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The Far Side is synonymous with certain recurring characters, locations, and punchlines – yet one potent example, Gary Larson's penchant for uproarious courtroom scenes, often goes underappreciated, even by the most hardcore fans of the artist's work. Larson frequently made jokes in which unexpected characters found themselves on trial, and the results included some of the best Far Side cartoons ever produced.
From pop culture icons like Popeye and Mr. Ed taking the stand, to cows and insects testifying before the court, The Far Side's trial-based punchlines rank among Gary Larson's zaniest flights of fancy, as the premise of these jokes helped the artist achieve some especially memorable punchlines.
Whether the end result was obvious, or totally unexpected, Larson's Far Side courtroom scenes captured the tension and the excitement of criminal trials, while pushing this trope to its most absurd comedic limits.
10 Television's Iconic Talking Horse Takes The Stand – And Refuses To Hold His Tongue Any Longer
First Published: April 9, 1987
This Far Side joke uses Mr. Ed – the beloved "talking" horse from the eponymous sitcom, which ran on American television 1961 to 1966 – to establish a baseline familiarity for the reader, a foundation upon which Gary Larson then builds a laugh-out-loud scene, in which the equine witness unburdens itself in a long stream-of-consciousness ramble, which reads:
...and then I see Wilbur go around to the back of the barn carrying this shovel and he's got this wild look in his eyes and he's like real nervous and then I notice he's trying to bury this big plastic bag which at first I figure is just full of manure but then I start to wonder what the hey is going on and then...
Wilbur, of course, was the name of Mr. Ed's human owner on the show, and so for readers with nostalgic attachment to the TV series, which aired decades before this comic was published, this Far Side comic would certainly have been a hilariously dark twist on the show's recognizable elements. As funny as the joke is, its success is also in part a result of its ability to surprise the reader with this unexpected subversion of its otherwise lighthearted pop culture source material.
9 This Far Side Comic Shows That Sometimes The Best Punchline Is Playing It Straight
First Published: June 10, 1987
This Far Side comic, set in a prehistoric courtroom, is an example of Gary Larson's fascination with humanity's cave-dwelling ancestors, but more critically, it also highlights a particular strain of the cartoon's humor. There are Far Side jokes in which the punchline evolved out of the premise, but this is a case where the premise and the punchline are one and the same.
That is, the "joke" here is that the caveperson courtroom drama is playing out exactly as a contemporary murder trial would; there is no absurd twist in the dialogue, as the cave-prosecutor confronts the defendant, "Mr. Grok," with the murder weapon. Rather, the sheer absurdity of the characters' anachronistic behavior – playing out a legal drama tens of thousands of years ahead of their time – that is intended to get a laugh here.
8 The Far Side's Depiction Of Canine Court Is Criminally Underrated
First Published: August 18, 1987
"Well, the defendant and I had made this deal in which we both prospered," a mangy-looking mutt says from the witness stand, explaining further that it was, "one of those 'you-scratch-me-behind-my-ears-I'll-scratch-you-behind-yours' arrangements." While Gary Larson doesn't divulge the greater context of the crime in question here, it is clear that this quid-pro-quo arrangement is an important piece of information for the dogs on the jury.
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Love It or Hate It, This Is What a Perfect Far Side Comic Looks Like
Many Far Side comics have a claim to being "the best," but I'm more interested in defining what makes a great, or even perfect, Gary Larson joke.
Again, the joke here is the matter-of-fact tone of the proceedings, in contrast with the animal nature of the characters in court, yet the overall humor of the panel relies on the details Gary Larson includes, such as the judge's gavel being a bone, and the framing of the image from the jury box, with the jurors all having their noses pointed in the air like bloodhounds, waiting for the truth to come out.
7 Legendary Pop Culture Strong Man Popeye Reveals His True Nature At A Pivotal Moment
First Published: November 10, 1987
In this unforgettable Far Side courtroom moment, Popeye the Sailor Man is on the stand, but rather than a witness, it is clear he is the defendant in this case – and in a moment worthy of A Few Good Men, he is goaded into a startling admission by the prosecutor, snapping his famous line, "I yam what I yam," after the prosecutor asks the leading, semi-rhetorical question of, "what kind of a monster are you?"
It is a funny, satisfying pop culture reference, one in which the pay-off centers around taking something familiar and situating it in a totally new context. Here, Gary Larson recontextualizes Popeye's iconic saying, turning it from a triumphant declaration of self-confidence into a sinister revelation of the darkness lurking within, and the result is a hilarious Far Side panel.
6 This Far Side Witness Waited Their Entire Life For This Moment
First Published: May 8, 1990
"So, once they started talking, I just remained motionless, taking in every word," an informant explains to a crowded courtroom, from the witness stand, adding "of course, it was pure luck I just happened to be a fly on the wall" – and indeed, the witness, as well as the lawyer, the judge, and every other inhabitant of the court, are all flies.
