According to creator Gary Larson, his primary goal with The front side Was always to get a reaction from his readers – although not necessarily always laughter. to Larson, making a reader exclaim “what-the?“After reading one of his comics was as much a success as eliciting a chuckle, something that goes a long way to explaining the quixotic nature of the artist’s humor.
A closer look at The front side reveals that Gary Larson achieved a “what-the?“from his audience in many different ways; for example, Sometimes it was the product of a too subtle joke, while in other instances, it actually came from the humor is also obvious.
As readers become more familiar with The front sideand Larson’s comedic style, they’ll find themselves picking up the author’s more perplexing punchlines with increasing ease—but in most cases, the distinctly “what-the?“The quality of the panels remains.
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A horse is a horse – of course, on the far side, this is not always the case
First published: January 7, 1987
This For side panel from early 1987 is likely to evoke a “what-the?” from readers because of its deceptive simplicity. The cartoon depicts horses driving cars on the highway – not unusual for The front side – with one of them carting behind him an attached horse carrier. Of course, rather than hiring one of their own, The carrier is instead occupied by a man, whose rear end is visible sticking out the back.
This is an example of Gary Larson’s trademark technique of comedic inversion; By simply flipping the roles of horse and man, he disorients the reader, leading at best to a surprise laugh before their brain can make sense of the comics, or at worst, a puzzle.”Huh?”
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Gary Larson’s “Too Party” comic is The Far Side at its most outrageous
First published: February 5, 1987
While the punchline of this For side Comic is simple enough, it is the visceral reaction to the absurdity of the cartoon that many readers are bound to feel that makes it a tough “what-the?” Entry. Here, a house party Where the guests are all toes react with dismay when one of them opens the door to find “An unhappy, ugly-looking adult.”
Gary Larson anthropomorphized many things during The front side tenor, from animals to objects, but there’s something especially jarring about disembodied, life-sized toes that work to make this panel so memorably outrageous. It is also a notable example of a For side Cartoon in which the imagery actually overtakes the punchline, which in its own right is fairly amusing.
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Some front page punchlines don’t just have readers asking “What the?” But “why?”
First published: March 10, 1987
Another classic type of “what-the?” reaction to The front side involves a sense of legitimate mystification as to how Gary Larson could have arrived at a particular joke. The more readers learn about Larson’s creative process, the more context they will have for his humor’s surreal quality – but some cartoons only ask the question of where the idea came from, whether the artist can provide a suitable answer himself or not.
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That is to say, there are several For side comics where the “what-the?“Response is not only his end result, but baked into his very premise – making it likely that Gary Larson had the same reaction as he crafted the comic as readers afterwards when they engaged with him.
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A classic Far Side remix substitutes cows for killer sharks
First published: April 13, 1987
Again, the humor of this For side Panel rests on a remix of familiar elements that results in something totally wild. In this case, a herd of cows is depicted with a man in a cage dangling overhead, waiting to be lowered into their midst, with the caption declaring that this is “How cow documentaries are made.”
Naturally, most readers will recognize that Gary Larson has transposed the behavior of shark researchers to cow aficionados. This humor technique was vital for The front sideBecause it evoked a level of dissonance in Larson’s jokes that had the effect of grabbing the reader’s attention. This was Larson’s goal, and although their final answer was out of his hands, getting this answer justified his creative choices.
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Explore the depths of Gary Larson’s warped anthropological humor
First published: May 1, 1987
In this strange For side panel, Gary Larson takes a wild swing, just the kind that makes his work so enduring to this day. Larson was fascinated by the field of anthropology, and many of his jokes used it as their basis – despite the fact that it often left less anthropologically-savvy audience members scratching their heads.
here, the “Toaster divers from Pago Pago“Snorkel to the bottom of the ocean and collect the household appliances, which they carry back to their waiting boat on the surface. Larson’s joke relies on his readers to have some notion of “pearl diving,” and then to recognize why it’s funny to trade toasters for precious stones. If any link in the chain of comedic reasoning fails, however, the reader is sure to be surprised”what?”
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A bat from the far side is startled awake by a revelation
First published: June 23, 1987
Rather than anthropology, this For side Panel requires at least a minimal scientific understanding of bats to elicit a laugh. For most readers, however, this is firmly a “what-the?“Cartoon. With a gaggle of bats slumbering upside down in their cave, The eyes opened, and it screams “Aaaaa….I can see!”
