Nobody loves to make fun of people more than Gary Larson andThe Far Side.While this may sound like the cruel behavior of your average bully, Larson sought to bring everyone down to the same level, including popular, real-world figures. Admittedly, the cartoonist often preferred to use animals to highlight our absurd behaviors, but sometimes a celebrity or a historical figure may feel especially relatable.
Gary Larson’sThe Far Sideoftenemploys the use of real-world figures to help break down the fantastical barriersthat we, the average people, place between ourselves and cultural or historical icons. They, like us, are just humans, trying to figure their way through life. Likewise, Larson liked to use these cultural figures to poke fun at his comics’ viewers and our part to play in elevating certain people to iconic statuses. These satirical, and often dark, jokes don’t just serve to entertain but to remind us that we’re all the same underneath the accolades.
10Abraham Lincoln’s Got Jokes
In this historic re-imagining of a historical turning point for the United States, Gary Larson draws President Abraham Lincoln moments before delivering the iconic Gettysburg Address. In this moment, the President called to usher in a new era of unity and prosperity for the entirety of the country. However, to bring levity to what will surely be a somber speech,Lincoln delivers a witty joke to break the tensionwith a bit of humor.
Here,Gary Larson playfully deflates the severity of Lincoln’s speech, reminding his audience that these historical figures were oftentimes just as playfully human as the rest of us. Larson frequentlyusesThe Far Sideto show the common humanity that we all share, especially during serious instances that could use a light-hearted joke. Of course, in this comic, Abraham Lincoln doesn’t seem to get the roaring applause he was hoping for, as the onlookers stare on with blank expressions on their faces.
9The Mystery Of D.B. Cooper
The mystery of D.B. Coopers is one of America’s greatest enigmas that still exists today. In this comic, the legendary plane hijacker is mid-descent, parachuting from the sky after making his grand escape. In real life, we still have no clue what happened to the infamous criminal, butGary Larson has his own answer.Instead of disappearing into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, Cooper lands in a caged-off area filled with attentive rottweiler dogs.
In this strip, Larson takes one of the most notorious crimes in American history andsteals away the great mystery which makes the crime worth talking about.The cartoonist pokes fun at how popular culture romanticizes outlaw figures by making Cooper’s ending relatively anticlimactic. Ultimately, Cooper escaped the law through nothing but sheer luck, which, in this comic, quickly runs out as D.B. Cooper meets what is surely going to be a grim end.
8Donald Trump’s Single Tear
It’srare for Gary Larson to writeabout current political figures. While the cartoonist does frequently poke fun at historical figures and celebrities, Gary Larson momentarilyreturned from retirement in 2020 totake a shot at the then-former PresidentDonald Trump. In this comic, a woman in a museum of rare artifacts looks down at a lone glass jar labeled “Donald Trump Tear,” suggesting that the President rarely shows one of humanity’s empathetic actions.
The absurdity of this comic comes fromthe clinical preservation of something that is supposed to be associated with emotional depth, especially from a figure whose public image is defined by emotional deflection and bravado. Larson isn’t mocking Trump directly, instead satirizing the image that the President has built around himself. However, Donald Trump must have particularly spurred Larson if the cartoonist chose to return from retirement for this comic alone.
7Edgar Allan Poe’s Writer’s Block
Have you ever had such horrible writer’s block that you have to just stare out a window and contemplate your life’s work? Apparently, Edgar Allan Poe did. Here, the iconic gothic-horror writer struggles to come up with the title for one of his most popular short stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Instead,Poe has numerous pages of defunct titles referring to other organsbesides the heart, all scrawled out with ink and tossed in the garbage.
Any writer can attest that, at moments, your brain just doesn’t want to make the literary connections that you so desperately wish it should. The process can be deeply frustrating, even for well-known figures like Edgar Allan Poe. Once again,Gary Larson takes a historical figureand places them in an exceptionally relatable situation to humanize those we frequently dissociate from our modern lives. Decades may distance us from Edgar Allan Poe, butour shared human experience only brings us closer together.
6Elvis Checked Into The Wrong Hotel
In this comic strip, Gary Larson combines two major pop-culture icons: Elvis Presley and the Bates Motel featured in Alfred Hitchcock’sPsycho.In life, Elvis Presley drew millions of fans worldwide, so when he tragically passed, copious amounts ofrumors, conspiracy theories, and urban legends appeared surrounding the icon’s death.Here, Larson pokes fun at the odd mystification of Presley’s death, calling these nonsensical theories just as fictional as the Bates Motel.
