How outrageously funny The front side Yes, its reputation is more like that Defined by the panels that made readers go “Huh? what?“The ones that leave them scratching – if not outright shaking – their heads in confusion. Creator Gary Larson provoked this reaction in many different ways, but the end result was the same: The front side became synonymous with absurd and obscure humor.
Larson’s quirky sense of humor connected with many readers throughout The front side Fifteen years have passed in publication, but the vast majority of people who encountered it in the paper in the 1980s and early ’90s tend to remember it as some variation of, in Larson’s own words: “confusing, obtuse, esoteric and strange “
As Larson’s humor grew more dialed in over the years, the result was more panels that flew over people’s heads, or threw them for a loop, or left them puzzled, still trying to figure out the punchline hours, days or even years later. .
10
A man with a good head on his shoulders, and flat feet on his head
First published: January 6, 1988
in this For side panel, A man in a bar proudly proclaims that the feet that grew out of his head did not stop him – because, according to him, they were flat.Not because they were on top of his skull. There’s a layered absurdity to this cartoon, which is part of what gives it a distinct”what-the?“Quality. Although the punchline is clear enough, the reader’s attention will immediately be drawn to, and preoccupied with, the foot on the bar patron’s head.
Larson frames this interaction as the person responding to another patron’s question, capturing the payoff to a setup that must be inferred by the reader. To one degree or another, many For side Panels required some effort on the part of the reader to “get,” and this always contributed to countless “what?” Reactions.
9
The “Fossil Appliance” Front Side Panel Illustrates Gary Larson’s Obscurist Tendencies
First published: February 13, 1988
In this statement For side Comic, one of Gary Larson’s many men in a trench coat stands “In the hall of fossilized appliances,” looking at the bones of what is perhaps a television, while behind it, the skeletons of a toaster, vacuum and refrigerator are visible. The premise of the joke is obvious enough, but the humor – that is, what makes it humorous – is likely to come across as much more inscrutable to many readers.
Especially in The front side In recent years, Larson has become increasingly comfortable with being dark, and therefore produced an increasing number of panels that needed to be “figured out.” But in a way, the reaction can often leave even more of an impression on the reader than a laugh-out-loud cartoon, which is why The front side is primarily known for its strangeness to this day.
8
Gary Larson’s uncomfortable interpretation of the traditional family unit
First published: March 14, 1988
This is another example of a For side comic where “what-the?“may be the reader’s immediate reaction, even if they quickly process the joke and come to understand its humor, because of the visually evocative images of the panel. Here, a couple invites another couple into their home, Ask if they have “Meet Russell and Bill, [their] 1.5 children,” which are depicted as twins, one of which is half missing.
Related
Gary Larson often extracts comedy from taking things too literally, as is the case here, where he offers a funny realization of the idea that the average American household has “1.5“Children. The front side There was always a collusion between image and caption, and often “what-the?“Panels, like this, placed a heavier emphasis on the painting – although not always.
7
In this far side panel, farmer and chicken realize they are on the same side
First published: April 15, 1988
Case in point: the weirdness and hilarity of this For side Cartoons are centered in his atypically-long caption, aided by the illustration. The caption informs the reader: a farmer with a chicken on a stump and raising an ax to chop off its head:
Farmer Dale suddenly noticed the chicken’s tattoo—the tattoo that marked them both as brothers from an ancient Tibetan order that was heavy on loyalty and mutual aid.
Here, Gary Larson takes the reader on a wild ride, packing more story into the panel than it can contain—and as a result, leaving the reader with so many questions. Again, while the joke here isn’t hard to “get,” its sheer ridiculousness is what’s intended for the reader’s “what-the?In this case, although the headline captures the focus and imagination of the reader, it is the drawing of The tattoos on the farmer and chicken, and the look on Farmer Dale’s face, that make this For side Funny as funny as it is over-the-top.
6
Candidates for the worst parents in far side history – which is saying something
First published: May 16, 1988
This For side Panel strikes an ideal balance between its caption and image, which is important because it captures a more active dynamic situation than many of Gary Larson’s cartoons. On the second floor of a house, a mother tells her son to go to sleep, or face the consequences, threatening:
Or I will have to knock three times again and summon the swollen head of death.