Eyes were essential too The front side; According to Gary Larson’s longtime editor, the characters’ eyes are often where the “True” Joke of a panel was located. The scared eyes of the screaming bat certainly add something to this panel, but what holds it back from being laugh-out-loud funny is how the joke here almost seems to be located somewhere in the Page, outside the cave.
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Reflecting on Gary Larson’s quirky sense of humor
First published: July 4, 1987
Gary Larson’s sense of humor is divisive, in the sense that even if someone “gets” his jokes, they may not necessarily share his comedic sensibility. On the contrary, for the reader who “gives” with Larson’s work, even the simplest panel can be elevated in its hilarity. in this For side Cartoon, two chickens are depicted Sitting casually in recliners, as the door to their bathroom almost burst off the hinges, with one of them remarking “Oh my god! Murray attacking the bathroom mirror!“
A punchline about a chicken versus its own reflection is amusing enough, but Larson’s notable creative choice here is the perspective. By giving only a hint of the chaos happening behind the door, readers are left to fill in the true extent of Murray’s freak-out in their own minds.
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Gary Larson goes out on a limb again with this far side panel
First published: August 13, 1987
For the second time in 1987, Gary Larson produced A slightly disturbing panel with disembodied appendages – in this case, fingers, which a pair of parakeets use as furniture. This For side Panel is a strange extrapolation of parakeets’ tendency to land on their owners’ fingers; From this, Larson takes the idea that if they were to be homeowners, this is what they would be most comfortable with.
as with many”what-the?” For side Cartoons, the joke here is clear enough – but that won’t stop many readers from responding with confusion and even dismay. It’s safe to say that this comic represents the far-out limits of Gary Larson’s ability to produce funny, evocative images.
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Things are never so straightforward on the front side
First published: September 2, 1987
The panel is based on the simple premise: the idea that many people are so unhappy in the kitchen that they can’t even properly pour themselves a bowl of cereal. Gary Larson embellishes this concept by following it to its logical extreme, As two unfortunate young men stand by the kitchen sink, taking care of themselves, as we read from “The Cold Cereal Cookbook.”
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Amusingly, they have already messed up the first step of the process. Certainly, this panel straddles the line between laugh-out-loud funny and “what-the?“More than some others might, but what pushes it over the edge into the latter territory is the sheer insanity of the joke; while it may be obvious, it’s so ridiculous that it will flummox some readers anyway.
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What organization passes for on the far side
First published: October 12, 1987
in this For side Cartoon, a homeowner was evidently dealing with some confusion in his household, prompting him to look for a simple, effective remedy, and in the process give rise to a patented bit of Gary Larson absurdity. Here, a man did Painted the name of various objects on the object itself as a reminder – including, but not limited to his pet cat, dog, house and his own clothes.
This can be described as an “over-board” For side panel; That is, the absurdity of the assumption stems from the fact that this individual went with such an over-the-top solution to a seemingly identical problem. The imagery here is certainly funny, but the wild premise is what really jumps off the page, and is most likely to result in a resounding”what-the?”
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The far side panel proves that leverage is essential when dealing with sharks
First published: November 17, 1987
Sharks starred in some downright hilarious For side panels over the years, and while many fans of Gary Larson’s work will find this odd, it will have many more readers furrowing their brows and looking for something they might be missing. This was another common source of “what-the?” Responses to For side Comics – Readers often felt like some key ingredient in the punchline was over their heads.
Sometimes this was the case, certainly, but not always. Sometimes a joke was complete, but so funny that the readers didn’t “get” it all. Case in point, this comic where a shark sits in a boat, negotiating with a shipwreck survivor clutching an arm as a weapon, As more fins cross the boat in anticipation. “I will go back and tell my people that you are staying in the boat“, the shark says, before adding “They won’t like it.”
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In space, no one can hear you making a mess
First published: December 7, 1987
The front side Wordless panels routinely have a higher chance of resulting in a “what-the?” Reaction, because Gary Larson forfeits the opportunity to provide further context for the comic joke. A panel did not always need the added context, but for readers naturally inclined to a more skeptical, “What-the?” Reaction to The front sideThese may be the most inscrutable installments, even when the punchline is obvious.
here, A chimp in a space capsule smashes bananas against his space helmet; Many readers will probably have to do a double-take at the panel to understand it, and even then, the comic’s humor may not appeal to everyone. Instead, it is likely to be yet another For side Panel that leaves them scratching their heads, wondering what Gary Larson was thinking here, if nothing else.