The Far Side frequently featured jokes about getting older, and it's safe to say that few comic book characters have aged gracefully. Throughout his legendary career as a cartoonist, Gary Larson introduced the world to The Far Side numerous grumpy old men, grumpy old women, grumpy old animals and more.
More than just a bunch of jokes about grumpy old men, though, these Far Side the cartoons offer insight into how Larson felt about aging. Despite all its strangeness, The Far Side it was, in essence, a form of observational humor, and these panels prove that the artist was deeply aware of how people act differently as they age.
Far Side Fans – especially those who grew up with Gary Larson's work – will find a lot to love in these classic cartoons about aging.
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This Comic From The Other Side Highlights How Sometimes It Takes Decades to Realize Your Parents' Advice Was Right
First published: February 20, 1980
“Mom was right“, an elderly woman in a rocking chair says bitterly to her husband, in the adjacent rocking chair, adding that “you ain't nothing but an old goat” – what readers can see is literally true. This is an early and classic example of Gary Larson's technique of portraying something overly literal, to the point of absurdity, that is at the heart of so many Far Side cartoons that have aged like fine wine.
As silly as this joke is, readers will recognize a ring of truth in it – another thing that marks the most memorable Far Side panels. In this case, the comic satirizes an unfortunately familiar scenario: the person who regrets marrying the person their parents didn't tell them too, belatedly realizing that their parents were right, long after it was too late.
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The other side asks: is it better to forget or be forgotten?
First published: June 5, 1980
In this Far Side cartoon, an old woman walks away from the store cashier, two bags full of groceries in her arms – only to be called back because she left her husband sitting in the stroller. On the surface, this is a simple joke, a silly visual inversion – the old man sits on top of the cart, as a small child would do – combined with a sillier joke that treats the old man as if he were no different from a piece of product.
There is a deeper resonance to this comic, however, probably entirely unintended by Gary Larson. However, this joke actually evokes the sad reality that couples face as they grow old together: that, at some point, one of them may forget the other.
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The most distant version of “The More Things Change”
First published: October 15, 1980
That Far Side the comic is almost poignant in the way it evokes the passage of time and the succession of generations, although any poignancy is undermined by its strangeness, as features a chameleon salesman, who a man recognizes from “selling these things for thirty years.”
Readers will identify with the feeling here, the feeling of nostalgia that can arise in parents when introducing their children to the same things they experienced in their youth. This almost universal premise is part of what makes this Gary Larson cartoon great; Another vital part is the intrusion of the strange into the familiar, which Larson achieves by having the man sell chameleons – a strange little touch that makes the joke unique. Far Side creation.
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The successful Far Side cartoons were about how different elements bounced off each other
First published: April 8, 1981
“Careful Randy,” a boy in a bumper car says to his friend, as they engage in a high-speed chase with the old woman in hot pursuit, who shouts the announcer in the caption “in your case!“Like all the best Far Side In comics, the caption and illustration work expertly with each other to create a strange but memorable scene.
Anyone who took up a hobby late in life will feel at least a twinge of connection with the old woman in this cartoon, while anyone who ever had an overbearing grandfather will identify with the children. Once again, the collision and collusion between the familiar and the out of place is a crucial dynamic here, which is effectively implemented, even if this isn't Gary Larson's most entertaining cartoon.
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The carrion eaters on the other side knew how to play the waiting game
First published: September 29, 1982
Vultures starred in so many memorable films Far Side cartoons like the old folks did, and here, Gary Larson brings the two together, in a hilarious comic that features two old men sitting on a park bench, feeding pigeons, while a couple of vultures sit and “just sit and look at them“, waiting patiently. The interplay between these two recurring elements is natural, and as a result, Larson delivers the perfect joke here.
The crux of the joke here is the way the men don't seem to realize what the vultures are waiting for, instead marveling at the fact that “those big birds… never eat anything.” If Barnaby, the old man who doesn't speak in the panel, knows that vultures eat meat – specifically, dead meat – he's keeping that to himself for now.
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This Cartoon From The Other Side Uses Aged Arachnids To Catalog A Uniquely Human Experience
First published: September 7, 1987
Subtitled “at the house of the Old Spiders,” that Far Side spider comic features a trio of elderly arachnids sitting while one remembers”around 1954 when I was in my web and a fly flew straight down my throat?” – while one of his companions silently reflects that he has already told this story almost a thousand times.
This panel exemplifies the way Gary Larson used animal and insect characters—as well as the occasional fruit, vegetable, or inanimate object—as unexpected perspectives through which to highlight deeply human experiences, like this one. There is nothing more human than thinking about the glory days that have passed, except perhaps being irritated by having to hear the same glory days stories over and over again.
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This From The Other Side comic reminds readers: Sometimes looking back fondly can lead to unexpected revelations
First published: May 6, 1988
In this memorable Far Side pop culture reference, “the long-retired Lone Rangermakes an unpleasant discovery,“as he learns it”kemosabe“is not an indigenous word for “friend”, but rather, apparently, is a”Apache expression for a horse's hindquarters.”
Once again, Gary Larson channels a very real experience here, as many readers will identify with the moment they reflected on a cherished memory, only to have it soured by a retrospective realization. In this case, the Ranger's bond with Tonto wasn't exactly what he thought it was – and if he hadn't gotten overly nostalgic about the past, it wouldn't have tarnished some of his best memories. In other words, when going back to the past, you always have to be careful about what you are looking for.
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The Far Side pokes fun at long, drawn-out “Remember when…” conversations.
First published: May 24, 1988
This comic follows the same premise as the previous one”House of Old Spiders“just kidding, only this time and the “House of Former Cartoonists”, and in this case, the villagers are arguing about who drew the biggest nosethe same way other old men would debate who caught the biggest fish.
Therefore Far Side joke, Gary Larson satirizes the tendency of older individuals to sit around, idly disagreeing about things like who caught the biggest sea bass at that time. What's new about his take on this premise is that he turns it into his own means, also using it to mock his profession. Far Side Jokes tend to be more memorable when they can have multiple meanings and reach multiple audiences, and this is an effective example of that.
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Gary Larson takes readers inside the “old cartoonists’ home” – and it’s not pretty
First published: October 18, 1988
In a sort of “sequel” to the first “Old Cartoonists Home” panel, this time readers are privy to what's going on inside, which ends up being the residents drawing crude representations of each other all over the walls, including one that is labeled “Bob doesn't know how to draw feet“, a reference to a perennial problem for many artists.
Evidently, the idea of the “House of Old Cartoonists” enchanted Gary Larson, as it resulted in multiple Far Side comics – a feat that only a few concepts have achieved. Although Larson often played with the same setup, or joke, in several different ways, often the contexts were notably different. Here, the same scenario is used a second time, for an entirely different type of joke, a rarity for The Far Side.
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These young pencils on the other side don't realize that they too will be worn down by life
First published: February 6, 1992
In this potently metaphorical Far Side, a pair of new pencils looks down, literally, on their worn-out predecessor, saying “There's a veteran with one foot in the wastebasket” – are apparently unaware of the fact that they are looking at their own future.
Of course, which makes this a great time Far Side panel is the fact that it reminds us of the way everyone treats the elderly, at some point in their youth. Everyone fails to recognize that getting older is inevitable when you're younger, and as silly as it may seem, Gary Larson materializes this point in an incredibly astute way, using pencils as characters. While it may not be the loudest joke, its relatability to people as they get older is what makes this a legendary joke. Far Side cartoon.