In the living room below, The boy’s father is shown holding the string of a balloon with a monstrous face painted on it, waiting for his wife’s signal to terrorize their childIf necessary. The subtlety of the balloon’s string in the drawing will give readers reason to do a double take – but the truth”what-the?“From this Joke originates in its premise, as the parents row in contention for some of The The far side Worst.
5
The Far Side never shed its love for reimagining animal behavior
First published: June 22, 1988
From the beginning of The front side To his latest set of cartoons, Gary Larson never got tired of recontextualizing animal behavior by depicting it in a human context, and vice versa, lampooning human behavior by substituting non-human characters in their place. This led to many of Larson’s funniest cartoons, but also his most confusing and off-putting. This For side falls exactly in the middle of the spectrum, vi A family of snakes sits at the dinner table, with the mother asking her son to “Jiggle Grampa’s rat so it looks alive.”
The decrepitude of Grampa Snake, and the visceral quality of the phrase “Jiggle Grampa’s rat,” lift this from a joke For side panel in a company”what-the?” installment, one that will gnaw at some readers, the image and the idea imprinting in their minds whether they want it or not.
4
Gary Larson draws the reader in with this far side panel
First published: July 8, 1988
This For side Cartoon is funny, though His joke needs to be untangled – just as the basketball player squashed on the front of a bigger opponent’s jersey needs to be peeled off him. The panel portrays the bigger player as angrily complaining to the referee that he was called for a foul, despite the fact that he had uncomfortably dumferaled the opposing player. Here, Gary Larson’s artistic rendering of the aftermath of the collision makes it necessary for readers to take a closer look, making their first reaction almost certain “what-the?“
Despite Larson’s protestations to the contrary, he was a skilled artist, and in this case, he skillfully clutters the image on purpose, in order to convey the intensity of the basketball players’ mid-court accident. The fortunate byproduct, as far as capturing the attention of readers, was that this For side Panel demands closer inspection, and more time spent lingering on it by the reader.
3
On the flip side, Gary Larson is never interested in offering solutions
First published: August 13, 1988
This For side Panel is a shining example of a particular type of “what-the?” Comic: The Truly Inscrutable Gary Larson Joke. Captioned “The 25th Annual ‘Part of the Problem’ Convention,” The cartoon features a gathering of people under a banner that says “WELKOM POTP.” Readers will immediately ask why “Problem“The people are part of the point, but in this case, that uncertainty is part of the DNA of the joke, meaning more than just that Larson is not interested in providing an answer, but that there probably isn’t one.
Related
Therefore, however, the inscrutability of this For side Cartoons may elicit an equal mix of uncertainty and curiosity from the reader, but after that, it’s more likely to have the reader throw up their hands in defeat than an “aha!” moment where its “meaning” becomes clear.
2
This panel is the most indescribable humor of the far side
First published: September 20, 1988
Even the most acclaimed For side Readers who have developed a strong sense of Gary Larson’s sense of humor, and have developed a knack for deciphering even his weirdest punchlines, will need a moment to figure out what’s going on in this comic.
in the panel, The shadow of a man’s head hangs over a flower, drawn with a strange anthropomorphic expression on his face, and fangs sticking out of his mouth, like three noses dressed as trophies on the fence. Above it. Given a moment, the readers will realize that the man leans to smell the flower at his own peril, and the carnivorous flora is ready to take another nose for its wall. Yet few would disagree that this For side The joke is so high-level weird on every level that it’s almost Zen-like in its absurdity.
1
The front page comic “Buick Head” is Gary Larson at his peak
First published: October 3, 1988
Similar to the first entry on this list, this For side The two acquaintances, who run into the street for the first time in a while – With one of them pointing out the obvious, the other never gets rid of “That thing grows out of [his] Head that looks like a Buick!“
The joke here is a hilariously hyperbolic take on running into an old friend, and the visual of the man’s Buick-shaped growth is incredibly ridiculous. It all adds up to a perfect Gary Larson punchline, making it clear that even when the artist was struggling with artistic burnout—which would soon lead to a 14-month hiatus—he was also operating at the top of his game creatively. In 1988, producing some of the strangest, most wonderful and most memorable installments of The front side.