larson Hints What’s Lurking in the Darkness
Most people have experienced nyctophobia, even if only in childhood. The phobia expresses itself in various ways, but one of them is excessive worrying about what could be hiding in the darkness. In this hilarious comic,Larson pushes that fear to its extreme, showing an indescribable monstrosity sneaking into a house through the window. While the family dog has spotted the danger, it’s smart enough to avoid angering the creature, deciding to let its owners take their chances (in fact, this decision may qualify it asFar Side’s smartest dog.) Hopefully, this image won’t leap back into your head the next time you hear a bump in the night…
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8Ophidiophobia, aka Fear of Snakes - “Get It Off Me!”
Plenty of people suffer from ophidiophobia, though none more famously than Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones - who speaks the iconic line"Snakes, why’d it have to be snakes?“in 1981’sRaiders of the Lost Ark. In this comic, a pet store worker has been consumed by an escaped python, with their terrified last words having been memorized by a nearby parrot, who continues repeating them well after help is possible. In a ghoulish detail, Larson places the worker’s glasses right by the snake.Open the image gallery below for moreFar Sidecomics starring snakes.
If anyone has earned a fear of snakes, it’s Gary Larson, who relates inThe Prehistory of The Far Sidethathe was once almost killed by his own pet Burmese python. Larson notes that he bought the snake as a baby and didn’t register how much it had grown over time, missing that"instead of an interesting and beautiful member of the reptile family, I was now living with a gigantic predator with a very small brain.“Larson received a scary wake-up call whenthe snake coiled around himin an"attempt to do me in.“Thankfully, unlike the pet store clerk, he made it out alive.
7Arachnophobia, aka Fear of Spiders - Spider Family Pranks
Far Side Takes “They’re More Scared of You…” Seriously
In this strip, two spider kids prank their parent with a rubber human on a string. TheearlyFar Sidecomicflips the idea of humans being scared of spiders, but ironically its human-sized, sharp-toothed arachnids are likely to disturb anyone who actually struggles with arachnophobia.
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6Aviophobia, aka Fear of Flying - Wings Fall Off
Far Side Makes Flying Scary in Two Main Ways
Also known as aerophobia, the fear of flying is incredibly relatable, given how little control passengers have over their fate once they step aboard an aircraft. Holding up a mirror to the real world,Far Sideshows how terrifying it would be if passengers reallydidcontrol their own fate, as ‘Ted’ accidentally flips a switch that sends his plane tumbling out of the air - earning this strip a place on our list ofFar Sidecomics where everybody dies.Open the image gallery below for moreFar Sidecomics featuring airplanes.
Of course,Far Sidealso plays around with the opposite - situations where pilots are freaking out while passengers don’t realize the trouble they’re in, including a comic where an adult Dumbo takes his revenge on humanity.
5Coulrophobia, aka Fear of Clowns - When Clowns Go Bad
You SHOULD Be Scared of Far Side’s Clowns
Horror movies have madea lotof money out of coulrophobia, with films likeITandTerrifiershowcasing evil clowns. However, any fan ofThe Far Sideknows thatGary Larson’s clowns are way scarierthan anything you can find in a horror movie - not because they’reevil, but because they’re so unpredictable and weird.Far Side’s clowns might randomly hide around a corner, waiting to pie you… or they might cause global thermonuclear warfare.Open the image gallery below for moreFar Sidecomics starring clowns.
Gary Larson depicts clowns as almost a different species to humans, engaging in bizarre behavior for their own mysterious reasons, even when they have potentially dangerous consequences.
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4Claustrophobia, aka Fear of Enclosed Spaces - Into the Bottle
Far Side’s Cartoony Comic Depicts the Impossible
Sufferers of claustrophobia suffer intense fear related to enclosed spaces, and it doesn’t get much more enclosed than accidentally ending up trapped in a soda bottle.This earlyFar Sidecomic revels in the medium’s ability to depict the impossible, as a kid trying to show off somehow ends up sucking themselves into the glass prison.
3Pathophobia, aka Fear of Disease - “Uh-Oh”
Far Side’s Scientists Haven’t Exactly Earned the Public Trust
Pathophobia is the extreme fear of disease - both the risk of contracting an illness and the consequences if you do so. Larson’s strip imagines a world where the scientists experimenting with deadly viruses are careless enough to end up dropping their sample out of a window, instantly unleashing it on an unsuspecting world. One of the reasons that comics like this read as comedy rather than horror is becauseLarson contrasts incredibly serious situations with majorly low-key reactions, as a man who may have just doomed humanity reacts with,“Uh-oh.”
2Thalassophobia, aka Fear of Deep Water - “We’re Definitely Going to Need the Net”
Far Side Answers a Dark Subconscious Question - What’s Down There?
Thalassophobia is a less famous phobia than arachnophobia or claustrophobia, but it’s something a lot of people have experienced - just ask any little kid wondering what could be lurking beneath them in the deep end of the pool. Sadly, the characters in this comic aren’t scaredenoughabout what’s lurking under the surface, kicking off what’s doubtless going to be a deadly confrontation with a gigantic sea creature. Larson has a surprising habit ofcombining fishing and deathin his comics -open the image gallery below for moreFar Sidecomics that combine fishing and death.
The Far Sideoften adopts the perspective of animals, so it makes sense that Larson would link fishing with death - that’s exactly how fish experience it, after all. Indeed, the ‘sea monster’ comic is funny (and a little eerie) because it flips the relationship between fisherman and ‘prey,’ turning the humans into the ones who are on the lethal end of the rod.
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1Latrophobia, aka Fear of Doctors - “That Was a Good One!”
Scared of Far Side’s Clowns? Meet Its Doctors
The fear of doctors, latrophobia is one of the most unfortunate phobias a person can have, giving them a reason to avoid the people who safeguard their health. Of course, in the world ofFar Side, this phobia might just save your life, as doctors get up to all kinds of terrible behavior, including - in the comic above - poking a patient’s exposed brain just to see how their body reacts.Open the image gallery below for moreFar Sidecomics starring terrible doctors.
Like most ofFar Side’s authority figures, its doctors range from goofy to dangerously incompetent to outright malevolent -but at least they’re not dentists, who Larson depicts as literal monsters.
Those are the 10 funniestFar Sidecomics that are likely to awaken common phobias -be sure to vote for whichever you think is funniest in our poll below, and check back for more of Gary Larson’s genius comics soon.