This is the kind of Far Side joke that is elevated by the way it straddles the line between the novel and the obvious; a court scene where the characters are flies is a strange concept for a joke, but then Gary Larson uses that to deliver a deliberately recognizable pay-off. On a compositional note, it is worth noting that Larson almost certainly worked backward here, deriving the premise from the punchline, rather than the other way around.
5 This Deep Cut Far Side Reference Deserves More Credit Than It Gets
First Published: December 14, 1992
Rather than a trial setting, this Far Side cartoon instead takes place in a "Senate subcommittee" hearing, in which famous teen detectives the Hardy Boys explain how they "crack[ed] the Iran-Contra scandal." It is the kind of layered reference that will go unappreciated by contemporary readers, who might not be familiar either way the novel series, or the political scandal that plagued the Reagan administration in the 1980s – yet, at least on a purely technical level, it stands as one of Gary Larson's best.
The Far Side Complete Collection
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That is, the joke here effortlessly mashes together a pop culture reference and a piece of social commentary, hewing between satire and parody in a way that gives the cartoon a broad appeal. At the time of its publication, it would have been immediately relatable to a much wider section of The Far Side's audience, and as such, even in retrospect, it is worth giving its dues to.
4 This Far Side Panel Blends Classic American Folklore & Contemporary Courtroom TV
First Published: December 31, 1992
Captioned "Ichabod Crane v. the Headless Horseman in The People's Court," this Far Side panel – which depicts exactly that, a legal showdown between the human protagonist and spectral antagonist of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" – evokes a familiar American myth at the same time that it references a pioneering modern TV series, making this another classic blend of elements by Gary Larson.
The first incarnation of The People's Court ran from 1981 to 1993, and was at the forefront of the evolution of reality television. That reference would have been immediately impactful for readers at the time, while pitting Ichabod Crane and the Horseman in a television, small-claims legal dispute is a very amusing use of the People's Court premise.
3 The Far Side Depicts The Consequences Of Discrimination Against Two-Dimensional Characters
First Published: April 9, 1993
Despite what he might have thought about his own work, Gary Larson was a very talented illustrator, one who clearly became more comfortable pushing the limits of what he could do in a single panel as his career progressed. Often, Larson directly incorporated different levels of artistic quality into Far Side panels on purpose, as is the case here, in which a stick figure takes the stand to call out the defendant who callously sicced their dog on him.
The joke is straightforward enough, and it is the disparity between the fully-embodied representations of most of panel's characters, and the setting itself, in contrast with the bare bones, two-dimensional drawing of the victim, which is what makes this a chuckle-worthy Far Side cartoon, at the very least.
2 Gary Larson Revels In Twisting Language With This Far Side Interrogation
First Published: April 23, 1992
This Far Side cartoon is a linguistic delight, as Gary Larson riffs on the recognizable "how now brown cow" tongue twister, using the courtroom setting to enable a scenario in which a prosecutor confronts a bovine defendant, stating:
We know how you did it – how is no longer the question. What we now want to know is why...why now, brown cow?
Despite The Far Side's reputation for obscurity, it just as often featured deliberately obvious jokes like this one, in which the fun – for both Larson and the reader – comes from reveling in this quirky reorientation of language.
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In other words, Larson plays on readers' familiarity with "how now brown cow," and the familiar patterns of legal dramas, by skipping over the details of method and getting right to the essential question of motive, asking why the bovine suspect committed their presumably-violent crime at the moment they did.
1 This Far Side Courtroom Comic Blends The Horrifying & The Hilarious Like Only Gary Larson Could
First Published: April 22, 1994
In this Far Side cartoon, a man with one eye, and scars all over his face, and his arm in a sling, sits in the witness booth as a prosecutor holds a safari hat with two large googly eyes on the front of it up for him to look at – while asking him to confirm that the defendant knowingly gave it to him to wear in order to provoke a baboon attack. Remarkably, there is something equally ridiculous and nightmarish about this premise.
That is to say, with this panel, Gary Larson impressively walks a tightrope between the gruesome nature of the joke's premise, and the cartoonish illustration, artfully blending horror and humor in the way that Far Side excelled at. It is a surprisingly detailed, ambitious scenario, compared on some of Larson's more famous punchlines, and that is precisely what makes it an undervalued, unforgettable Far Side comic.
The Far Side
Writer Gary Larson
Colorist Gary Larson
Summary
Written and drawn by Gary Larson, The Far Side is a comic strip series that ran from December 1979 to January 1995. A worldwide hit, The Far Side explores life's surreal side and uses a mix of humans and anthropomorphic animals. As of 2020, Gary Larson decided to pick his pencil back up again and has started The Far Side up, circulating the comics on his official website.
English (US) ·