Gary Larson’s satirical comedyis in full effect in this comic as the cartoonist takes his shot at the theorists, lambasting the fictionalization of Elvis’s purely tragic and mundane passing. Larson frequentlyuses his comics to break down the grandiose images we constructaround celebrities, historical figures, and scientists to show that, underneath the pomp and circumstance, we’re all just human. The somber reality is that even death is mundane and not often as fantastical as this comic.
5General Custer’s First Stand
Before every historical giant rose to their station of power,they began their journey just as we all do - with our first steps.In this comic, we see General Custer, one of the United States’ most controversial military figures, as an infant, taking his first steps. This silly yet simple joke refers to General Custer’s “Last Stand,” also known as the Battle of Little Bighorn, where the General and his army were vastly overwhelmed by surrounding Indigenous American forces.
Once again,The Far Sideseeks to humanizethis legendary figure in American history. While Custer’s reputation has dwindled in modern times, he was considered a hero and a martyr at the time of his death. Gary Larson shows us thateven the most well-known historical figures started life just as many of us do, proving that any one of us can rise to the same station that General Custer eventually did.
4Leonardo da Vinci Isn’t A Master Of Everything
Here, Leonardo da Vinci, the father of anatomy, sits intently at his easel, utterly absorbed in perfecting what would become one of his most iconic pieces of art. Meanwhile, as the artist puts the final touches on theMona Lisa, his dog sits nearby, wondering where his dinner is supposed to be. The impatient pup, exasperated by his wait,jokingly questions da Vinci’s status as a “Great Master,”thus reducing one of art history’s most revered artistic achievements to a simple household standoff between man and pet.
This comic’s dry humor lies in the contrast between da Vinci’s creative immortality and the everyday moments the artist experienced in life. More than that, it shows how neglectful we can become when we become obsessed with our work.Gary Larson isn’t mocking his fellow artist’s work, but instead grounding it.Larson knows as well as any artist that behind even the most iconic pieces of art are the simple, boring, everyday interactions of real life.
3Madonna’s Outfits Are Deadly
In 1990, Madonna debuted herBlond Ambitiontour, well-known for its extraordinarily expensive set designs, risqué choreography, and merriment of Catholic imagery with BDSM esthetics. Alongside this iconic tour, which elevated the artist from a pop star to a cultural icon, Madonna revealeda unique corset equipped with an especially pointed bradesigned by Jean Paul Gaultier. Soon, Madonna was the talk of every town across the world, cementing her status for decades to come.
In this comic, Madonna finds herself on a life raft out at sea, until she falls over while wearing the iconic pointed bra. Soon, the bra pierces the raft, quickly sinking the vessel and her fellow survivors. Just as Madonna has become a cultural icon, this comic has become one ofThe Far Side’s most hilarious visual gagsthanks to Gary Larson’s use of a real-world figure. Part of the reason theseFar Sidecomics are still beloved today is becauseLarson loved using immortal icons like Madonna,who would still be recognized over the following decades.
2Stephen King Has Always Been Unique
In this comic strip, we see a young Stephen King ominously standing over his childhood ant farm. However, in addition to his ants, King has placed a small diorama of a couple sharing a picnic. The ants, by comparison, dwarf the little figurines, as we are left to expect that the insects will soon attack and consume the poor couple. Meanwhile,Stephen King does nothing as he watches the artistic tragedy he has designedto unfold.
While Stephen King is well-known for his dark and twisted, macabre work, Gary Larson equally shares the author’s dark sense of humor. InThe Far Side Gallery 1,Larson admits that his brother constantly teased the young cartoonist that monsters were everywhere,unlocking a dark sense of imagination that Larson would frequently depend onthroughoutThe Far Side’s publication history. Fortunately, even Stephen King has acknowledged that Larson“turns the world as I know it into a funhouse mirror.”
1Gary Larson’s Great Embarrassment
Only featured inThe Far Side’s collected editions, Larson included a comic that features a man knocked out on the floor after having unsuccessfully used an at-home chin-up bar to work out. Despite the man’s efforts to make his life better and improve his physical health, his work was for naught, instead resulting in a serious physical injury. However, the funniest part of this comic is thatthe man is Gary Larson himself.
Alongside this comic, Larson shares that his work is “rarely spontaneous” and that this particular piece“came directly from [his] own personal experience.”Gary Larson rarely includes himself in his work, wishing to create universally relatable comics. WhileThe Far Sidewould be nothing without Larson’s dark, satirical comedy, the jokes succeed because they simply depend on experiences that we have all recognized in our own lives. Once again, we see Larson willing to take someone monumental, in this case, himself, andknock them down a peg to remind his audience that we’re all human.
